Popular Saskatchewan country music artist Chris Henderson will help raise awareness about mental health.
The edited version of his song Point of View, from his latest album, can now be heard in a commercial on CTV.
"Back when Steve Mitchell and I wrote Point of View for my latest record, we immediately started talking about how we wanted to 'do some good' with this song," recalled Henderson in a Facebook post.
"A few months ago I jumped on a Zoom call with the Canadian Mental Health Association Saskatchewan Division and with Bell Canada/CTV to discuss how we could use this song to build a campaign in support of mental health initiatives. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that the need is greater now than it's ever been."
The first commercial of a new campaign aired on Feb. 3 on CTV for the first time, and Henderson said there will be at least one more in April and potentially more later in the year.
"They want to follow on Bell Let's Talk, and … keep the conversation going," noted Henderson.
Henderson wrote the song Point of View for his latest record, which he introduced to Estevan fans during his concert at Art Concepts Custom Framing in October 2019. The radio release of the song happened last week.
Pont of View deals with mental health and was inspired by a story that happened to Henderson's friend, who ended up in the hospital.
"The whole idea of the song is celebrating silver linings or looking for something positive to hold on to," Henderson explained.
The Canadian Mental Health Association has been doing a Dave Batters campaign for years, and Henderson said they were looking to funnel that energy into a new idea. Batters was born and raised in Estevan, and was a member of Parliament for the Palliser constituency. He committed suicide in 2009.
"It was great to be able to revive the campaign that's going to have television commercials coming all the time.
"And in February we are going to be doing an online concert as well. We are still hammering out final dates because I have a couple of special guests that are going to join us, but before the end of the month we are going to do an online concert, and 100 per cent of funds raised through that will go to the Canadian Mental Health Association," Henderson said.
The concert will be broadcasted on Facebook and YouTube. Once the dates are finalized, all information will be published at chrishendersonmusic.com and on his social media pages.
"People will be able to watch from home, and there will be a virtual tip jar. Proceeds will be going to the Mental Health Association, and it's going to be myself and a handful of artists that are just volunteering their time for a cause we believe in," Henderson said.
He said that right now more than ever people are struggling with stress, anxiety, isolation and mental health issues, and that is something that motivated him to join the campaign. But the original push to raise mental health awareness came from his friend's experience. Besides, he's seen a lot of other people around him going through difficult times.
"The music industry has a lot of people that struggle with mental health. It's something that seems to be coming up in my life over and over again. My father had some struggles, lots of people in my life had some struggles," Henderson said.
All these experiences motivated him to do more to support the cause. The partnership with Bell and the Canadian Mental Health Association has gone really well, and they already started talking about the possibility of a live concert when the situation allows again.
Henderson and his wife have been advocates for mental health for a while, and he noted that besides other things they do to support the cause, they also both have semicolon tattoos on their wrists, which are symbols of mental health awareness.
There is still a lot of work for the current campaign, but Henderson said that he plans that he will continue raising awareness beyond the current project.
"It's been an extremely difficult last year for many of us. Let's keep the conversation going," Henderson said.
Henderson also is a big supporter of Telemiracle and Humane Society.
Despite all the challenges the pandemic posed on the music industry, Henderson is starting to work on the new project.
"It's been different times to record music, but people really stepped up their technological game and right now I'm recording a song. My producer lives in Calgary, the drummer is in Vancouver, the guitar player is in Winnipeg and the bass player is in Edmonton. They all send tracks to the producer and the mixer, and I'm on the phone and Zoom calls telling them what I want and what I'm looking for.
"It's definitely a different way to work, but we are still finding ways to get it done."
The song will come out later this spring, and Henderson plans to keep recording new material throughout the year.
