Mental health week lands in early May for a reason. Pete Bombacci says suicide rates are highest in the spring, not at Christmas, and the social pressure that comes with warming temperatures is one of the leading contributors most people do not know about.
The fix Pete Bombacci keeps coming back to is the invite. Not the response, the invite. Someone who is chronically lonely or struggling may not reply, but that does not mean they did not see it. He says the awareness that someone valued them enough to reach out can matter more than the event itself. His framework is simple: go first, send it to a group, and let the ones who can show up do so without requiring the others to explain themselves.
The research Pete Bombacci points to is the theory of 3.5%: get that share of the population doing something and you have the conditions for a movement. He says GenWell is trying to find the next five percent of Canadians willing to send the first invite.
Topics: mental health week Canada, human connection, loneliness, GenWell, spring suicide rates
GUEST: Pete Bombacci | http://genwell.ca
Originally aired on2026-05-05
