Taking care of your mental health

Content warning: this post discusses mental health and suicide prevention.

World Mental Health Day takes place on the 10 October every year, with the objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilising efforts in support of mental health.

Check out the below tips to get started on your own mental health journey.

Caring for your mental health

• Access the support services that are available to you, everybody needs support sometimes and those services we are encouraged to offer to our friends, family and colleagues are also available to us.
• Reach out, you do not have to wait. Connect with those around you, speak to somebody you trust and let them in to walk with you on your journey to wellbeing.
• Keep active and exercise. Exercise is not only protective of our wellbeing but is therapeutic.
• Look into and adopt new hobbies, create the opportunity to experience flow, let yourself be lost in your engagement.
• Engage in mindfulness, undertake formal mindfulness mediation or explore opportunities to incorporate mindfulness in your daily life.
• When you are able to, engage in activities you enjoy, especially when you are least motivated to do so. Try to overcome the reluctance to act, and you will reap the benefits. This is a situation where the old saying “the first step is hardest” holds absolutely true.

Seeking professional help

While these practices can help to manage the stress of day to day life, they are not always going to be enough. There are many services available through which you can connect with a mental health professional. 

• If you are worried about someone you know, R U OK? has an online guide for getting the conversation started. Knowing how to check in on people isn’t just relevant for 10 September, but for every day of the year.
• Lifeline provides confidential crisis support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are also resources available on the Lifeline website. 
• Beyond Blue provides online and telephone support 24/7 too. Their comprehensive online resources offer information targeted at different demographics with further links to appropriate support services, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, LGBTIQA+ people and more. 
• For UTS employees, the Employee Assistance Program, or EAP (UTS ID and password needed for login) provides professional and confidential wellbeing coaching, which also extends to close family members. 
• The UTS Counselling Service offers a confidential counselling service to help with a wide range of personal, psychological, study-related and administrative difficulties. 

Reposted from UTS LX Lab.

Byline: Arif Ongu, Training Specialist at the Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion