Wellness Tips
Help take care of your mental health with these wellness tips and tools.
These tips in no way replace professional treatment for people who are experiencing a mental illness. If you are in a crisis, please call 911 or visit your local emergency department. If you or someone you know needs help dealing with mental health issues, please visit CAMH.ca for additional information.
Wellness Tips and Tools
- Break Down Stigma
- Build Positive Self-Esteem
- Offer Support
- Young Adult/Youth Specific Tips
- Quick Reads
If you have other tips that you find help improve your mental health and would like to share, let us know here.
Break Down Stigma
- Share your story and your experiences when you are ready. It can be enlightening and inspiring for other people experiencing something similar.
- Talk to someone you trust. It can be hard dealing with stigma alone. Fight it as a group. What can you do to combat stigma together?
- Start with yourself. Be thoughtful about choice of words and be kind to yourself. In addition to being kind to yourself, be kind to others. That includes using appropriate words when talking about mental illness.
- Every message of hope makes a difference. Use social media as a tool to spread mental health and anti-stigma awareness. It works! You never know who is reading your posts.
- Mental health issues are no different than and are just as important as other health issues. Seek help from family, friends or professionals when necessary, just as you would a physical illness.
- Try not to assume you know how someone feels. Ask questions and listen without judgement.
Build Positive Self-Esteem
- Treat yourself like a friend. Whenever you feel like being critical, be supportive and loving instead.
- Accept when you make mistakes. Rather than belittling yourself, focus on improving yourself for the next time.
- Asking for help is not a sign of weakness it’s a sign of strength and a willingness to grow. Be proud of it.
- Don’t rely on others to build your self-worth. Congratulate and reward yourself for good work, even if no one notices.
- Help someone who needs it. You might find that making a difference makes you feel better about yourself.
Offer Support
- Even if your friend/co-worker doesn’t want to talk, knowing that you care can help them to feel less alone.
- You don’t need to be a mental health expert to help someone in distress. Ask how the person is doing. And be specific about what you’ve noticed that is concerning you.
- If you have struggled with feelings that your friend might identify with such as feeling hopeless or worried all the time you could tell them how you’ve felt, and how you coped with these feelings in the past.
- Be compassionate. Show your friend that you are there to offer support.
- When a friend faces mental health issues, don’t judge them. Talk to them or ask for help in helping them.
- When a friend faces mental health issues, make them feel comfortable, remind them you are there to listen and that you care about them.
Young Adult/Youth Specific Tips
- Feeling anxious or stressed?
- Talk to your teacher or another adult you trust, and tell them about it. If you need a break from the situation, ask to use the washroom to take a breather. Bring water with you to refresh yourself.
- Create a secret signal with your teacher to tell them you need a break. Have them give you an excuse in advance so you can leave.
- Getting stressed about all of the things you have to do? List them in order of priority and tackle one at a time.
- Pin point what is stressing you out most and work on solutions or ways that help you cope with that specific issue.
- Try not to let one negative thought spiral into others. One poor grade means you did poorly once, that’s all. It’s from our mistakes that we learn the most.
- It’s okay to be disappointed in yourself sometimes, but realize your self-worth isn’t your grades.
- Remember that everything is best in moderation. The trifecta for school success: work hard, have fun and protect your mental health.
- Check out your school gym. It’s amazing how much better you can feel after getting some endorphins pumping! Research shows that exercise has a direct positive impact on mental health.
- Acknowledge when you need time to take it easy and spend some time alone. It’s OK to let your people know that you need “you time”.
Quick Reads
- Do you know prescription opioids?
- Having a Party? Responsible Hosting
- Looking for Mental Health Services?
- Depression Info for Teens
- Panic Info for Teens
- Moving Beyond Stigma
- Substance Use in LGBTTTIQ
- Youth and Prescription Drugs
It’s time to step up, stay up, raise funds and join CAMH One Brave Night for Mental Health. Register or donate now.
"Register Now"Sources: mindyourmind.ca, teenmentalhealth.org, resilientapp.com