Mental Health Resources: Home

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Good mental health means you are in a state of well being where you feel good and function well in the world. You might have emotions including happiness, love, joy and compassion, and you feel generally satisfied with life.

You probably have good mental health if:

• you are confident when faced with new situations or people
• you feel optimistic
• you do not always blame yourself
• you set goals
• you feel good about yourself
• you have good self esteem
• you have a sense of belonging
• you can say "no" to people
• you have healthy relationships
• you can talk about your feelings

(Health Direct, Health Shots)

An important part of having good mental health is building resilience. This is when you can cope with unexpected changes and challenges in your life through drawing on your inner strength and using the networks around you. Resilience is important for your mental health and can be learned. You can learn coping skills to build your resilience and ensure good mental health.

Ways you can build and maintain good mental health:

• practice self care
• build relationships
• exercise and stay healthy
• develop gratitude
• identify and use your strengths
• give to others
• develop and nurture coping skills
• set realistic and achievable goals
• understand and avoid negative self talk
• develop and focus on interpersonal skills

(Health Direct, Reach Out)

When you go through a period of poor mental health you might find the ways you're frequently thinking, feeling or reacting become difficult, or even impossible, to cope with. Experiencing a mental health problem is often upsetting, confusing and frightening – particularly at first. If you become unwell, you may feel that it's a sign of weakness, or that you are 'losing your mind'. However, in reality, mental health problems are a common human experience.

Early warning signs of poor mental health can include:

• Eating or sleeping too much or too little
• Pulling away from people and usual activities
• Having low or no energy
• Feeling numb or like nothing matters
• Having unexplained aches and pains
• Feeling helpless or hopeless
• Smoking, drinking, or using drugs more than usual
• Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared
• Yelling or fighting with family and friends
• Experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
• Having persistent thoughts and memories you can't get out of your head
• Hearing voices or believing things that are not true
• Thinking of harming yourself or others

Seek professional help if you are experiencing severe or distressing symptoms that have lasted 2 weeks or more. Don’t wait until your symptoms are overwhelming.

(MentalHealth.gov, Mind, NIH)