What is mental health?
You’ve probably heard phrases like ‘mental health’, ‘mental health challenges’ and ‘mental ill-health/illness’ before, but what does that actually mean?
Like physical health, mental health is something that everybody experiences. It can change day-to-day or week-to-week, depending on what is going on in your life.
About 4 out of every 10 young people experience challenges with their mental health each year, with 75% of all mental health challenges first emerging by the age of 25 (National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2023). These higher rates are due to a range of factors, like developmental stages (e.g. brain development and hormonal changes) and life events (e.g. school stress, family conflict, bullying and relationships).
When you are well, you are able to do the things you find important or meaningful like work, study and hobbies. You can connect with the people you care about and manage challenging situations.
This doesn’t mean feeling ‘happy’ all the time. You might still be feeling some difficult emotions like sadness, stress, and loneliness but as your emotions come and go, they feel manageable.
When you are ‘getting through’ you’ll probably notice that you’re still managing OK, but it requires a bit more effort. This can be impacted by a lot of things and looks different for different people.
There tends to be changes to what we think, feel and do. Like feeling more tired than usual, getting irritated easily, or your thoughts feeling disorganised or foggy.
It’s possible to learn to recognise these changes early to help yourself feel well again.
If you are unwell, your feelings, thoughts, behaviours and relationships can be significantly impacted. Our ability to think clearly is affected when we are unwell because of the changes that occur to our brain.
You might find your feelings are overwhelming, distressing, and difficult to manage. This can look like emotional outbursts or panic attacks. In some cases, this might meet the criteria for a diagnosis, like Depression or Anxiety.
If you’re unwell, even the day-to-day tasks which normally seem easy can be really tough. You may have thoughts about harming yourself.
What can I do to take care of my mental health?
If you notice changes that are outside of your ‘normal’, it’s important to take care of yourself sooner rather than later.
There are lots of things you can do to look after your mental health. It can take some time (and practice) to find the ones that work best for you. Youth Focus can help you understand what’s going on for you and learn ways to manage.
These 100 Coping Strategies and tips for a healthy headspace into your everyday routine can be a good place to start. These include:
- Do the things you find enjoyable and meaningful
- Connect with other people
- Learn skills and coping strategies for tough times
- Eat well
- Stay active
- Get enough sleep
- Cut back on alcohol and other drugs
It can also be helpful to check out some self-help resources from trustworthy places like headspace, kids helpline and 13 YARN.
ReachOUT has also looked into some useful tools and apps like:
- Smiling Mind - to keep you calm and grounded
- Worry Time or The BRAVE Program - to help manage anxiety and stress
- Beyond Now – for suicide safety planning
- WellMob – for online resources made for and by First Nations people
When should I get help?
Everybody experiences ups and down with their mental health from time to time. If you notice changes that are happening more often, for longer, or are affecting your day-to-day life, it’s important to take care of yourself.
By reaching out to trusted family, friends, and support services you can learn a bit more about what’s happening for you, find the right strategies, and things can get better.
If you ever feel unable to cope because of overwhelming or intense emotions, or if you have any thoughts of harming yourself, then ask for help immediately.
When things get really tough
If you ever feel unable to cope because of overwhelming or intense emotions, or if you feel unsafe, then ask for help immediately.
In an Emergency call 000 or visit your local Emergency Department.
Tell your support person/people you need support.
Let the staff know “I am feeling unsafe and I need help.”
National 24/7 crisis services
- Lifeline: 13 11 14
- Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
- 13 YARN: 13 92 76