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Looking after yourself

Looking After Yourself

Mental Health is everyone’s business. Whether you are a client, family member, carer or staff member you will inevitably go through ups and downs in life and it’s important to look after your mental health.

There are lots of resources out there that you can use to help monitor your mental health and stay well. We’ll show you a bunch of them that we really like here. We try to keep this up to date, but if you find a link that doesn’t work, please let us know so we can fix it.

It’s not all about us though. You probably have some strategies that work well for you and we would love for you to share them with us and the Suitsme community. Click here to find out more about sharing your tips and stories.

Emergency

If it’s an emergency or if you feel unsafe, contact emergency services or MHERL.

Emergency Services – 000
Mental Health Emergency Response Line (MHERL):
– Metro – 1300 555 788
– Peel – 1800 676 822

Helplines

Whether you are feeling suicidal, you’ve had a rough day, or you just need to talk to someone; there are services you can call:

• Lifeline 13 11 14 or online crisis chats
• Suicide Callback Service – 1300 659 467 or online and video chat 24/7
• Crisis Care 9223 1111 (24/7)
• Samaritans 13 52 47
• SANE helpline (10am-10pm AEST) 1800 187 263 or online chat
• MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
• Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
• QLife 1800 184 527 or online chat

If you are under 25 you can also access:

• Kids’ helpline 1800 55 1800
• Eheadspace 1800 650 890 (9am – 1am AEST) or eheadspace.org.au

Alcohol, Drugs and Addiction Support:

• Alcohol and Drug Support Line 9442 5000 24/7
• Free Drug and Alcohol counselling online
• You can also find a list of other services and providers here.

Ways to look after your mental health and wellbeing

There are many simple ways to look after your mental health on a daily basis. We are all different and what works for one of us may not work for another. There are little things you can do daily which may help.

Think Mental Health WA has this list of things you can try that may help to look after your mental health and wellbeing:

1. Do things with others. Spending time with family or friends, meeting new people and getting involved in activities can make a difference to how you feel. Get involved in community activities, kick the footy around, go for a bike ride, etc.
2. Do something creative. Activities or hobbies can keep you distracted, have a positive impact on your sense of mental health and wellbeing and can help increase your confidence and self-esteem. This could be building something, playing an instrument, gardening, art, doing a puzzle, painting, cooking, writing, etc.
3. Invest time in relationships. Connecting with people and investing in good relationships are important for your mental health. Get in touch with people who you trust or feel good around. Give them a call, send them a message or organise to catch up with them.
4. Focus on strengths. Having positive thoughts can help you feel better. Try these support tools for guidance on how to feel positive.
5. Take time out. When you relax, you give yourself permission to let go of worries for a while. Relaxing gives your mind and body time to recover from the stresses of everyday life. Try some relaxation apps to guide you on how to relax.
6. Sleep well. We cannot function properly without sleep. Sleep helps us to repair and restore our bodies and minds. Try these tips from the Sleep Health Foundation for guidance on how to get a better night’s sleep.
7. Keeping active. Your physical health plays a key role in keeping you mentally healthy. Being physically active can improve your mood and reduces stress.
8. Eat well. Nutrition and eating well can make a difference to the way you feel and in turn may improve your mental health.
9. Mindfulness. Mindfulness can help you feel better and reduce stress. It is easy to fit into your day. You can do it one minute at a time.

For more tips on staying well and managing your mental health have a look at ReachOut. It’s full of resources and articles on a wide range of mental health-related topics.

Apps

Believe it or not, we love apps at Suitsme! There’s pretty much an app for everything these days including apps to help manage your mental health and support your recovery.

Here are some apps that we’ve used, or at least checked them out, and think they look pretty good. All the apps we list here are free although some have paid content as well.

No matter how good an app is, it’s no substitute for clinical support. Apps can help you to stay well and recognise when you are becoming unwell, but if you are unwell or you feel unsafe call your clinical team, GP or one of the emergency numbers above.

We’d love to hear what you think of these apps so please let us know. If there are other apps that you find helpful, then tell us about them so we can share them with the Suitsme community.

• Beyond Now – Suicide Safety app

Developed by Beyond Blue this app helps you to make a suicide prevention plan. You can share this plan with people in your life, including your worker.

• My compass – from Black Dog institute

My compass is an online tool that helps you track your mental health and gives you personalised tips and activities to help you understand and manage your mental health.

• Calm

This app has meditation and mindfulness exercises. Some of this app is free, some features cost money.

• Insight Timer

Whether you are looking for mindfulness, relaxation, motivation or just to get a good night’s sleep, Insight Timer is loaded with meditations, talks and music that can help. It’s also quite a social app which has a community within the app. There is a lot of free content and there is also paid content.

• MoodPrism

MoodPrism helps you keep track of your mood by regularly asking you a few simple questions. It can help you to spot when you are starting to feel anxious or depressed.

Once you have used MoodPrism for a while, it makes personalised suggestions of resources that could be helpful for you.

• What’s Up

What’s up is a free app that uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) methods to help you cope with Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and more.

• Happify

Need a happy fix? With its psychologist-approved mood-training program, the Happify app is your fast-track to a good mood. Try various engaging games, activity suggestions, gratitude prompts and more to train your brain as if it were a muscle, to overcome negative thoughts. The best part? It’s free!

• MoodTools – Depression app

MoodTools aims to support people with clinical depression by aiding the path to recovery. Discover helpful videos that can improve your mood and behaviour, log and analyse your thoughts using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) principles, develop a suicide safety plan and more with this free app.

Some apps are designed for people experiencing specific mental health conditions. Here’s a few of them:

• Rise Up + Recover – Eating Disorder app

Rise Up + Recover is a unique app as it not only allows you to track your meals and how you feel when you eat them, but you can also transcribe your progress into a PDF printout. Pull up the Rise + Recover app on your mobile when you feel the urge to binge or skip a meal, and need quick coping strategies.

• EMoods – Bipolar Disorder Apps

eMoods is a mood tracking app designed specifically for people with bipolar disorder. Throughout the day, users can track depressive and psychotic symptoms, elevated mood and irritability, and give an indication of the severity of their symptoms. Users can then see their mood changes on a colour-coded monthly calendar and even export a monthly summary report to identify specific triggers and better understand their fluctuating mood.