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Tips on building mental health

Young people can work on building positive mental health at any time.

Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Some stress is a normal part of everyday life, but it is important to be able to know when stress is stopping you from doing day-to-day activities. If this is happening or you often feel down, seek help.

About mental health and wellbeing

Good mental health helps you to thrive, learn, develop and manage the normal stresses and challenges of life.

We can think about mental health as existing along a continuum.

Continuum line with 'Flourishing' one end, then moving through 'Going ok', 'Going through a tough time', and at the other end 'Severely impacting everyday activities'.

Lots of thing shape our mental health and how we feel, including our:

  • environments
  • experiences
  • relationships
  • personality.

When you’re ’flourishing’ you feel connected to others, are involved in your learning and activities and can ‘bounce back’ from life’s challenges.

When your mental health is suffering it can really affect how you feel and think and your relationships with other people. It’s normal to feel sad or anxious sometimes, but when these feelings don’t go away it’s important to seek help.

Learn more about the mental health continuum

When your mental health is flourishing

You're more likely to:

  • feel happy and positive about yourself
  • be kind to yourself during tough times or when things don’t go the way you expect
  • enjoy life
  • bring a positive mindset to learning
  • build positive relationships with family and friends
  • manage sad, confusing, or angry feelings
  • bounce back from tough times
  • be willing to try new or challenging things.

Source: Raising Children Network.

Building a positive mindset

There's lots of ways to look after your mental health and stay on top of stress.

It helps when you:

  • eat well and exercise regularly
  • get enough sleep
  • set aside some time each day to relax
  • put time into activities and relationships that make you feel good
  • set yourself short and long-term goals to look forward to
  • try to deal with problems sooner rather than letting them build up
  • set boundaries around technology and social media use
  • be aware of how drugs and alcohol can affect your mental health
  • connect to your culture and community.

For further tools and tips:

Mental health and connecting to communities

Positive mental health can also come from connecting with our culture, with our communities and those share our background, identities and history. Our culture is more than just our identity. It is our values, worldview, interactions and sense of belonging.

Student voice and advocacy

Sharing your voice and advocating for other young people is a great way to make friendships, strengthen your community and build your own mental health.

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