Mental health and wellbeing: Key messages

Mental wellbeing relates to how a person is feeling and how well they can cope with day to day life. Our mental wellbeing can change from day to day, month to month or year to year.

If people have good mental wellbeing or mental health, they're able to:

Feel relatively confident in themselves and value and accept themselves
Judge themselves on realistic and reasonable standards
Feel and express a range of emotions
Feel engaged with the world around them
Maintain positive relationships with other people
Feel they can contribute to the community they live in and live and work productively
Cope with the stresses of daily life and manage times of change and uncertainty

It's suggested that there are five steps we can all take to improve our mental wellbeing (click on the poster to download a copy)...

Take notice

Remind people to be more aware of the present moment, including their feelings and thoughts, their body and the world around them. Encourage them to think about their experiences and how they feel, as this will help them realise what matters to them and how to approach different challenges.

Connect

Encourage people to connect with the people around them, including family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. It's important to spend time on these relationships.

Be active

Remind people that they don't have to go to the gym to be active. They can take a walk, go cycling or play a game of football. Encourage them to find an activity they enjoy and make it a regular part of their life.

Give

The smallest act of giving can make a huge difference, whether it's a kind word, a thank you or even just a smile! There are larger acts of giving, such as volunteering within the local community, all of which can help improve a person's mental wellbeing and build new social connections.

Keep learning

Learning new skills can boost self-confidence and self-esteem, along with helping to build a sense of purpose and a connection with others, whether it's taking a cooking course or learning to play a musical instrument.

Additional information

Everyone's mental wellbeing fluctuates throughout their life, but it's important to never just put up with poor mental health. There's plenty of advice, help and support available both locally and national, so people should always be encouraged to ask for more support (your GP is a good starting point).

For more information, take a look at the mental health and wellbeing page on the Talk Community Directory, where you can also download a copy of the mental wellbeing leaflet.