Pause, reflect, reconnect

HEADSPACE Swan Hill is encouraging young people to slow down and take time to prioritise their mental health this headspace day.

Headspace Day, held on October 5, is a national day of support for the mental health and wellbeing of all young Australians.

The headspace network works together to ensure that on this day and every day, local youth and their loved ones are encouraged to practice self-care behaviour using the seven tips for a healthy headspace.

These are getting into life, learning skills for tough times, creating connections, staying active, getting enough sleep, eating well and cutting back on alcohol and other drugs.

It also provides the opportunity to bring awareness about the mental health and wellbeing of young people, and the ways their family and friends can support them and empower local communities to have conversations about youth mental health.

This year’s theme is “Pause.Reflect.Reconnect”, developed in partnership with young people, who shared that many of them continuously feel stressed, and they are facing a unique set of challenges including study, school, work or home life and relationships, making it hard for them to feel mentally healthy with many struggling to manage it all.

The headspace Swan Hill team has reminded young people and their loved ones that it can be helpful to slow down and take a minute.

To pause and reflect. To reconnect and to take a minute to reconnect with what they love and enjoy.

Experiencing mental health difficulties alone can be very challenging, finding a trusted person in life, like a family member, friend, teacher, coach, Elder etc is a good first step.

Starting a conversation and emphasising that it is normal to have ups and downs and reminding them that everyone looks after their wellbeing in different ways is a great way to support a young person to actively maintain their mental health.

There is a wide range of resources available on the headspace website (headspace.org.au) for both young people and their friends, family and support people. If you are or know a young person who may be need support they can reach out and seek help through headspace either face to face, online or via the phone.

This week, headspace Swan Hill marked the occasion with celebratory cupcakes promoting the chance to pause and reflect and hosted a free barbecue lunch and activities at Manangatang P-12 school to reconnect students and staff.