What is mental health?
We all have mental health. Being mentally healthy means you can cope with life’s everyday challenges and understand your own general wellbeing. Being mentally healthy means a lot more than just the absence of mental health difficulties.
During our lives we all have ups and downs with our mental health. Most of the time these negative feelings pass, but if they begin to get in the way of your life, there are ways to help yourself and and organisations like Shine who you can ask for support.
There are lots of things we can do each day to mind our mental health and help us to get through the low points. Good ways to care for your mental health include:
- talking about what’s going on for you,
- eating well,
- keeping active,
- being kind and compassionate to yourself, and
- seeking support.
Sometimes people need support for their mental health difficulties. People ask for help and start their journey of recovery every day.
What are mental health difficulties?
All of us experience difficulties with our mental health from time to time. This is normal.
Mental health difficulties can affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. They can range from the worries we all experience as part of everyday life to serious long-term conditions. Each person’s experience of mental health difficulties is unique, even among people with the same diagnosis.
When mental health difficulties interfere with your life, it may be time to look for help and support. Getting help early makes it much more likely that you will have a full recovery.
See the supports we offer.
Types of complex mental health difficulties
This section tells you about some complex mental health difficulties:
We explain each mental health difficulty and the symptoms and support involved. We explain psychosis at the end, but it can be a symptom in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder.
