There are lots of things you and your friends can do to help strengthen mental wellness. We all need to figure out what ways of managing our mental health work for us.

This section has suggestions and things you can do that can help you and your friends to better deal with concerns life brings Supporting your friend to try new strategies can help them to figure out what works for them.

Maintaining mental wellness means finding a balance in all areas of our lives, including physical, social, personal, emotional, work/financial, academic, and spiritual. Reaching and keeping a balance is an ongoing process.

Some strategies, such as getting enough sleep, eating healthy and exercising help everyone’s mental and physical wellness.

Other Ideas for Maintaining Mental Wellness

• Build confidence – identify your friend’s abilities and strengths, build on them, and encourage your friend to do their best.
• Give compliments – compliments help us to remember the positives in our lives, especially when times get tough.
• Give and accept support
• Manage stress – help your friend to learn what stresses them and how they can manage it in healthy ways before it overwhelms them.
• Deal with moods – support your friend to find safe and constructive ways to talk about negative feelings, such as anger or sadness. Sports, writing (keeping a journal), painting, dancing, making crafts, are all good ways to help deal with difficult emotions.
• Have fun together!
• Encourage your friend to do things they’re good at and to have the courage to step outside their comfort zone and try something new.
• Share humour – take some time to laugh with your friend.
• Be accepting of different types of people, and include others even if they are different than you. Focus on what you like about who they are as people.

Helping others to acknowledge their strengths and feel good about themselves can also help you recognize your own strengths and ways you can support your own mental wellness.

Did you know?

Practicing relaxation techniques and mindfulness exercises together can be a great strategy to lower stress and manage anxiety. Look into some of these techniques and exercises for Dealing with Stress.