Plan to Protect your Mental Health &

Wellbeing

Mental health is how you think and feel about yourself. It is also how you cope when times get

tough. Problems you may encounter will range from general everyday worries to serious long-term

conditions, all of which affect your wellbeing – the state of being comfortable, healthy and happy.

Modern life is becoming increasingly hectic and we need to ‘plan to protect our mental health &

wellbeing’. Here are five ways to improve your wellbeing:

1. Connect

– do you connect with people around you? Family, friends, colleagues, neighbours? At home,

work, school, in your local community?

2. Be active

– do you exercise? Do you get outside, go for walks, potter in the garden? Have a sustainable

pattern of doing more rather than being active one day and not the rest

3. Take notice

– Are you aware of the world around you: sights, smells, sounds, temperature? Do you take time

to notice how you are feeling? Do you savour the moment?

4. Keep learning

– When was the last time you tried something new? Have you set yourself a challenge recently?

5. Give

– Do you see yourself and your happiness in relation to the wider community? Have you tried

volunteering? When did you last do something nice for a relative, friend or stranger?

Try tracking your progress in these five key areas by printing out the exercise below.

Understand your mental health & wellbeing – where are you now?

To start with, you should reflect on your current state of wellbeing by answering the five questions

below and rating yourself 1-to-5 against each one, 1 being ‘not so brilliant’ and 5 being ‘doing great’.

Make a note of any you rated yourself 3 or below on, as these are areas you need to pay attention to for the sake of your wellbeing. Next, examine those that you rate a 4 or 5 for to work out why you scored them so highly. Make a note of the reasons you have done well in these categories.

You should revisit this exercise from time to time to determine how you have changed and which of the areas to work on that are pertinent at that time.

Wellbeing is frustratingly transient, so your state of physical, emotional and mental wellbeing will change depending on your experiences, your perception of those experiences and the methods you use to cope with their positive or negative effects.