October is world mental health month. In order to raise awareness, the school counselor would like to share some information with you.
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.
Good mental wellbeing doesn’t mean you’re always happy or unaffected by your experiences. But poor mental wellbeing can make it more difficult to cope with daily life.
The following are feelings or behaviors that you or someone you know can experience as early warning sign of poor mental wellbeing:
- Pulling away from people and usual activities
- Eating or sleeping too much or too little
- Having low or no energy
- Feeling numb or like nothing matters
- Having unexplained aches and pains
- Feeling helpless or hopeless
- Smoking, drinking, or using drugs more than usual
- Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared
- Yelling or fighting with family and friends
- Experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
- Having persistent thoughts and memories you can’t get out of your head
- Hearing voices or believing things that are not true
- Thinking of harming yourself or others
- Inability to perform daily tasks like taking care of your kids or getting to work or school
There are many strategies we can use to maintain wellbeing and positive mental health. For further information about maintaining your healthy well being I recommend visiting the Mental Health Tips website.
As always, feel free to reach out to Ms. Maitha or Ms. Sharouq, the ABIS counsellors, for more information.