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Self-Care

Mental Health Self-Care are resources and services that you can use by yourself and/or with your informal supports (e.g., family or friends). 

 

Self-Care is “the ability to care for oneself through awareness, self-control, and self-reliance in order to achieve, maintain, or promote optimal health and well-being.” 

 

Self-care involves making decisions that help you to be well and stay well. Self-care can involve easy decisions, like taking a bubble bath, but more often it involves hard decisions, such as choosing to eat healthy foods or choosing to limit contact with critical family members. 

 

Self-care differs for every person and situation. An activity that helps one person to be well may not help another person; for example, going to a social gathering may recharge an outgoing individual but drain a reserved individual. Similarly, the same activity may recharge you in one situation and drain you in another. For example, going on a trip could recharge or drain you depending on your mood, energy level, and circumstance at the time of the trip. 

 

To practice self-care, begin by using one of the following informative or interactive resources, which cover various mental health topics. Remember, self-care starts with the basics. Ask yourself, “Am I getting enough sleep? Am I drinking enough water? Am I eating a balanced diet? Am I getting fresh air? Am I exercising?” 

Mental Health Self-Care 

Inform – increase your awareness of mental health                        

Interact– explore small changes to improve your mental health