Health & Wellbeing
What do we mean by mental health?
Mental health is sometimes called emotional health or wellbeing. Everyone has mental health. It’s what affects how we think, feel and behave, and determines how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices.
Our mental health can change over time. Sometimes we can get mentally ill, the same as we can get physically ill. But the same as when we get physically ill, there is always someone to help you.
Mental health problems are when difficulties get in the way of how we think and feel. This can mean that we find it hard to cope with family life, relationships, school or the wider world.
What can I do?
There are things you can do to help you with your mental health:
- Firstly speaking to a trusted person about how you are feeling; this could be family, friends, doctor, school nurse or counsellor.
- Get some regular exercise – there is a proven link between exercise and better mental health.
- Do things you enjoy whether it is skateboarding, hanging out with friends or reading.
- Try to eat regularly even if it is small but often, and try to make health choices.
Where can I get help & advice?
If you are worried about yours or someone else’s mental health, speak to an adult that you trust, this could be family, doctor, school nurse, teacher or counsellor. They will be able to support you.
CAMHS have a good advice page to help you with some of the things that you might be experiencing, or some of the difficulties that you might be having, and some top tips on how to manage them.
There are some other organisations that can help:
There are many different ways in which young people self-harm, but the thing that they all have in common is it is used as a way of managing difficult or distressing feelings or experiences. It’s not just young people who self-harm. Self-harm can be a way of coping for lots of different people in society – young or old. If you are struggling with difficult thoughts, feelings or experiences and using self-harm as a way of dealing with them, there is a strong possibility that you are not the only one in your class or circle of friends.
Self-harm is way of coping with difficult and distressing feelings. It can include anything that you do that causes you an injury or harms you in some way. Sometimes it might be called self-injury.
Common things we might consider being self-harm include:
- cutting yourself
- burning yourself
- taking overdoses of tablets (this can be prescribed medication, over the counter medication or illegal drugs)
- anything that causes you to be harmed or placed in danger in some way
Other examples might include:
- using food to deal with feelings,
- not allowing yourself fun-time or friends
- working so hard you don’t go to bed
- putting yourself in risky or dangerous situations
- banging your head against a wall
- breaking your own bones
- throwing yourself down the stairs
- pulling your hair out
Some of the risky or dangerous things young people might do include:
- having unprotected sex
- getting into fights
- driving too fast or getting into cars being driven dangerously
- using drugs or alcohol to escape or have a break from their current life
Some people describe self-harm as
- a way of having a break from difficult things in their life
- a way of punishing themselves – perhaps because they feel so bad about themselves and their life
- a way of communicating to other people how much emotional pain they feel, perhaps when they cannot find the words to describe all their thoughts and feelings
There are many different reasons why young people self-harm and these are just some of things that young people tell us about why they harm or hurt themselves.
Self-harm is not about ending your life or committing suicide, however sometimes people feel unsure whether they want to die or not. Sometimes people do harm themselves in ways that are very dangerous, and it can be possible to accidentally kill yourself. For this reason it is really important to know when to ask for help or get immediate medical treatment.
Cutting can be very dangerous, especially if you cut deep and cut on certain parts of the body. If you cannot stop a cut bleeding or it is deep then you may need stitches or other treatment. You should see a medical professional if this is the case. You can go to your local A&E department, or depending on how severe the cut or bleeding is you could go to an NHS Walk-in Centre.
Overdosing is always dangerous and just because someone might have taken the same tablets before and been ok, it does not mean that everything will be ok this time.
There can be unseen damage going on inside your body when you overdose, so it always important to tell someone when you have overdosed – even if you feel ok!
You can go to your local A&E department and they will be able to talk to you about what you have taken and give you any treatment you need to avoid long term damage, and they can also give you information about where to go to speak to someone about your self-harm and why you might be self-harming.
If you think that you would like to talk to someone about your self-harm and what else might be going on in your life that you are finding difficult, there are lots of different people who can help.
If you are struggling with self-harm, for further support:
- Samaritans offer emotional support 24 hours a day Tel: 116 123 Email: jo@samaritans.org Web: samaritans.org
- Papyrus UK Work with people under 35 who are having suicidal feelings, and with people who are worried about someone under 35. Their helpline is open 10am – 10pm in the week and between 2pm and 10pm at weekends and bank holidays. Telephone: 0800 068 41 41 Email: pat@papyrus-uk.org Text: 07786 209697
- Sane Line offer specialist mental health emotional support 4.30-10.30pm everyday. Tel: 0300 304 7000 Web: sane.org.uk
- Shout text service: You can text Shout to 85258 to connect to a trained person to help you. See giveusashout.org for more information.