The following is an excerpt from the Kids Help Phone Website about Mental Health:
Mental health is a range of thoughts, feelings and experiences that make up your overall mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Your mental health is impacted by a number of different things that are unique to you, so no one person’s experience is the same.
Some factors that can influence your mental health include:
- your physical health
- school or work
- your community and social support
- your family, friends and other relationships
- spirituality
- experiences of prejudice or discrimination (e.g. colonialism, racism, ableism, sexism, homophobia and others)
- past trauma and/or ongoing traumatic experiences
- gender, age, race or ethnic background
- access to services and support (e.g. income, food insecurity, housing, job security and others)
- the tools you’ve learned for coping with and handling tough emotions
- stigma and barriers that impact your ability to reach out
- and more
What are mental health challenges?
Because so many things impact your mental health, it’s common to experience challenges from time to time. School, family, work and physical health may all seem separate, but are actually connected. When one thing changes, it can affect other areas of your life and as a result, impact your mental health. For example, if you’re not feeling well and can’t see your friends or participate in activities you enjoy, you may feel sad, lonely, stressed, worried, etc. No matter how you’re feeling, your experience is valid and it’s important to reach out for support when you need it.
(https://kidshelpphone.ca/get-info/what-is-mental-health/)
The links to the right will take you to websites for a variety of Mental Health supports - More supports are available here on the TDSB Website.