Tips for Supporting a Friend’s Mental Wellness

There are a lot of things you and your friends can do to help strengthen mental wellness.

This section has tips that can help you and your friends to better deal with challenging life events. Supporting your friend to try new strategies, can help them to figure out what works for them.

To maintain mental wellness we need to find a balance in all areas of our lives, including physical, social, personal, emotional, work, financial, school and spiritual aspects. This is an ongoing process, and everyone’s personal balance will be different.

It is important for everyone to get enough sleep, eat healthy and be active.

Other Ideas for Maintaining Mental Wellness:

• Build confidence. Point out those things your friend is good at, build on them and encourage your friend to do their best.
• Give compliments. They help us to remember the positives in our lives when times get tough.
• Give and accept support. Support each other through tough times – support your friend and then reach out to them when you need support.
• Manage stress. Help your friend to learn what stresses them out and how they can manage it in healthy ways before it overwhelms them. Check out the Tips and Apps & Tools on foundrybc.ca for helpful ways to manage stress.
• Deal with moods. Support your friend to find safe and constructive ways to express negative feelings such as anger or sadness. Some good ways to deal with negative feelings are: sports, writing (keeping a journal), painting, dancing and making crafts
• Practice relaxation together. Check out the Breathr app for simple mindfulness activities or Mindshift app for relaxation exercises.
• Have fun together!
• Encourage your friend to do things they are good at and to have the courage to step outside their comfort zone and try something new.
• Share humour. Take some time to laugh with your friend.
• Be accepting of different body types, sizes and abilities. Speak up and challenge common beliefs about body size and shape: “There is no “perfect” body.” “You don’t have to be thin to be beautiful.” “You look great in those pants.” Focus on what you like about who they are as people.

Help your friend to recognize their strengths and feel good about themselves. That will help you to recognize your own strengths and ways you can promote your own mental wellness.