The Building Blocks to Resilient Mental Health Skills
A stable support network, regular exercise, a healthy diet, and more all go into forming the skills necessary for maintaining your mental health. Effective mental health skill-building with a professional can ensure you make these improvements in your life and more.
Below, we describe some of the building blocks that lead to strong mental health skills:
Form A Support Network
The most important building block of mental health skills is a support network of either close friends, colleagues, and family members. A strong support system helps one feel connected and understood by others, grounding you and reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Your support group should include people that you spend time with and depend on. They can be friends, siblings, parent(s), relatives, teachers, school counselors, or a NAMI support group. Spending time with others can help alleviate anxieties or other struggles, boost your mood, and ensure you have an active lifestyle, improving your overall well-being.
Spend Time Outdoors
The environment we spend our time in profoundly influences our mental health, and most Americans spend a majority of their time indoors. Much of that time is spent at home or in the workplace, leaving little to go outside.
Changing our scenery and spending time outdoors can make a positive change in one’s mental health. Going outside exposes you to the sun, stimulating your body to produce neurochemicals like serotonin and receiving nutrients like Vitamin D. These substances help you regulate your mood and sleep cycles.
Being outside also separates you from environmental factors that may be affecting your mental health. You may find that doing so gives you a moment to peacefully reflect and think about how you can make other positive changes.
Develop Healthy Habits
Mental and physical health are tied together, and each affects the other in a variety of ways. In general, caring for one’s physical health can change and positively influence one’s mental wellbeing.
For instance, performing at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day encourages your body to release natural mood-improving hormones like serotonin and endorphins. Your activity could include:
- Taking a walk
- Arranging and tending to a garden
- Exercising at a gym
- Swimming
- Rock climbing
Plus, the more active you become, the better you’ll feel. It also improves your energy levels and allows you to spend more time with those that support you.
Learn & Challenge Your Mind
Learning and personal growth are also effective ways to induce positive changes in your mental well-being. Thus, you should regularly challenge your mind and body. You could develop healthy habits, as discussed previously, as well as new skills and hobbies, such as:
- Drawing
- Painting
- Writing
- Photography
- Video Editing
- Programming/Coding
- Playing an Instrument
Learning new things challenges your mind and creates confidence as you progress towards mastery. This outcome, in turn, helps improve mental health and provides you with lifelong interests.
Therapeutic Alliance: Mental Health Skill Building in Lynchburg, VA
By developing mental health skill-building, you can increase the likelihood of maintaining your health and development. To help you achieve this, you can work with a specialist in professional mental health skill-building from Therapeutic Alliance. Our clients have enjoyed working with and receiving treatment from our mental health specialists, who cover a variety of areas including family counseling, autism behavior, anger management, and more. Contact us at (833) 319-0526 to learn more about our mental health services at Therapeutic Alliance.
