Self-care is the practice of engaging in activities that take care of your health and actively manage poor mental health when it occurs. To help us understand self-care and the role it plays in maintaining positive mental health or recovery from poor mental health better, we can refer to the self-care continuum. The self-care continuum, developed by UK-based health charity Self Care Forum , illustrates the spectrum of health care in the UK. Starting with our individual responsibility to make daily choices for our health, self-care is a fundamental part of creating a healthy lifestyle. It also plays a vital role in alleviating the negative effects we experience during periods of poor health. The same could be true for long-term conditions where we may self-manage without intervention from a health professional (12). Cortisol is a naturally occurring hormone that helps to manage the body’s stress response, but too much can be bad for our health. Managing stress levels by practising self-care can reduce cortisol levels in the body – which is demonstrated by the Stress Container model. When we practice self-care, we can help to stop our container overflowing by releasing our stressors via the container’s tap. With the rise of self-care culture, there is an increasing onus on individuals to fully manage their own mental health, with many solutions having an emphasis on physical beauty or making a financial investment or purchase. The aim of practising self-care should be to carry out activities that make us feel better, not to overextend ourselves. Try to be realistic and think about any time, financial, or energy requirements a self-care activity has. Self-care differs person to person and can change over time. Some things we might do daily, and some might be once a year, like enjoying a great holiday. You may also need to deal with the feelings and reactions you set aside during the conversation. Youth MHFAiders can also access Shout’s mental health text support service via the MHFAider Support App. It can also be helpful to make reflective notes on
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