Looking after your mental health is as important as looking after your physical health.

• Kids Helpline – Life throws us curve balls every day. Kids Helpline has lots of information to help you manage the tricky times, or connect with someone to get advice.
• ReachOut: Stress – We all experience stress from time to time. To help you manage stressful situations and get back a sense of control, check out these helpful strategies from ReachOut.
• ReachOut: Mental fitness – Mental fitness is just like physical fitness - we have to work at it. ReachOut can show you a number of ways to look after your mental fitness.

Sometimes you might be the first one to notice when your friend seems to be doing it tough and you need some ideas on how to help.

• headspace: How to help a friend going through a tough time – Knowing what to say or do when a friend is having a tough time can be hard. Check out headspace for tips on what to do, even if your friend is pushing you away.
• ReachOut: How to ask a friend if they're okay – Not sure how to ask if your friend's OK? Here's some helpful tips from ReachOut on how to start the conversation.
• Beyond Blue: The Check-in App – Beyond Blue's Check-in app guides you through four steps to helping a friend. It can also link you up with online and phone services - all on your mobile.

Where to get help

• For support, speak with a trusted friend, family member, carer or school staff member.
• School staff are available to listen to your concerns and provide you with assistance.
• For primary school students, talking to your class teacher is a great place to start.
• For secondary school students, you can to speak to your year adviser, student support officer or head teacher, wellbeing.
• School counsellors and school psychologists and other wellbeing staff are available to help.

Useful resources

• Department of Education: Wellbeing services – Everyone needs help sometimes and there's lots of advice and support out there. Many services have online and phone options, so you can chat with a mental health professional at a time and in a way, that works best for you.
• ReachOut School – tools, advice and resources for students in Year 7 and beyond.
• ReachOut: 6 ways to get help for mental health – If you feel you need some help but don't know where to start, ReachOut has some great ideas for where to go for the support you're after.
• headspace: how headspace can help – When things get tough, it can help to talk to someone who understands what you're going through. headspace has lots of support services to get you back on track and look after your mental health.

Voice-over 

At every school there are people you can talk to should you ever have a problem. It doesn’t matter how big or small that problem might feel to you. They’re there to help. 

How about we go meet some of them? 

Your teacher is always willing to listen and help. If they feel they are not the best person to help, they will know someone who can. 

Your year adviser can also support you. They can help if you are having problems with friends and managing your school work. They can also connect you with other people who can help. 

If your school has a wellbeing head teacher, or a WHIN Coordinator, you can also speak with them. They will work with you to decide who you want to talk to about whatever is going on. They’re there to support you. 

There may also be a student support officer in your school who runs wellbeing programs with groups of students to help everyone feel and stay connected. They’re there to listen to you and figure out the best way to help you. If you need specialist help, they can organise that for you, too. 

Public school students right across New South Wales, from Kindergarten to Year 12, can speak to a school counsellor or school psychologist. These staff have qualifications in psychology and work specifically with young people to provide extra advice and support. You can talk to them about all sorts of problems, and they can help you to understand, and manage, your thoughts and feelings. Some students talk to them when they are feeling sad, or anxious, but others just want some good advice on learning how to cope with things. 

So, as you can see, there are lots of different people at your school that you can talk to. Because when it comes to looking after your mental health and wellbeing, you don’t have to do it on your own. 

[End]