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Mental Health is knowing and accepting yourself, understanding
what makes you happy, building meaningful relationships, coping
with problems of day-to-day living and maintaining a sense of
humor. It also means striking a balance in all aspects of your
life: social, physical, spiritual, economic and mental. Reaching a
balance is a learning process. At times, you may tip too much in
one direction and have to find your footing again. Your personal
balance is unique, and your challenge is to stay mentally healthy
by keeping that balance. It's easier if you Practice Mind +
Body Fitness.* In a sense, mental health is like the
weather: it is the emotional and psychological climate in which we
live. Like the weather, it is affected by systems moving through,
sometimes fine, sometimes overcast, sometimes stormy. Mental
health, therefore, is our positive interaction with the context
and events of our lives. It is critically affected by our life
situation and the amount of support and control we have to deal
with our circumstances.
Mental health is about coping with the challenges of life: from
bereavement to job stress to relationship problems. Strong support
networks and financial security can help a person cope with mental
health problems, whereas living in poverty or abuse, with little
control over circumstances, places serious strain on someone's
mental health. Income, housing, education and employment - or the
lack of these - are key factors affecting our sense of well-being.
Anything making it difficult for an individual, group and
environment to interact effectively, can become a threat or
barrier to mental health, and may result in a mental health
problem.**
*Excerpts from CMHA National web site
**Excerpts from "Valuing Mental Health: A Framework to
Support the Development of a Provincial Mental Health Policy for
Newfoundland and Labrador, September 2001
http://www.gov.nf.ca/publicat/MentalHealthPolicyPaper.pdf
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