Mental Health Resources

Reach Out is an org that supports youth mental health completely online. They have forums (that are moderated by professionals) where young people can chat to each other about what they’re going through, whether it be mental health, hobbies or the stress of being in year 12 etc.

Forums | Join the discussion

Twenty10 is a youth org who specifically supports LGBTQIA+ young people

LGBTIQA Webchat – Online Counselling – Qlife

If you have a medicare card then all of headspace’s services are completely free!

Hurstville | Youth Mental Health Centre & Services

EXERCISES

Controlled Breathing

The following steps should all be carried out in the cycle of one breath:

First, let your lips part. Make a whooshing sound, exhaling completely through your mouth.

1. Next, close your lips, inhaling silently through your nose as you count to four in your head.
2. Then, for two seconds, hold your breath.
3. Make another whooshing exhale from your mouth for five seconds.

It’s best to start small with only four breaths this way and work your way up to eight. You can do this at any time, you don’t need to be already feeling anxious!

5-4-3-2-1 Coping Technique for Anxiety By: Sara Smith, BSW

Before starting this exercise, pay attention to your breathing. Slow, deep, long breaths can help you maintain a sense of calm or help you return to a calmer state. Once you find your breath, go through the following steps to help ground yourself:

5: Acknowledge FIVE things you see around you. It could be a pen, a spot on the ceiling, anything in your surroundings.
4: Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch around you. It could be your hair, a pillow, or the ground under your feet.
3: Acknowledge THREE things you hear. This could be any external sound. If you can hear your belly rumbling that counts! Focus on things you can hear outside of your body.
2: Acknowledge TWO things you can smell. Maybe you are at school and smell a pencil, or maybe you are in your bedroom and smell a pillow. If you need to take a brief walk to find a scent you could smell soap in your bathroom, or nature outside.
1: Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste. What does the inside of your mouth taste like—gum, coffee, or the sandwich from lunch?

READ UP

Reach Out is an org that supports youth mental health completely online. They have forums (that are moderated by professionals) where young people can chat to each other about what they’re going through, whether it be mental health, hobbies or the stress of being in year 12 etc.

ReachOut Australia: Welcome to ReachOut.com

Headspace has some great articles with information about how to deal with many different emotions and situations. You can filter by concern and you’ll get information relevant to you.

For young people – In category Life issues

SOCIALISE

Twenty10 is a youth org who specifically supports LGBTQIA+ young people. During COVID they’ve been holding a drop in on Discord for ages 12-25, the next one is coming up on Jun 17

Twenty10 on Discord (ages 12-25)

WATCH

Leaves on a stream is a really great exercise for letting go of repetitive thoughts that may be bothering you

Leaves on a Stream

How controlled breathing works

Controlled Breathing

APPS

Practice your daily meditation and mindfulness exercises from any device.

Smiling Mind is a unique tool developed by psychologists and educators to help bring balance to your life.

Smiling Mind App

Learn to meditate with our free Basics pack, a 10-day beginner’s course that guides you through the essentials of meditation and mindfulness. It’ll give you a solid foundation to build your practice on.

Guided Meditation and Mindfulness – The Headspace App

Calm is a guided meditation app to help reduce stress and enhance wellbeing. The 7-step program teaches you how to meditate, with adjustable nature scenes and relaxing music tracks. Sessions range from 2 to 30 minutes on the topics of focus, creativity, energy, confidence, sleep and more

Calm – The #1 App for Meditation and Sleep

Free Evidence-Based Mental Health Relief

Is anxiety getting in the way of your life? MindShift™ CBT uses scientifically proven strategies based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help you learn to relax and be mindful, develop more effective ways of thinking, and use active steps to take charge of your anxiety.

MindShift™ CBT

Clear Fear is an app developed for teenage mental health charity stem4 by Dr Nihara Krause, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, and uses the evidence-based treatment CBT to focus on learning to reduce the physical responses to threat by learning to breathe, relax and be mindful as well as changing thoughts and behaviours and releasing emotions.

Home – Clear Fear App