What is emotional health and why is it important?

Aoife

Our talented graphic designer Vicky has designed an amazing post with the content written by our very own @Gemma. It's all about emotional health and we wanted to share with you all

Emotional health is about how we think and feel, and our sense of wellbeing. Good emotional health is an ability to acknowledge, understand, and manage our emotions. Read more below to learn about emotional health and why it's important





















Alt text:

Slide 1
An illustration of two young people with a speech bubble above them that reads “Why is our emotional health and wellbeing important?”, The heading of the image reads “EMOTIONAL HEALTH WEEK”

Slide 2
The heading of the image reads “What is emotional health?”. There is a bubble of text below that reads “Emotional health is about how we think and feel, and our sense of wellbeing. Good emotional health is an ability to acknowledge, understand, and manage our emotions. It doesn't mean being happy all the time.”

Slide 3
There is an illustration of 4 smiley faces each representing a mood from struggling to coping well. There is text above and below this diagram that reads “We can think of emotional health as a spectrum, ranging from struggling with our feelings to coping well.” And “We can think of emotional health as a spectrum, ranging from struggling with our feelings to coping well.”

Slide 4
There is text below that reads “It's normal for us to experience many different feelings, and not all of them will be positive ones. The way we feel can change every day, or even minute by minute. Our days might look something like this:” there is an illustration of a graph to represent emotion over time. The line on the graph goes up and down to represent changing emotion. It starts of low emotion with text that reads “Late to school after missing the bus”. The line goes up to represent emotion improving with text that reads “Remembered going to the cinema with friends after school”. The line decreases again and there is text below that reads “left school bag in cinema”. The line increases and the text reads “woke up early to finish homework but completed in time.” The line decreases again and it says “realised there was another task to complete for homework.” The line increases again to the peak of the graph that reads “Met up with family for a birthday party”.

Slide 5
The heading of the image reads “Signs we might be struggling”. There is text below in five bubbles that read “Mood changes”, “Struggling to find enjoyment in things we usually would.”, “Feeling tired all the time”, “struggling to concentrate”, “feeling anxious or agitated”

Slide 6
The text on this image reads “There are lots of things we all do daily that help us to cope with difficult emotions and keep us emotionally healthy:” there is text below in 6 bubbles that read “sports and hobbies”, “spending time with friends, family or pets”, “taking time to relax”, “listening to music, watching films or playing games”, “doing something we enjoy”, “talking to someone we trust”.

Slide 7
There is a white bubble with text inside that reads “When there are more downs to our days than ups, and the downs get deeper, it's important to reach out and talk to someone if we're struggling to bounce back from negative feelings. Some people are better at hiding it if they're unhappy. But ignoring the problem or bottling it up is never good.”

Slide 8
The heading reads “How can talking help?” There is a white bubble of text below which reads “Often we don't really know how we feel, so saying it out loud can help identify the issue. Small worries can seem huge if they are filling our thoughts. Talking can help lift a weight- we know if we feel bad again, there is someone who cares enough to listen”

Slide 9
The heading reads “Who can we talk to?” There are 5 bubbles of text which read “Friend” “Teacher” “Parent” “Someone in our family” “The Mix’s Online Community”

Slide 10
The text on this slide reads “Remember, being emotionally healthy is NOT the same as being happy all the time. Everyone feels low at times, it's normal. It's important we take care of ourselves. If we are feeling overwhelmed or don't know what to do to help us get back on track, we should reach out for help.”