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Building Great Mental Health

Writer's picture: Mo Bamuwagun (She/Her)Mo Bamuwagun (She/Her)

Six foundational steps towards positive mental health, mental health recovery, sustaining/building resilience and making your therapy more impactful.


Yes, I said, "build". Good mental health is built and maintained one brick at a time, daily. And some of those bricks are pretty foundational and impactful. They help with stability and snowball into growth and resilience. Starting the conversation from these key foundational pieces is essential and in my experience, just makes the support I provide exponentially impactful.


So, here are my six key foundational pieces towards building and sustaining your mental health. There are tons of research to back these up too!


#1 - Nutrition


Now, we are not talking vegan, keto, fasting or any other diet culture rave (yes, I have a thing for diet culture). Rather, the questions are; Is my body getting the nutrition it needs to sustain the lifestyle I desire? Are my nutritional needs being met? I'm I relying on coffee and energy drinks?



#2 - Movement


People, it's movement not exercise, that was a very deliberate word choice. Dance, walk, stretch, kick-box, skate, wall climb, swim or use one of those hand-held computer games/sport/dance thingy, all good! We want to have fun while we get those #endorphins going! And most importantly, we want sustainable activities.


"While exercise is geared towards "results" and feels like work, movement is a celebration of your body, health and vitality." – Natalie Shay

#3 - Sleep


Here is one I struggled with for some time. Then, I read the science on sleep and was blown away by how much it contributes to our overall being. I decided to put routines in place and now, I guard my sleep so religiously that my kids tease me, all the time!

Here is the link to my favourite sleep podcast by Dr Walker - https://www.sleepdiplomat.com/podcast

Dr Matthew Walker (PhD) can be found @sleepdiplomat on Twitter.


#4 - Hydrate


With water! That's all there is.


#5 - Community


One of our most fundamental needs as humans is to engage and live in community. Human contact is foundational and that is why covid was so difficult for all our mental health. We may not always have access to a larger community, but we can scroll through the contacts on our phone and call someone up for a short hello.......


#6 - Outside


Lastly, we are not vampires and were not meant to live like one (yes twilight fans). See the sun, see the sky, see the light! Start by looking out the window daily, or sit on the front stairs for ten minutes, that's a great start. There is science and research to back this up. As humans, we need to see the natural rays of light daily to properly regulate our circadian rhythm and connect to our common humanity.



So, those are my keys to building and sustaining your mental health. They also help your journey towards recovery from anxiety, depression, trauma or any other mental health concern. When I work with clients who pay attention to these, there is an obvious positive impact on the work we do together in therapy. If you struggle with any of these, talk to your therapist about strategies to help build healthy routines.


Lastly, don't get overwhelmed by tackling all at once, pick a focus for the week or month and go from there. You've got this!


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