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Mental Health

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Mental health is not only the avoidance of serious mental illness. Your mental health is affected by numerous factors from your daily life, including the stress of balancing work with your health and relationships. In this section you will find resources to help you stay mentally fit and healthy.

Looking for mental health tips or interested in more information about a specific mental health issue? Read more in our documents below.

Anxiety Disorders

We all feel nervous or worried at times. This anxiety can be a helpful feeling when it motivates us or warns us of danger. An anxiety disorder, on the other…

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Care for the Caregivers

More and more Canadians take care of friends, family members, and loved ones of all ages living with a mental health problem, whether they live together at home or not. Caring…

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Children, Youth, and Anxiety

Anxiety is a normal and expected response to a threat. It’s what helps you notice danger and keeps you safe until a threat passes. Threats are not just about physical safety….

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Children, Youth, and Depression

While we may think of low mood or other challenges as adult problems, they can affect people at any age. Children and teens can experience mental illnesses like depression. Sometimes…

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Concurrent Mental Illness and Substance Use Problems

What Do We Mean? A concurrent mental illness and substance use problem means that someone experiences a mental illness and, at the same time, uses substances like alcohol or other drugs…

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Coping With Loneliness

Loneliness is an experience that means our current close relationships don’t meet our needs. Despite the name, you don’t always have to be alone to feel lonely. Loneliness can come…

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Depression and Bipolar Disorder

We all experience changes in our mood. Sometimes we feel energetic, full of ideas, or irritable, and other times we feel sad or down. But these moods usually don’t last…

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Eating Disorders

Every day, we are surrounded by different messages from different sources that impact the way we feel about the way we look. For some, poor body image is a sign…

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Feeling Angry

We all feel angry sometimes. Most of the time, we can deal with feelings of anger or irritability quickly. We may resolve the situation or look at the problem from…

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Getting Help

Some people worry about asking for help because there can be stigma around mental health problems. They may believe that asking for help means admitting that something is wrong. Some…

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Grieving

Loss is one of life’s most stressful events. It takes time to heal, and everyone responds differently. We may need help to cope with the changes in our lives. Grief…

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Medications for Mental Illnesses

The decision to use medication—or any other treatment—is an ongoing conversation between you and your doctor. Since you are the most important part of your treatment plan, your choices and…

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Mental Health for Life

Mental health is key to our well-being. We cant be truly healthy without it. It involves how we feel, think, act, and interact with the world around us. Mental health…

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Mental Illnesses

What do you think of when you hear that someone is experiencing a mental illness? Some people feel concern, fear, or confusion. Some even avoid those who experience mental illnesses….

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Mental Illnesses in the Workplace

Work is important to our well-being. In addition to the income it brings, it can be a big part of our identity, how we understand our skills, and a way…

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Myths About Mental Illness

Mental illnesses affect everyone in some way. We all likely know someone who has experienced a mental illness at some point. Yet there are still many hurtful attitudes around mental…

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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Many of us have small habits that make us feel better, but we can also live without them. For example, we might think of something as lucky or have a…

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Phobias and Panic Disorders

Everyone feels scared at times. But sometimes, fear can come up in a situation that isnt expected. This fear stops us from going about our usual routines or working towards…

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Frightening situations happen to everyone at some point. People can react in many different ways: they might feel nervous, have a hard time sleeping well, or go over the details…

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Postpartum Depression

Bringing a new baby into the family can be challenging at the best of times, both physically and emotionally. It is natural for new parents to experience mood swings, feeling…

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Preventing Suicide

Suicide. Its a difficult topic to bring up. However, when someone talks about suicide or brings up concern for a loved one, its important to take action and seek help…

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Psychotherapy

Many people find that the simple act of talking with family and friends can help them see a new perspective, solve a problem, or simply feel supported. Sometimes talking with…

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Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness. One of the biggest myths around the illness is that it isnt treatable. With the right supports, people can work or volunteer, be active…

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Social Support

We all need to feel like we belong and that others care about our well-being. Social support is exactly that: the belonging and care we receive from other people. Those…

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Stress

We all talk about stress, but were not always clear about what it is. Stress comes from both the good and the bad things that happen to us. If we…

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Supporting a Loved One

When someone you love has been diagnosed with a mental illness, you feel a mixture of emotions. Concern, compassion, disbelief, anger, relief, anxiety, grief, love, guiltany and all of these…

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Talking To Teens About Mental Health

Teens need to know that they can take charge of their well-being, speak up if they start to notice problems, and support others respectfully. Many mental illnesses start during the…

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Toward Recovery

Recovery from a mental illness is expected. And it’s not necessarily an end point—it can be a process that you work on no matter where you are in (or out…

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Understanding Substance Use

Many people think of substance use problems only in terms of addiction, a dependence on alcohol or other drugs where someone needs to continually use the substance in order to…

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Youth and Self-Injury

People cope with difficult thoughts, feelings, or situations in different ways. Some people cope by injuring themselves on purposeand it may be the only way for them to feel better….

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