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Mind, the charity that runs the Mental Health Awareness Week campaign, says: Taking steps to look after your wellbeing can help you deal with pressure, and reduce the impact that stress has on your life. Even though there are likely to be some things happening in your life that you can't control, there are still lots of practical things you can do to manage the amount of pressure you're under day to day.

What is mental health?

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Positive mental health is important because allows us to:

• Realise our full potential
• Cope with the stresses of life
• Work productively
• Make meaningful contributions to our communities

There are many things we can do ourselves to help maintain positive mental health. Some of these include:

• Connecting with others
• Staying positive
• Getting physically active
• Helping others
• Getting enough sleep
• Developing coping skills

Signs and symptoms of mental health problems

It's important to recognise the signs that you, or a colleague's, mental wellbeing is below par, so you can reach out for help quickly. Some well-known signs include:

• Eating or sleeping too much or too little
• Pulling away from people and usual activities
• Having low or no energy
• Inability to make decisions and/or perform daily tasks
• Feeling as though nothing matters
• Unexplained aches and pains
• Feeling helpless or hopeless
• Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared
• Arguing with family, friends, colleagues

Throughout the week on our internal employee networks, we’re sharing stories and information, such as the above, on how to actively keep well and what to do when we’re not; helping us all to perform to the best of our abilities.