At Perry Wellness Center, we encourage all peers to set meaningful and realistic goals as part of their personal recovery plans. For most of us, there is also the temptation to set new year’s resolutions, but often these are less positive and successful than we would like.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) has found that around 40% of people in the U.S. set new year’s resolutions, but less than half are successful for more than six months. In a helpful article, MHFA published a series of strategies, through the National Council on Mental Wellbeing, on setting goals that can be beneficial to one’s mental health. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) was established as a training course to teach individuals how to recognize and respond to signs of mental illness or substance abuse disorders.
These tips include:
Make time for self-care; e.g., build activities such as exercise or therapy into your schedule.
Be kind to youself; e.g., give yourself credit for trying even when you make mistakes.
Make sleep a priority; e.g., recognize the connection between adequate sleep and good mental health.
Limit screen time; e.g., cut back on phone or computer time to reduce stress and depression.
Learn more about mental health; e.g., take a Mental Health First Aid course, talk to a medical professional, or use online resources.
Whatever resolutions you set, keep them as realistic as possible, and use more achievable small steps to reach your goal. We encourage you to read the complete article for more detailed tips and resources or consider specialized training for your group or organization. MHFA has provided its training course to over 2.5 million people in the U.S.