Taking care of someone living with a mental health condition can be challenging. It can be hard to juggle between your caregiving role and other responsibilities, financial strains, emotional and physical stress, and much more. Mental health carers spend approximately 40 hours or more per week in the caring role.
Carers often put themselves last – but if you don’t care for yourself then you may become mentally and physically burnt out, and you may even become unwell yourself.
Professional support: a good starting place is to speak with a healthcare professional such as a GP or a counsellor as they can provide different strategies and support tailored to your specific needs.
You can also ask your GP if you are eligible for a mental health plan which entitles you to 6 (and a further 4 if reviewed) sessions with a psychologist which can be rebated through Medicare or maybe offered at a reduced rate.
You can find a psychologist near you on the Australian Psychological Society website.
You can find a counsellor near you on the Australian Counselling Association website.
MHCN run a range of online training sessions designed to support mental health carers in their caring role. These sessions are self paced and online, designed to be completed in your own time at your own pace. We also run these sessions on ZOOM or in Sydney throughout the year. We currently have 8 sessions:
You can read more about each session and register for them in the ‘training’ section on our website.
Learn more about our training and education sessions
The Family and Carer Mental Health Program offers free psychoeducational workshops and training for carers. They also run support groups and social events, as well as individual advocacy.
At the start of the day, try to do physical activities that you enjoy e.g., a walk or check out free workout classes on YouTube. If that is not possible, try to walk around the house, or even stand up and stretch every few hours, even if it is only for a few minutes at a time.
An inactive lifestyle, with little to no exercise, has a range of mental and physical health risks.
By not living an active lifestyle, you can raise your risk of experiences of:
There are also studies which show a link between physical activity and lower risks of cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia (Laurin, Verreault, and Lindsay, 2001).
Strategies for improving your exercise:
Try to reduce caffeine intake and alcohol later on in the day as it may impact your sleep quality.
Before bed, take a warm bath and listen to soothing calm music.
Establish a regular sleeping pattern. Try to get 7 – 9 hours of sleep each night and try to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Consistent and quality sleep has a range of benefits for both mental and physical health. While getting enough hours of sleep is important, consistency of sleep is also essential.
Research around circadian rhythms (our internal body clock) demonstrated links between an inconsistent sleep-wake cycle and dysregulated mood, and an increased physical risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer (Bass 2012; Lam and Levitan 2000, Esquirol et al., 2011).
Strategies for improving your sleep:
Try to maintain a healthy and balanced diet, and eat at regular times every day. Remember to stay hydrated and drink lots of water.
More and more research is beginning to show that the health of your gut is the foundation of your mental and physical health (Saliba 2018).This includes how the food we eat influences health through disease prevention, wellbeing and weight management.
Poor diet and nutrition can result in chronic non-communicable diseases such as some cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes which are largely preventable (WHO 2003).
Strategies for improving your nutrition:
Stress is a natural part of life. But being stressed all of the time can really impact your mental health and wellbeing, and can even manifest in how you feel physically.
Some strategies for reducing your stress:
Most of us enjoy a cheeky glass of wine, cocktail, or beer over dinner at a BBQ or celebratory event. But how much is too much alcohol, and how do you know if it is becoming a problem for you?
Overconsumption of alcohol has numerous effects on your physical and mental health, especially in large quantities over a long period of time.
Effects on your heart include an increased risk of developing high blood pressure, weakening of your heart muscles, and increased risk of heart disease including heart failure (DrinkWise, n.d.).
Continuous and excessive drinking can also lead to alcohol pancreatitis, the damaging of blood vessels, cells and tissues. Stomach lining irritation can also occur, with the increased risk of stomach cancer stemming from long term heavy drinking (DrinkWise, n.d.).
Some strategies for reducing alcohol consumption:
Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable death in Australia, and raises your risk of developing an array of physical health conditions (NSW Government 2018).
This includes smokers being one and a half to two times more likely to have a stroke, generally feeling more stressed, being two to four times more likely to have a heart attack, and becoming twenty times more likely to develop lung cancer (NSW Government 2018).
Some strategies for reducing your smoking:
Think about the things that interest you, and try to do at least 1 of those a day. If you don’t have much time to focus on doing something you enjoy, see if you have at least 5 or 10 minutes during the day to focus time on that.
Do you like music?
Turn the radio on or listen to music on your phone or computer while you’re doing housework.
Do you like to garden?
See if you can begin growing some fruit or veggies at home. You can start small and simple, and try out a few herbs which you can buy at your local supermarket. Using fresh herbs in your cooking can really brighten a meal. You can even experiment with herbs you haven’t used before or some different combinations.
Do you like to cook?
Challenge a friend or your family to a cook off by choosing a dish and seeing who can do it better. Or, try a different cuisine each week – things like this can keep cooking fun, especially if you have kids, but also can widen your culinary experiences and try some food you haven’t had before.
You need to take care of yourself by looking after your physical health as well as your mental health.
Eat a good diet, exercise, get plenty of sleep, and if you feel unwell, go to the doctor or your GP.
Finding time out from your caring role may be hard but try to make time to connect with friends and family. Reach out, stay in touch and talk to those who support and encourage you.
You could also try to plan a monthly night out with your partner, friends or family members. Think about visiting a new restaurant each month, or you can go to a new place you haven’t been before but have been meaning to e.g., a local park you have wanted to explore, a bush walk you’ve wanted to do, or a particular shop you have wanted to visit but haven’t.
Another idea is to come up with a list of things to do with your partner, family member or friend, write each thing on a piece of paper, fold it up and put it in a jar. Every time you want to go out, take a slip from the jar to see what activity you do – it can also take the stress out of agreeing what to do sometimes!
Take some time out for yourself to sit and reflect upon things, even if it is for just 10 minutes a day.
You can use this time to think, or you can write down your thoughts in a journal or diary. Writing can be quite soothing and therapeutic.
You might want to reflect upon some goals that you want to achieve and write them down, as well as listing the steps it might take to get you there. Continually check in with this every week or fortnight, and see your progress.
Your goal can be as simple as something you have wanted to learn e.g., learning a new sport like soccer, to educational goals, e.g., if you want to study something that piques your interest, to whatever you want a goal to be.
That’s the thing about goals – it is up to you what you want to do. No goal is too big or too small, and no goal is ‘stupid’ or ‘silly’.
Bass, J. (2012). ‘Circadian topology of metabolism’, Nature, vol. 491, no, 4, pp. 348 – 356.Buddy, T. (2018). ‘Tips for cutting back on drinking.’ Very Well Mind. Published 7 June 2018. Accessed 22 June 2018
Drink Wise. Accessed 22 June 2018, https://drinkwise.org.au/#q=alcohol%20and%20your%20health&r=true
Laurin, D, Verreault, R, Lindsay, J. (2001). ‘Physical activity and risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in elderly persons.’ Arch Neurology, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 498 – 504.Medline Plus. (n.d.). ‘Health risks of an inactive lifestyle’.
Medline Plus. Accessed 22 June 2018, https://medlineplus.gov/healthrisksofaninactivelifestyle.html
NSW Government. (2018). ‘Health dangers of smoking’. I Can Quit. Accessed 22 June 2018, https://www.icanquit.com.au/reasons-to-quit/smoking-and-your-health
Saliba, N. (2018). ‘Healthy gut, healthy body.’ Eat Sense. Accessed 22 June 2018, http://eatsense.com.au/blog/gut-health/healthy-gut-healthy-body/
World Health Organisation. (2003). Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. Geneva: World Health Organisation, https://books.google.com.au/books