Horizon

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis and are thinking of hurting yourself or someone else, call the mental health crisis line by dialing 9-8-8 or go to the nearest emergency room

Healthy Outcomes

Menu

Resources

It can be overwhelming to figure out where to start, but we are here to help 

Self-help resources

A good night’s sleep is the foundation of mental health. Checkout these resources and information:

Movement can boost your Mental Health

Moving and exercise help us to not only complete the stress cycle and get out excess anxious feelings. They can also help by reeling endorphins which help us to feel better.

Dancing

  • Try a Tiktok dance!

Running

Yoga

  • The benefits of practicing meditation and yoga by Alice G. Walton: Learn More

The food we eat can effect our mood; like when you feel good and hyper for a while after you eat some sugar. When you stick to a diet of healthy food, you’re setting yourself up for fewer mood fluctuations, an overall happier outlook and an improved ability to focus

Meditation and mindfulness are tools that help to clear your mind and relax. They have been shown to decrease stress, improved concentration, lower blood pressure, and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression.

The process of writing is inherently therapeutic. It can help you organize your thoughts, express yourself, and process and deal with your emotions, the good, the bad, and the ugly in a positive, healthy way.

Grounding techniques are coping strategies to help reconnect you with the present and bring you out of a panic attack, flashback, unwanted memory, or distressing emotion.

These are tricks to use when you feel super overwhelmed by emotion or totally numb. They are great emergency hacks to get your brain back to a thinking place.

  • Square breathing is used to help calm down or to feel less anxious. Practice Square breathing by using the steps below:
    1. Gently inhale through your nose to a slow count of 4.
    2. Hold at the top of the breath for a count of 4.
    3. Then gently exhale through your mouth for a count of 4.
    4. At the bottom of the breath, pause and hold for the count of 4.
    5. Repeat.
  • Learn More

Self-stimulatory behaviour, also known as stimming is the repetition of physical movements, sounds, words, moving objects, or other repetitive behaviours. These types of repetitive movements can be disrupted like tapping a pencil on the table, but they can help relieve some anxiety. If you find stimming helpful it is important to find healthier less disruptive stimming activities.

Similar to the way that journals helps us to process our emotions, making art of crafting helps us to process things that have happened to us. It also helps people to use the creative parts of their brains whcih increases mental health!

Self-care means taking care of yourself so that you can be healthy, you can be well, you can do your job, you can help and care for others, and you can do all the things you need to wand want to accomplish in a day. Maintaining a good self care practice is like doing maintenance work on your mental health – it can help you to avoid major issues.

Previous
Next

Mental Health Guide

It can be hard to know when emotions or thoughts are everyday ups and downs and when they are more serious. A behavior, feeling, or thought that started out OK can grow and take on a life of its own. many mental illnesses seem like everyday emotions that have gotten so large they’ve started getting in the way of living a normal life. Mental Health Literacy Pyramid Explained (Explication de la pyramide de litarcie en santé mentale) 

mhpyramid

Some stress is normal and even beneficial to our growth and development (shout out to the procrastinators out there who need a bit of stress to get things done!). However, when stress becomes overwhelming and prolonged, the risks for mental health challenges and medical illnesses increase. This is especially true when we don’t have a good, available support system and health coping skills! You can find some healthy coping skills on the Self Help Resources section!

Some levels of anxiety are part of life. When you feel stressed or nervous about something such as a sporting event or a test, you are feeling anxious. Anxiety is a natural response to stress, but people can typically work through these feelings. If anxiety feels overwhelming, if you can’t attribute the feelings to something specific, or the feelings don’t go away, you may be experiencing unusual anxiety.  

If you are struggling with anxious or racing thoughts start here:

Eating disorders usually involve a preoccupation with food, and many people have a phobic fear of becoming overweight. The links below may help with the understanding of food associated disorders and the appropriate actions to help individuals affected by it. 

Psychosis is characterized as disruptions to a person’s thoughts and perceptions that make it difficult for them to recognize what is real and what isn’t. these disruptions are often experienced as seeing, hearing, and believing things that aren’t real or having strange, persistent thoughts, behaviors, and emotions.

We are never going to feel great all the time. Some lows, irritability or sadness is totally normal. However, if feeling sadness becomes overwhelming, lasting for more than two weeks, a person may be experiencing depression and not just typical unhappiness. Depression usually involves making changes in behavior such as sleeping, eating, and school work.

If you think you or a loved one is experiencing a form of depression, use the link below to learn more about the disorder:

What begins as casual drugs, alcohol, or other substance, use of it can become habitual and compulsive over time, driving you to continue using the substance. Some people are at a higher risk for addiction because of things like family history of addiction or past history of abuse or trauma.

If you are struggling with substance use or misuse start here:

Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event. It can vary in severity and impact and some people develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition that can apply to anyone who has witnessed or experienced traumatic, life-threatening, or life-changing events. Trauma and PTSD can have effects on mental and physical health long after the event that caused them has passed.

Self-help resources

Sleep

 A good night’s sleep is the foundation of mental health. Check out these resources and information:

– Sleep and Mental Health: How They are Correlated – Bring Change to Mind

– What Is Sleep Hygiene?

Exercise/Movement

Moving and exercise help us to not only complete the stress cycle and get out excesses anxious feelings. They can also help by reeling endorphins which help us to feel better. 

Dancing

  • Try a TikTok dance! 
 

Running

Yoga

  • Yoga with Adriene:

Nutrition

The food we eat can effect our mood; like when you feel good and hyper for a while after you eat some sugar. When you stick to a diet of healthy food, you’re setting yourself up for fewer mood fluctuations, an overall happier outlook and an improved ability to focus

Mindfulness/ Meditation

Meditation and mindfulness are tools that help to clear your mind and relax. They have been shown to decrease stress, improved concentration, lower blood pressure, and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Journaling

The process of writing is inherently therapeutic. It can help you organize your thoughts, express yourself, and process and deal with your emotions, the good, the bad and the ugly in a positive, healthy way.  

Grounding

Grounding techniques are coping strategies to help reconnect you with the present and bring you out of a panic attack, flashback, unwanted memory, or distressing emotion.

Self Soothing (SOS calm down tricks)

These are tricks to use when you feel super overwhelmed by emotion or totally numb. They are great emergency hacks to get your brain back to a thinking place.

Previous
Next

Breathing 

  • Square breathing- Use Square breathing to help calm down or to feel less anxious
    • 1. Gently inhale through your nose to a slow count of 4.
    • 2. Hold at the top of the breath for a count of 4.
    • 3. Then gently exhale through your mouth for a count of 4.
    • 4. At the bottom of the breath, pause and hold for the count of 4.
    • 5. Repeat.
  • Triangle Breathing gif 

Stimming

Self-stimulatory behavior, also known as stimming is the repetition of physical movements, sounds, words, moving objects, or other repetitive behaviors. These types of repetitive movements can be disrupted like  tapping a pencil on the table, but they can help relieve some anxiety. If you find stimming helpful it is important to find healthier less disruputive stimming activities. 

Art/ Crafting 

Similar to the way that journals helps us to process our emotions, Making art of crafting helps us to process things that have happened to us. It also helps people to use the creative parts of their brains which increases mental health!

Self care

Self-care means taking care of yourself so that you can be healthy, you can be well, you can do your job, you can help and care for others, and you can do all the things you need to and want to accomplish in a day. Maintaining a good self care practice is like doing maintain work on your mental health- it can help you to avoid major issues. 

Mental Health Guide

It can be hard to know when emotions or thoughts are everyday ups and downs and when they are more serious. A behavior, feeling, or thought that started out OK can grow and take on a life of its own. Many mental illnesses seem like everyday emotions that have gotten so large they’ve started getting in the way of living a normal life.  Mental Health Literacy Pyramid Explained (Explication de la pyramide de litarcie en santé mentale)

 

What do Stress and mental health have to do with each other?

Some stress is normal and even beneficial to our growth and development (shout out to the procrastinators out there who need a bit of stress to get things done!). However, when stress becomes overwhelming and prolonged, the risks for mental health challenges and medical illnesses increase. This is especially true when we don’t have a good/ available support system and health coping skills! You can find some health coping skills on our Self Help Resources page! 

Emotion, Stress, and Health: Crash Course Psychology #26 

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRGf7TYx/ 

https://www.tiktok.com/@amoderntherapist/video/7091683787641408814?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1 

Anxiety

Some levels of anxiety are part of life. When you feel stressed or nervous about something such as a sporting event or a test, you are feeling anxious. Anxiety is a natural response to stress, but people can typically work through these feelings. If anxiety feels overwhelming, if you can’t attribute the feelings to something specific, or the feelings don’t go away, you may be experiencing unusual anxiety.

If you are struggling with anxious or racing thoughts start here 

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders usually involve a preoccupation with food, and many people have a phobic fear of becoming fat.

Psychosis

Psychosis is characterized as disruptions to a person’s thoughts and perceptions that make it difficult for them to recognize what is real and what isn’t. These disruptions are often experienced as seeing, hearing, and believing things that aren’t real or having strange, persistent thoughts, behaviors, and emotions.

Schizophrenia WebMD 

Find a Local Support Group

How to talk to someone who is hearing voices

Depression 

We are never going to feel great all the time. Some lows, irritability or sadness is totally normal. However, if feelings of sadness become overwhelming, lasting for more than two weeks, a person may be experiencing depression and not just typical unhappiness. Depression usually involves making changes in behavior such as sleeping, eating, and school work. 

If you are struggling with overwhelming sadness-

Depression WebMD 

How To See the Signs of Suicidal Thoughts In Loved Ones – Bring Change to Mind

I hate staying in bed – Bring Change to Mind

One Day – Bring Change to Mind

Substance use/ Addiction

What begins as casual drugs, alcohol, or other substance use can become habitual and compulsive over time, driving you to continue using the substance. Some people are at a higher risk for addiction because of things like family history of addiction or past history of abuse or trauma. 

If you are struggling with substance use or misuse start here 

Substance Misuse WebMD 

Mental Health and Substance Use | Horizon Behavioral Health 

Trauma and PTSD

Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event. It can vary in severity and impact and some people develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition that can apply to anyone who has witnessed or experienced traumatic, life-threatening, or life-changing events. Trauma and PTSD can have effects on mental and physical health long after the event that caused them has passed. 

Everything You Need To Know About Trauma and PTSD 

Trauma and Addiction: Crash Course Psychology #31

How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime | Nadine Burke Harris

Professional
Resources

Get Help Now