Developing Good Mental Health

Understanding good mental health

Your mental health influences how you think, feel, and behave in daily life. It also affects your ability to cope with stress, overcome challenges, build relationships, and recover from life’s setbacks and hardships.

Strong mental health isn’t just the absence of mental health problems. Being mentally or emotionally healthy is much more than being free of depression, anxiety, or other psychological issues. Rather than the absence of mental illness, mental health refers to the presence of positive characteristics.

The Relationship between Resilience & Mental Health

Having solid mental health doesn’t mean that you never go through bad times or experience emotional problems. We all go through disappointments, loss, and change. And while these are normal parts of life, they can still cause sadness, anxiety, and stress. But just as physically healthy people are better able to bounce back from illness or injury, people with strong mental health are better able to bounce back from adversity, trauma, and stress. This ability is called resilience.

People who are emotionally and mentally resilient have the tools for coping with difficult situations and maintaining a positive outlook. They remain focused, flexible, and productive, in bad times as well as good. Their resilience also makes them less afraid of new experiences or an uncertain future. Even when they don’t immediately know how a problem will get resolved, they are hopeful that a solution will eventually be found.

Whether you’re looking to cope with a specific mental health problem, handle your emotions better, or simply to feel more positive and energetic, there are plenty of ways to take control of your mental health—starting today.

Understanding the Teenage Brain

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) explores in this video the intriguing similarities between the processes of brain development and computer programming. The analogy helps us understand why toxic environmental factors like drugs, bullying, or lack of sleep can have such a long-lasting impact on a teenager’s life and can be used to empower your students with information they need make better decisions.

For more from NIDA, the lead federal agency supporting scientific research on drug use and its consequences, click here.

Helpful Resources

Mindfulness & Developing Resiliency

  • The Importance of Mindfulness

    • Mindfulness has emerged as powerful tool to help children (and parents!) with a wide range of concerns, from ADHD to anxiety, autism spectrum disorders to depression and stress. To give parents a better picture of how mindfulness can help kids, we’ve put together information on how it works, how it can be used at home and in school, and the role mindfulness can play in treating a variety of mental health issues.

  • 25 Fun Mindfulness Activities for Children and Teens

  • The Importance of Sleep

    • A good night’s sleep is important for everyone but especially our growing and developing children. According to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, children who regularly get an adequate amount of sleep have improved attention, behavior, learning, memory, and overall mental and physical health. On the flip side, inadequate sleep can lead to high blood pressure, obesity and even depression.

  • Encouraging the 40 Developmental Assets

    • Search Institute has identified 40 positive supports and strengths that young people need to succeed. Half of the assets focus on the relationships and opportunities they need in their families, schools, and communities (external assets). The remaining assets focus on the social-emotional strengths, values, and commitments that are nurtured within young people (internal assets).

Social & Emotional Learning & Service Learning Resources

Understanding Brain Development

  • Brain Development, Teen Behavior, & Preventing Drug Use

    • The science of brain development reveals why teens are responsive to new experiences and influences, both positive and negative. This makes the teen years a period of great promise, but also of potential risk, especially for addiction. That’s why preventing and delaying substance use during this time is so important to their long-term health.

Postive Parenting - Redirecting Negative Behavior

  • Guiding Children by Using Questions

    • This article provides a brief overview of how to guide a child's behavior and promote self regulation through asking questions. Examples to illustrate the strategy are provided.

Girls Empowerment

  • ROX (Ruling Our eXperiences)

    • The mission of ROX is equip girls with the knowledge and skills necessary to live healthy, independent, productive, and violence-free lives.