Article:

Good Mental Health Messages: GETTING HELP FOR PROBLEMS

People good at problem solving have good mental health and are more successful in their work and study. Everyone has problems from time to time. Getting help may be the best way of solving some of these problems.

Ask yourself these questions to help you work out who to ask for help from:

• Can I trust them not to talk to other people when I don’t want them to?
• Will they give me a hard time?
• Will they make me more upset?
• Can they offer me the help I need?
• Do I want to talk to someone who is not involved in the situation? (from reachout.com)

There are several things you can do in your life to make it easier to get help:

Develop strong relationships:

• Parents
• Aunties/Uncles
• Friends
• A GP (Doctor) – GPs can help with all sorts of worries, physical and/or emotional
• A teacher or welfare person at your school
  
  You will not be able to talk to everyone but work on developing trust with 2 or 3 people you feel close to. It is good to do this with a friend but a strong relationship with an adult is also important.

Talk to the person you feel best able to help so that you can:

• Work out how you feel
• Get a better perspective
• Give you new ways of looking at the issues
• Find some other strategies
• Feel better

Give it time:

Often problems take a while to resolve. Sometimes it takes ongoing support or several chances to talk to sort out all your feelings and work out together what to do.

If you are not happy with the help you are getting e.g you don’t feel listened to or you don’t feel comfortable with the person, then try someone else from the ‘strong relationships’ list.

There are some things that can stop us asking for help:

• Not knowing where to go
• Worrying about confidentiality
• Feeling embarrassed or worrying the person might judge us
• Not being able to get to a service

Places like those listed below are able to talk to you anonymously and will help with these concerns

Resources

Although these resources do not specifically relate to this article, they are very useful phone numbers/websites to contact for further information.

	Parent Line	13 22 89	www.vicparenting.com.au
	Kids Helpline	1800 55 1800	www.kidshelp.com.au
	Inspire Foundation		www.reachout.com.au

* Developed by the Primary Prevention In Schools Committee 2004.
For further information contact the Mental Health Promotions Officer, Ballarat Health Services – CAMHS (03) 53203030