R U OK?

National R U OK day was held on Thursday, 13 September. While many parents are keen to open the lines of communication with their children, they’re often as a loss as to what to say.

Here are three practical tips to on how young people can improve their mental wellbeing:

• Gratefulness: How? Focus on the things that they do have rather than the things that they don’t have.
• Empathy: How? Be others focussed. Demonstrate to others that they really care about them by listening attentively and acknowledging what they are saying and how they are feeling.
• Mindfulness: How? Be fully present in the moment. Avoid dwelling on the past and worrying about the future – just focus on the present – what are they seeing/hearing/feeling/smelling/tasting?

Also, check out some great mindfulness apps like:

• Headspace
• Smiling Mind

These tips are from an interview with Hugh van Cuylenburg from The Resilience Project and the Today show. He spoke about the prevalence of mental health issues in our young people in 2018. If you’d like to watch the full TODAY show segment, click the link below.