CMHA Ontario joins individuals and organizations around the world on July 24th, in celebration of International Self-Care Day. The awareness day is intended to emphasize the importance of self-care and its direct impact on staying healthy and preventing or delaying an illness.
Self-care is a necessity when it comes to your mental wellbeing, and it doesn’t need to take up too much of your time. If you are wondering where to start, CMHA Ontario’s 15 minutes just for you resource is filled with self-care strategies and tips. Each technique only takes 15 minutes and is designed to help boost your mental, emotional, physical, social and spiritual health.
The Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health (CICMH) offers a webinar recording on the Indigenous model of self-care. In the webinar, CICMH spoke to James Tregonning, Indigenous Transition Coordinator and Instructor at Cambrian College, who outlines how the Indigenous model of self-care differs from the current popular understanding, and describes how to ‘work your wheel.’ Watch the full webinar here.
CMHA branches also offer Mood Walks, a provincewide initiative that promotes physical activity in nature, or “green exercise,” to improve both physical and mental health. This program offers training and support for community mental health agencies, social service organizations and other community partners to launch educational hiking programs. Green exercise can alleviate primary symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as secondary symptoms such as low self-esteem and social withdrawal. For more information, visit moodwalks.ca.