How to Develop a Mental Health Wellness Plan

Developing a mental health wellness plan is an important part of building and maintaining mental health. If you find yourself working hard to take the steps you need to maintain your mental health wellness, but you find yourself struggling with where to begin or how to maintain consistency in your routine, it could be due to the fact that you have not yet developed a strong mental health wellness plan. Without a set plan of action that was created specifically for you, it can be hard to find the proper direction to ensure you build up the skills you need to maintain mental health wellness.

What is a Mental Health Wellness Plan?

A mental health wellness plan helps you keep track of what does and does not work for you in maintaining mental wellness. It helps you create a guide or regiment of what you need each day to maintain your mental health. It also helps you keep track of the coping skills you can utilize to ensure that you maintain the balance between your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

How to Start Your Mental Health Wellness Plan

Taking the first step to building your mental health wellness plan can be a challenge. It is sometimes helpful to consult with a mental health professional, who will know how to help you begin exploring your own mental health wellness needs and what needs to be included in your mental health wellness plan.

Everyone responds differently to different mental health methods, skills, techniques, and strategies. That is why it is important to do some self-exploration and develop an understanding of what you need to incorporate into your mental health wellness plan.

Common themes in mental health wellness plans include:

• Mindfulness and meditation
• A healthy lifestyle including exercise and foods for mental health wellness
• Emotional intelligence
• Self-reflection
• Cognitive restructuring

What is Needed in Your Mental Health Wellness Plan

Once you’ve developed an understanding of what you need to create your mental health wellness plan, you want to make sure you incorporate all of the elements needed in building a strong plan that will help you build your mental health. Your plan should include:

• An understanding of your own mental health status and your needs to maintain good mental health (mental health wellness worksheets and apps can help with that).
• An understanding of your personal triggers and life stressors that may become a challenge in maintaining good mental health wellness.
• A daily regiment of mental health wellness activities to use for creating balance and structure in your mental health wellness.
• A list of coping strategies that help you cope with life stressors, emotions, unexpected circumstances and upsetting situations.
• A list of support that is available to you, including family, friends, mental health professionals, and possibly a mental health wellness center.
• A space for reflection on your progress for building mental health wellness.
• A space that provides flexibility to your mental health wellness plan, in the event that a step or element needs to be changed, modified, omitted or replaced.
• A means to maintain accountability for your mental health wellness plan, so you stick to the plan and do not stray from what you need to do to maintain your mental health wellness.
• Sitting down and putting an entire plan together all at once can seem overwhelming. Try starting with one section, then add to it as time goes along.

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