Wellbeing self-help tools
When you are feeling stressed, worried or low, there are many things you can do to help yourself feel better.
Ways you can help yourself
While it's important to talk to someone when you are feeling stressed or low, there are many steps you can take yourself to improve your own wellbeing. Here are a few ideas:
Learn about your condition and the treatment options available. Information will help you make sense of what is happening.
Take as active a part as possible in decisions about treatment and support. Being involved in decisions is the best way to ensure that you can make informed choices about what is best for you.
If you have been prescribed medication, take as prescribed and if you have any questions or concerns please talk to your doctor or nurse.
Have the support of family/whānau and friends, who know about the condition and understand what they can do to support your recovery.
Involve family, whānau, friends or other important people (e.g. kaumātua or church minister) in your treatment team if you wish.
You may need to help those that love you to understand what is going on for you.
Take the opportunity to recover – take time out and relax (find out how), but also feel encouraged to become more active as you are able.
Take steps to improve your health:Exercise – every little bit counts! Get your heart rate up 3 -5 times a week.
Get some sunshine - 10-15 mins every day if possible – Vitamin D can help with depression.
Eat a healthy diet – fresh healthy food has been found to help with anxiety and depression.
Plenty of fluids and water.
Take some basic supplements and vitamins – Omega 3 fish oil, shown to help with depression.
Sleep regular hours. Go to bed and get up at around the same time, and avoid sleeping during the day.
Be realistic and kind with what you expect of yourself, especially when things are difficult.
When things seem too hard, take them on one step at a time.Do something enjoyable each day, or something that gives you a sense of accomplishment, and try to focus on what you are grateful for.
Make sure your spiritual needs are being met.
Avoid or really cut down the use of alcohol and illegal drugs, as these may worsen the condition and increase the chances of relapse.
Talk to your health professionals if you are considering stopping treatment or things change.
Work together to find a solution that will ensure continuing wellness and addresses any concerns.
In an emergency dial 111 and ask for an ambulance
You can also call Healthline free 24/7 on 0800 661 116 for health advice.
Mental wellness clinics near you
FAQs
Local Doctors provides quality, easy to access healthcare through our large clinic network. You can trust our friendly staff to work with compassion and listen to your needs. They are trained to work together as a team to offer high-quality medical care.
Some clinics have ample parking, while others not so much. Please visit your nearest clinic’s page to find out more. We’ll also let you know if a clinic is close to public transport.
Most people in this country have to wait to see their doctor! That’s because people have different health needs and how long it takes to get the right help can be very unpredictable. It’s our long-held philosophy that you should be able to see a doctor on the day you need to – and not have to wait for days.
The most seriously ill people are seen first. The really good news is that you can now see on the clinic website pages what the expected wait time is at that clinic! That means you can find another clinic near to you with a shorter wait time, if need be, or choose to come another day.
ManageMyHealth is a secure website that can receive your health information from your doctor’s system. You can use it to store other health information, too, such as other treatments you have received or other medications that you may be taking. This means you can access your personal health information from any device at anytime, anywhere in the world. If your clinic takes appointment bookings you can do this through ManageMyHealth as well as order repeat prescriptions. Your online Personal Health Record can be made up of:
Consultation notes
Laboratory results
Prescriptions
Immunisations
Allergies
Diagnoses
Recalls.
Just ask the receptionist at your local clinic to sign you up to ManageMyHealth.
When you have a blood test, or any other kind of test, your results will be sent to your clinic. If the results are normal, you will not be notified. If they are not normal, the clinic will phone you and discuss next steps. If you have a ManageMyHealth patient portal, you can find your results in there, once your doctor has reviewed and filed them. Or, if after two or three days, you are concerned about your results, you can call the clinic to find out.
If you have a ManageMyHealth patient portal, you can order a repeat prescription online, otherwise please visit your clinic’s page and phone them.