Better wellbeing starts today – just follow the trail around Murray Bridge

The Murray Mallee GP Network will guide you through 10 steps to wellbeing as part of Mental Health Awareness Month.

October is Mental Health Awareness Month. This is the second in a series of free-to-read stories about looking after ourselves and the people around us, and seeking help when we need it. We all have a role to play. Please consider supporting this series by subscribing.

Nicole Taylor, Lisa Courtney and Jessica Hill show off the showbags you can pick up at a wellbeing trail’s first stop on Monday. Photo: Peri Strathearn.

Get ready to explore Murray Bridge, and improve your mental health while you’re doing it.

Over the next 10 weekdays, the Murray Mallee GP Network will unveil a wellbeing trail around the city.

Locals will be encouraged to visit about some of the services and businesses which can help them lead happy, healthy lives.

At each stop-off, visitors will be able to pick up free goodies themed around 10 steps to wellbeing:

1. Sleep well

2. Connect with others

3. Get involved in your community

4. Take time for self-care

5. Exercise

6. Spend time in nature

7. Take care of your physical health

8. Check your habits to make sure they are healthy

9. Eat food for good moods

10. Find out more

Today’s stop-off is the GP network itself at 55 Adelaide Road, above the GCS cafe, where visitors can get a showbag filled with colourful postcards, a pen, a balloon, a wristband and helpful information.

New destinations will be announced with a short video on the MMPGN Facebook page each weekday.

The idea was inspired partly by the Royal Adelaide Show’s Yellow Brick Road.

We all fluctuate between mental wellness and unwellness, clinician says

Just as good physical health helped us overcome illness or injury, head clinician Lisa Courtney said, a healthy sense of wellbeing helped us get through tough times.

“Wellbeing is our platform for being able to face life’s challenges,” she said.

“(On) the mental health continuum, we’re not always just well or unwell.

“Wellbeing is about doing those tips every day and paying attention to them.”

This year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Month – this month – is “we all have a role to play”.

“You as an individual have a role to play in terms of looking after your wellbeing, but the community has a role to play as well,” Ms Courtney said.

“There’s lots of places you can go.”

• Follow the wellbeing trail: Visit the Murray Mallee GP Network Facebook page or call 8531 1303.

• Get help: Talk to your GP, visit www.sane.org, or call Lifelife on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.

• More information about Mental Health Awareness Month: www.sahealth.sa.gov.au.

There will be new things to pick up at different locations each weekday this week and next. Photo: Peri Strathearn.

Previous Mental Health Awareness Month stories:

• “Yoga’s a way to get to your mind through your body”

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