Mental health has become a central topic of conversation in workplaces, schools, families, and healthcare settings across Canada. More people than ever are recognizing that psychological well-being is just as important as physical health. Yet a common and understandable question remains: What does it actually mean to take care of your mental health—and where do you start?
Improving mental health does not require drastic changes or years of therapy. In many cases, meaningful improvement begins with small, evidence-based shifts in how we think, respond to stress, relate to others, and care for ourselves day to day.
In this blog post, Clinical Psychologist Dr. Jennifer Barbera, PhD, outlines 10 practical, research-informed strategies you can begin using right now to support, protect, and strengthen your mental health.
These approaches are grounded in psychological science and clinical experience and are designed to be realistic, compassionate, and accessible—whether you are feeling overwhelmed, emotionally stuck, or simply wanting to build greater resilience and well-being over time.
1) Start with a strong foundation. How is your sleep, diet and level of exercise? These pillars of health are vitally important to a healthy self, emotionally and physically.
If you are not getting approximately 8 hours of quality sleep most nights, consider prioritizing sleep hygiene.
Sleep hygiene involves maintaining a very consistent sleep schedule and ensuring downtime for at least 30-60 minutes before bed.
Don’t forget to address any issues that interfere with sleep.
Also, consider consulting a doctor or naturopath about sleep aids where needed.
If you tend to skip meals or eat highly processed food, it may be essential to improve your diet.
Start with establishing a meal plan. This usually involves scheduling healthy meals and snacks.
To help with this transition, consider preparing healthy snacks and meals ahead of time.
Don’t forget to consult a nutritionist if needed.
Try to reduce processed sugar and preservatives and maximize your intake of whole (raw where possible) foods.
Some people find it helpful to organize meal exchanges with others, where you take turns preparing homemade meals.
Food is nature’s medicine, and you may be surprised by how much your diet can contribute to your mood and energy levels.
If you tend to be relatively inactive and have concerns with your mood, consider increasing your activity level.
Increasing activity is one of the most effective ways to improve your mood.
Enhancing mood through exercise is called “behavioural activation” and is extremely important to help with low mood. Vigorous cardio is especially helpful for improving mood.
Exercise helps mood because:
Mood-enhancing hormones are released during exercise, and
People tend to feel a sense of accomplishment after exercising.
2) Do not underestimate the importance of self-care.
What is self-care? Self-care relates to any tasks or practices that involve taking better care of yourself. This can range from making a point to schedule more frequent breaks to planning health-related appointments such as massage or enjoyable leisure activities.
3) Get in touch with your values. What matters most to you in your life? What makes life worthwhile and meaningful?
Being in touch with our values helps us orient towards a life with increased meaning.
Meaning and purpose are essential for mental health because they help motivate us to take more actions that improve our quality of life.
4) Commit and follow through with actions that move you in the direction of your values.
In our clinical observations, one of the most important factors that separate people who benefit more from therapy is those who commit to actions in line with their values.
For instance, if you value having more or better relationships, take actions that help you meet people (e.g., joining a club or activity). Or take steps to improve your relationships (e.g., planning quality time together).
Actions that move a person toward what they value lead to increased satisfaction and quality of life.
5) Start to be aware if you are focusing on the past or future instead of the present moment.
Because humans are capable of symbolic thought, often, our thinking minds become too focused on the past or the future.
Focusing on the past tends to increase feelings of depression while focusing on the future tends to increase feelings of anxiety.
In contrast, by focusing on the very moment, we tend to increase feelings of ease or contentment.
6) As you get better at noticing the present moment, practice paying more attention to your physical senses instead of your thoughts.
An effective way to do this is to focus on what you are doing as if you have never done it before. For instance, when washing the dishes, pay close attention to the physical sensation of the water, the bubbles, the dish etc.
Because everything is relatively new to them, kids tend to be good at being mindful. Kids also tend to be more carefree and joyous.
As we age and repeat activities or multitask, we start to go on “autopilot.”
“Autopilot” is where muscle memory takes over, and our mind wanders to the past or future.
Being on autopilot takes away from our ability to enjoy the present moment for what it is.
7) Become more aware of the automatic stream of thoughts running through your mind.
Because thoughts happen continuously and automatically, many people are not even aware that they are having thoughts.
Not being aware of our thoughts can be problematic because thoughts significantly impact mood and behaviour.
Many people tend to have negative thoughts about themselves, others and situations. One of the most significant ways to improve mental health is to get better at noticing your thoughts so that your thoughts don’t have as much impact on how you feel.
8) As you get better at noticing your thoughts, it can also be beneficial to recognize different styles of thinking.
Certain styles of thinking are known to have a very negative impact on our feelings and behaviours.
There are many examples of unhelpful thinking styles. For example, our thoughts can be categorized as “catastrophic” or an “overgeneralization.”
A catastrophic thought is where one imagines the worst possible outcome. For example, thinking, “I can’t believe they are not home yet; they probably had a terrible accident.” This kind of thinking tends to intensify emotional distress quickly.
Learning to recognize and shift unhelpful thinking styles is one of the most important things we can do to improve mental health.
9) Move towards acceptance instead of resistance.
When something stressful happens, most people tend to question or fight what is happening. They may think or say, “why is this happening” or “I can’t *^#%! believe this is happening”.
Fighting what already is almost always leads to increased distress because what already is cannot be changed in that moment.
One of the very most important things we can do to improve our mental well-being is to get good at recognizing when we are fighting or struggling with what already is. Then, instead of resisting or fighting, it’s essential to focus on acceptance.
Acceptance doesn’t mean giving in or saying it’s “ok.” Acceptance means committing to the idea “I won’t waste my energy fighting what already is.”
Acceptance can immediately lower the intensity of our distress and free us up to decide “what do I do now.”
10) If the idea of acceptance as a strategy for improving well-being and mental health sounds challenging, consider reaching out to a therapist or counsellor.
A therapist can help you tailor an acceptance strategy to your individual needs. A therapist can also help you make full use of the other strategies or ideas mentioned above.
A therapist working under the direct supervision of a psychologist may also be able to assess the factors affecting your mental health. Assessment helps to ensure that nothing important is overlooked.
Sometimes more specialized approaches are needed if you haven’t been able to successfully resolve the concerns that are negatively affecting your mental health.
Remember that your quality of life and well-being is worth it!
Contact us if you are ready to work on improving your well-being.
