Mental health

As a carer, you’ll often put the needs of the person you care for before your own needs. It’s OK to look after yourself too.

In fact, it’s very important that you look after your own mental and physical health. When you are physically and mentally healthy, you can provide better care. You can also keep caring for longer.

It’s also important that you look after yourself every day. It can be easy to keep pushing yourself until you can’t push yourself anymore. You might become ill or be too stressed to continue care. Taking care of yourself every day and taking regular breaks can stop this from happening.

You can get support through our phone counselling or online carer forum.

Mental health

Taking care of someone can be stressful, and sometimes you might feel anxious, angry, frustrated, resentful or sad. It’s important that you find ways to manage your stress and stay mentally healthy.

If you feel very stressed and want urgent help or advice, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue on 1300 224 636.

You can use many ways to manage stress and reduce your stress at any time.

Talk with someone

Talking with someone and getting advice can help you to relieve and manage stress. You can talk with professional counsellors, other carers, or friends.

Get counselling

A professional counsellor can talk through your worries and help you to manage stress. You can contact our free phone counselling service to talk with someone.

You can also find local services to get counselling at your home or at a private clinic. You may be able to get a mental health care plan, which will pay for up to 10 appointments with mental health services through Medicare.

You can also visit:

• beyondblue or call 1300 224 636
• Lifeline or call 13 11 14
• MensLine Australia or call 1300 789 978

Join a carer support group

It can be good to talk with people who have shared similar experiences. You can join our forum to talk with other carers online.

You can also join a group in your community. Groups are usually free and meet in a member’s house or public place, such as a community hall or hospital. You can join a general support group for all carers. You can also join a group for your situation, such as for:

• young carers
• parents or grandparents
• your language or cultural background
• particular conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease

Use relaxation and mindfulness techniques

Relaxation and mindfulness techniques have been shown to help with preventing and managing stress:

• Practise relaxation techniques – meditation or breathing techniques can help with stress or poor sleep. You can learn relaxation techniques from an instructor or course, or apps such as Smiling Mind or those available from ReachOut.
• Practising mindfulness – mindfulness is about focusing on what’s going on right now rather than thinking about the past or worrying about the future. This can help you to enjoy day-to-day pleasures and reduce stress. You can learn mindfulness from an instructor or course, or organisations such as the Black Dog Institute (PDF) have tips on mindfulness.

Think of your needs

It’s important for you to take a break and keep up social activities – taking time for yourself and connecting with other people is important to keep mentally healthy.

It’s also important for you to stay physically healthy, because being physically healthy can help to keep you mentally healthy.

You should also make sure that you ask for help when you need it. You can talk with your family and friends about what you need and what help they could provide. You can also talk with Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737 about what services and support you can get.

Getting help with stress

If you think that you are becoming anxious or depressed, you can use the Healthdirect Symptom checker or the MindSpot Clinic to see how you are going.

Our self-guided coaching can help you to learn how to deal with stress, and This Way Up and the MindSpot Clinic also run online courses on many topics such as stress, anxiety and depression.

If you want to know more about how to deal with stress, visit Healthdirect, beyondblue, the Black Dog Institute, or Head to Health. Your doctor may also be able to tell you about ways to help manage stress.