Dubbo celebrates headspace day with barbecue and helpful tips

The day was celebrated with a free barbecue at the Church Street rotunda, and aimed to raise awareness of the importance of seeking support.

“Statistics show that 75 per cent of mental health issues emerge before the age of 25 – hence one of the reasons that headspace exists,” headspace Dubbo’s Nic Steepe said.

“It’s really important to get help as soon as possible and seek support before problems become much more serious.”

The theme of this year’s headspace day was ‘tips for a healthy headspace’, with people invited to submit their own tips.

headspace staff have also started submitting their tips, and all of the tips will be uploaded to the headspace Dubbo Facebook page through the month of October, which is Mental Health Month.

“It’s essentially sharing personal advice when people aren’t in a good headspace, what they do to make themselves feel better,” Mr Steepe said.

“We’re encouraging young people to have a look at all the tips and maybe utilise them – some they might not even have thought of or considered – and see what makes them as healthy as possible, mentally.”

He said a project like sharing tips meant headspace day would hopefully have long-term benefits for people’s mental health.

“It’s imperative that we have a campaign like this,” Mr Steepe said.

“We are in the midst of Mental Health Month … but people struggle with mental health issues throughout the year so it’s really important to keep the conversation going and really check in with people throughout the year.”

Head of clinical practice at headspace, Vikki Ryall, said sharing positive mental health practices could have wide-ranging benefits.

“By talking about how we take care of our mental health it can encourage others to try new ways to look after their health,” she said.

“We need to put as much attention and effort into looking after our mind as we do with our body.”