But it is about a bit of fun too.

headspace Ballarat manager Janelle Johnson and her team have been inviting young people across the region to call in and add a little colour to their lives – and colour in healthy tips on the mural – in the spirit of headspace Day.

“This is about maintaining good mental health. In the tips, we’re not looking at anything amazingly difficult but we usually find when young people have difficult in one or a couple of these areas, that’s when they can start to struggle,” Ms Johnson said.

“This is certainly about promoting strategies for early intervention among young people, which we help will set up good habits to take through life.”

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The key tips are: get a taste for the good stuff and eat well; welcome to Zzz-town and get enough sleep; lose your fog, lay off the gear and grog; make your play and stay active; get into life and find stuff that’s important to you; feed your mind – try music or meditation to tackle tough times; and, swap snaps for chat and build on real connections in person.

“If you do have problems, we generally find if young people are well-connected to family and friends the problems can be easier to manage and they’re less likely to keep it all in,” Ms Johnson said.

headspace has been in operations for about 10 years. The national youth mental health initiative celebrated its third headspace Day on Thursday as a way to promote resilience among young people when facing challenges, and to help build mental well-being with the right support tools.

Earlier this week, headspace revealed one in three young Australians experience mental health issues with psychological distress rates among young people tripling in the past decade.

“This can range from experiencing some difficulties through to clinical but some of the rise really comes back to beating the stigma of mental health,” Ms Johnson said.

“Young families and young people are reaching out earlier.”

headspace Ballarat offers a drop-in service on weekdays. Online chat is available at eheadspace.org.au. For more: headspaceday.org.au.

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