Low mood
Low mood or depression affects lots of young people and can come and go. It is normal to feel low sometimes but if you’re low mood has lasted longer than 2 weeks then you may need to get some extra support. We have plenty of tips on our page which you can try!
Write a letter to yourself explain how you feel and why. Be as open and truthful with yourself as you can be. A few days later, read it back imagining someone else wrote it to think how you would help them. Molly
Symptoms of low mood
Thoughts
Sometimes when people feel low they may have thoughts that can be very upsetting. Sometimes our thoughts can be really unhelpful, but it is important to recognise that they are only our opinions, thoughts are never FACT! Below are some examples of thoughts you may recognise.
“Everything is my fault, I always let other people down because I am rubbish at everything!”
“Everyone is always on my case to do things but…what’s the point?”
“I hate everyone! No one likes me, I’m so ugly…I might as well not be here anymore.”
“I don’t know what to do with myself everything feels so empty all the time. I just want to feel something instead of this emptiness, my future is not worth looking forward to if nothing changes for me”
Did you know five children in everyclass has a mental health problem. It is really common but we can help.
Feelings
When you hear the word depression you may think this only means you feel sad. Depression can make you feel lots of other emotions too! You may have all of these emotions or only some of them and that’s ok because everyone experiences things differently.
- No motivation
- Worthlessness
- Guilty
- Suicidal
- Hopeless
- Sad
- Teary
- Irritable
- Angry
Physical symptoms
- Difficulty concentrating or remembering things
- Headaches
- Feeling more or less tired and having less energy to do things
- Speaking slower or taking longer to decide what to say
- Constipation
- Eating more or eating less than usual. You may also notice a change in your weight
- Joint aches and pains
Behavioral symptoms
- Crying
- Withdrawal from others
- Stopping hobbies
- Not taking care of yourself (hygiene ect)
- Moving slower
- Unable to settle – restless
- Doing less activities
- Staying in bed all day
- Self-harm
- Lashing out at others
Tips to help
Looking after yourself
Sometimes when people have mental health problems they might forget or lack energy to take proper care of themselves. It is still important despite feeling low to maintain a healthy diet and get the right amount of sleep! Exercise has also been found to improve mood!
Talk to someone about how you are feeling
It can be really easy to isolate yourself from other people and spend more time on your own with your thoughts. It might feel like the easier thing to do, but we know that sharing your thoughts and feelings helps relieve some of those feelings and make things feel a little better.
You could talk to a family member or close friend about how you are feeling – having someone to listen really does help!
Other people you can talk to
If you don’t feel like talking to someone you know you could always try reaching out on the below sites who can offer chat services or more information.
Young Minds is a really good website with expert articles, advice and blogs and a crisis text-line.
Self-care tips for young people. have made some videos giving advice on how to deal with unhelpful thoughts, sleep, social media, anxiety, exercise and more.
Happy Maps have produced reliable resources recommended by parents and professionals.
Worcestershire Young Carers supports young people who have a caring responsibility at home.
Herefordshire Young Carers Club provides support and respite for children and young adults who are caring for a family member with an illness, disability, mental health issue or problem with drugs or alcohol.
Barnardos offer a range of support for young people, from your mental health and wellbeing, to being a care leaver or accessing support to find a job.
Samaritans offer a safe place for you to talk any time you like, in your own way – about whatever’s getting to you. They won't judge you or tell you what to do, we'll listen to you. Anyone can contact Samaritans, no matter how old you are. Find out more about how to contact a Samaritan.
Useful apps:
Activities that can help
Understanding the cycle of low mood
When we struggle with low mood we can often fall into something called the vicious cycle of low mood! This cycle keeps our low mood going so it becomes harder and harder to escape. But don’t despair there is a way to break the cycle and combat our low mood.
The opposite of doing less is…doing MORE! Increase your activities and do more things that give you a sense of achievement, closeness to others and ENJOYMENT!
Don’t believe us? Why not try doing 1 activity this week that you used to enjoy or that you’ve always wanted to try? We have a list of ideas [link to list of ideas] in case you can’t think of anything. See how you feel afterwards?
Do more activities
Activity list resource.pdf [pdf] 21KB
Create a positive affirmations poster
Positive affirmations basically means writing down lots of lovely things about you! Why don’t you give it a go now and grab a coloured pen and piece of paper.
What to include…
- Your positive characteristics – “I’m a thoughtful person”
- Your strengths – “I’m really good at Xbox games”
- Things you are good at – “playing sports”
- Your achievements – “I scored 9/10 on my spelling test”
- Something really hard that you overcame – “moving school was really difficult but I managed to settle in once I got to know my new classmates better!”
- Positive goals for the future – “when I leave school I want to become a zoologist”
- Something good that happened to you today – “my friend helped me with a tricky math question in school today”
Create a set of coping cards to remind you to stay strong
Coping cards are used as little reminders that help you to remember things when you read them because sometimes when we feel really low it can be hard to remember that this feeling won’t last forever.
Why not have a go at creating your own set of coping cards or you can print off our examples.
Coping cards activity sheet.docx [docx] 15KB
Grounding techniques to try
Ground techniques or breathing exercises help us to refocus our minds on the present rather than getting bogged down by all our thoughts and feelings. They help to distract us for a little while until the feeling passes and we can move on. Why not give a few of these a try?
Link here
Keeping a thought/activity diary
We have millions of thoughts a day! So it can be super hard to remember every thought that popped into our heads later on. But we still remember that we feel sad or upset by something? This is because it is easier to recall our feelings but much harder to spot what made us feel that way.
Identifying what thoughts made us feel upset can help us to stop them in their tracks! Have you heard of unhelpful thinking styles? Click on the link to find out more [link to unhelpful thinking styles game] why not try keeping a thought diary for a week to see what type of thoughts you have?
Game – match the unhelpful thinking style to the example. Explaination = sometimes thoughts can be unhelpful, this means they can make us feel upset or angry despite having no real evidence! Being more aware of when you have an unhelpful thought can help you to dismiss it easier so It no longer bothers you as much as it did before.
Step 1 of game – intro to the thinking styles
Step 2 of game – match the thinking styles to examples
Step 3 of game – do you have any of these thinking styles? Click on cards you have to add to your deck
Keeping an activity diary can also be really useful as it will help you to see what your current activity level is like. You might be sat there thinking you do absolutely nothing but by writing what you do down you can see how much you really do. You might surprise yourself! Getting up counts as doing something!
When you have logged your activities for a week, try adding 1 more activity each week to increase your motivation and mood.
How to problem solve difficult situations
When we feel low issues that come up seem huge! impossible to solve and way too much effort! This can make us feel really low and demotivated. Try using the steps below next time you have a problem at school or home that you are struggling with.
- Choose your problem
- List all the possible solutions – even the crazy ones!
- List the advantages and disadvantages
- Choose one you feel comfortable with
- Make a plan
- Do the plan
- Reflect – how did the plan go?
Need to talk to someone?
If you are a child or young person and need some mental health support please talk to someone about how you are feeling. If you don’t feel you can talk to a family member or someone at school, consider some of the helplines or text support below. You are not alone.
Support from the NHS
The wellbeing and emotional support teams in schools service is designed to help children and young people ages 5-18 years access mental health and wellbeing support early on in educational settings. It's all about ensuring children and young people can get access to the right help as early as possible.
The Reach4Wellbeing team supports and promotes the emotional wellbeing of young people and parents of primary school age children through interactive online group programmes, using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) principles.
NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Talking Therapies is open to young people aged 16 and over. They provide a range of support, including online therapy, g roups and courses and 1:1 support. The team can also help you find and access a variety of groups, courses and activities delivered by voluntary, charity and social enterprise providers that can support your physical and mental wellbeing. You can self-refer online in your own time and you don't need to go to your doctor/GP first.
Other helpful links
Kooth is a helpful website offering online counselling and support through text, e-mail or chatting on the forum. Kooth is suitable for ages 10-18 years.
Lumi Nova is a personalised digital therapeutic game for childhood anxiety, co-designed with children, parents, NHS clinicians and experts in mental health, human-centred design and ethical gaming technology. It empowers young people aged 7 to 12 years to overcome mental health challenges and create life-long skills using immersive experiences that are self-guided, interactive and fun. Sign up for free here.
The Blues Programme is an internationally acclaimed wellbeing programme for young people aged 13-19. Over six weeks, it teaches emotional resilience, and reduces low mood and anxious thoughts. Crucially, it gets teenagers talking.
Worcestershire ChatHealth is a service where 11-19 years olds can text 07507331750 to speak to their School Health Nurse for confidential advice and support around a variety of issues, including bullying, emotional health, relationship problems, alcohol and drugs.
YoungMinds Textline offers you free, 24/7 text messaging support wherever you are in the UK. If you need someone to talk to about how you’re feeling, text YM to 85258.
Worrying thoughts
Other worrying symptoms might include hearing voices, feelings of unreality, becoming very angry or violent, showing signs of an eating disorder or becoming very withdrawn. If you are a young person experiencing such thoughts, please talk to someone about how you are feeling and if you don’t feel you can talk to a family member, consider some of the helplines or text support. You are not alone.
Suicidal thoughts
If you are expressing suicidal thoughts or feeling like you wish to harm yourself or someone else, you should speak to a medical professional as soon as possible. Many people express suicidal thoughts because they are feeling overwhelmed and may not really want to act on them, but it is still very frightening. If you need help in an emergency phone 999.
Need help quickly?
If you have taken an overdose or self-harmed and you are concerned that the cuts are very deep or there is serious blood loss go to A&E or call 999.
Emergency help and helplines
Herefordshire and Worcestershire 24 hour urgent mental health helpline.
Whether you feel your mental health problems have become much worse or are experiencing problems for the first time, you may need help quickly. You can phone the mental health helpline for urgent advice: 0808 196 9127 (free phone 24 hrs a day 365 days a year)
The team will offer advice, support and, if required, an assessment to understand how you are feeling. When calling the number, you can expect to speak to Mental Health Advisors and/or trained Mental Health Clinicians who will be able to listen to your concerns and help make appropriate plans with you to support you.
This service is available for people of all ages, and accessible to friends and family of someone in distress too.
If you just need to talk, any time of day or night
These services offer confidential advice from trained volunteers. You can talk about anything that's troubling you, no matter how difficult:
- Call 116 123 to talk to Samaritans, or email: jo@samaritans.org for a reply within 24 hours
- Text "WOO" in Worcestershire or "HERE" in Herefordshire to 85258 to contact the Shout Crisis Text Line
- If you're under 19, you can call 0800 1111 to talk to Childline. The number will not appear on your phone bill.
- Are you a young person in crisis? Visit the Young Minds website for more support.
Alternative local support
- Worcestershire Safe Haven provides telephone support and face-to-face appointments to Worcestershire residents who are experiencing a mental health crisis. Call 01905 600400 any day of the week between 6pm and midnight for support and signposting.
- Herefordshire Mind Safe Haven if you find yourself in crisis or need urgent support with your mental health, the Safe Haven is a safe and friendly place that you can come and access mental health support and advice.The Safe Haven telephone and email support service is available every evening, 7 days a week, from 5pm to 10pm; call 01432 372407 or email safehaven@herefordshire-mind.org.uk.