The Mental Health Dashboard Assessment.

Mental Health Dashboard - a simple tool that can be used to measure exactly how we are coping mentally across a spectrum of areas in our daily lives.

If I asked “How fit are you currently?” most people can understand the question and easily reply. You might say “I can do a 5k in 30 minutes” or “I couldn’t run up the stairs!”

We have tangible and easily understood methods of measuring and speaking to each other about our physical abilities and fitness, or lack of it!

Now, what if I asked how is your mental fitness? Not as easily described or understood, is it? We have no shared language or measurement techniques for how we are faring mentally in our daily lives.

This can pose a problem for us to fully understand just how bad someone can be feeling as emotions and mental health can be very subjective. People hide how they might be struggling as they feel that they should be able to cope with things themselves. So maybe it is time that we had a simple tool to use to measure exactly how we are coping mentally across a spectrum of areas in our daily lives?

We rarely take the time to ask ourselves “How am I doing?” It can be easy to just run on autopilot, but we encourage you now to stop and take a few minutes to do this mental health self-assessment overleaf to evaluate your own current state of well-being.

A mental health dashboard tool can be used to simply evaluate how you feel across the Physical, Emotional and Mental aspects of your daily life. The results can help you to take action for yourself.

Use the Wellness Dashboard Assessment to check in with yourself and evaluate where some self-maintenance might be helpful. 

The dashboard we have chosen for this evaluation is based on the work by Dr. Amir Georges Sabongui. Dr. Sabongui conducted research in the neurobiology of addiction and stress and continued to undertake more stress-related research with the Canadian Navy and Canadian Armed Forces. This research was awarded the Outstanding Dissertation Award by the Canadian Psychological Association. 

In our research we found this to be a clear, simple tool that can give you a quick way of taking an emotional snapshot of your current mental health status. 

The Wellness Dashboard offers four levels to help determine your current mental health levels.

Green, or Optimal, means you’re good to go. Things are good for you and you are thriving across all aspects of your life.

Yellow, you are operational, but not optimal. Possibly on autopilot and just surviving. Deep down you know there is something not quite right.

Orange, you’re already struggling or suffering burnout and experiencing ill mental health. When you’re orange, you’re barely functional. There is little enjoyment in your daily life.

Red, This is crisis mode. Red denotes dangerous levels of stress and overload. The only thing worse than feelings of stress and anxiety is apathy. Feeling like you don’t care anymore. That’s definitely a red light.

It is important to note that there are no good or bad emotions. Emotions are neither right nor wrong. You can be comfortable or uncomfortable with what you’re feeling, but what you do with these feelings is what matters. Managing emotions positively involves recognising them, regulating them, understanding them and acting on them in a calm and composed way.

The other thing worth noting is that this dashboard is only a simple tool to use to measure your current state of mind, this is not a medical diagnostic tool and is only used for the purpose of doing a self-assessment to get an overall picture into your current mental health at this point in time.

So... How are you, really?

Take a look below and see what statements you most identify with.

Are you operating at optimum levels, experiencing stress or burnout or suffering with extreme depression or mental illness.

Take the time to check in and ask yourself, “How’s Things?”

How’d you do?

After you finish, take time to reflect on your answers.

When you look at your internal Wellness Dashboard, do you see all green lights? 

Are there any yellow or orange lights tipping you toward overload and stress? If you're seeing red lights then it’s time to get the professional help you need to get you back to peak performance.

If your answers are mostly green you are doing great - keep it up. If you have a few areas in the yellow, it’s okay and just an indication to focus on that area a little more this week. Improvement takes time. Set some goals, start some new habits, and be patient and persistent - you will see improvements in your mood.

Where your ratings are in the Orange commit to taking action immediately on these areas. Talk to a trusted friend or family member, call one of the helplines and we encourage you to pick up the phone and call your family doctor - this is always the best option especially when you are in this zone, help is there and reaching out is the right thing to do at that stage.

Red zone means you need to take action, consider this an SOS We are so sorry you are feeling this way. If you mostly identified with the statements in the red zone we urge you to seek help immediately there is help available and you can feel better with support. You don’t have to tough it out or go it alone, reach out today. With the help you deserve, things can improve.

If you are in need of immediate help, you should go to your local A&E or Dial 999 for assistance.

 Crisis Support Helplines:

• Samaritans Helpline Call: 116 123 (24 hours a day )

• Pieta House National freephone number Call 1800 247 247 or Text HELP to 51444