What you can do to feel better

There is no quick fix that you can use if you're feeling stressed, worried or anxious and no single technique is guaranteed to work for everyone. However, making positive changes in your life can help you reduce your stress. This can include:

• talking to someone
• exercising
• breathing and relaxation exercises.

The Huddersfield Town Foundation offer open groups to support mental health:

Wellbeing Football

• What: A free weekly football session for men who may be experiencing or may have experienced poor mental health in their life. There are opportunities to participate in the Good Mood League tournament as part of the group!
• Where: Leeds Road Sports Complex, HD2 1YY
• When: Thursdays, 11am - 12:30pm

Heads Up

• What: Heads Up Support is the first step in combatting mental health concerns. This casual and friendly approach is delivered as a small group, or on an individual basis at the John Smiths Stadium, to point you in the right direction for further support.
• Where: The Community Hub, John Smith's Stadium, HD1 6PG
• When: Wednesdays, 4pm-5pm

For more information, or to sign up to one of our groups, please contact help@htafcfoundation.com

The Branch

• What: A grassroots organisation developed by passionate volunteers from the needs in the community. Their motivation is that everyone feels loved, connected and flourishes, both individually and together.
• Where: Jubilee Centre, Market Street, Paddock, HD1 4SH
• When: To see upcoming groups and events please visit The Branch calendar

Men Walking and Talking

• What: Men Walking and Talking run weekly walks, bringing men together to support each other and talk about their mental health in a safe space.
• Where: Harold Wilson statue in front of Huddersfield train station
• When: Mondays, 6:30pm-7:30pm

For more information please see Men Walking and Talking

Some common ways to relieve stress

Books for wellbeing and good health

Kirklees Libraries promote books and information to support health and wellbeing, curating book collections and responding to the needs of our communities.

The Our Reading Well collections have been curated by health professional, wellbeing experts, libraries teams and people with lived experience and are available to help adults, children and families understand and manage their health and wellbeing.

• Reading Well: Children - Good mental health and wellbeing; managing feelings and worries; dealing with bereavement and trauma; and support for living well with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
• Reading Well: Teens - Support for anxiety, stress and OCD, bullying and exam stress.
• Reading Well: Mental health - Information and support for managing common mental health conditions including anxiety and depression.
• Reading Well: Dementia - Books to support living well after diagnosis, practical advice for carers and ideas for shared engagement activities.
• Reading Well: Long term conditions - Information and support for people living or caring for someone with a long-term health condition including arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Connecting with people

A good support network of friends, family and colleagues can ease stress and help you see life in a different and positive way. It's hard to feel anxious and stressed when you're laughing. Spending time with good friends and family can improve stress and relieve tension.

Isolation, loneliness and social connections has more information on what other options may be available to you.

Exercise

Exercise is a great way to relieve mental stress, it reduces emotional intensity and helps you clear your thoughts. Regular exercise helps reduce stress and carries other benefits such as:

• improving sleep quality
• promoting mental wellbeing and confidence
• releasing endorphins which improve mood.

This video about exercise is helpful:

Focus on breathing

Focusing on your breathing can help relieve your stress. Breathing exercises help to calm your body and brain. One breathing exercise you can do is to simply breath in through your nose and breath out after counting to 3.

Simple exercises like this can help divert your attention and help you relax.

This video explains this simple breathing exercise to help calm your stress and nerves:

Take a walk

Going for a walk allows you to enjoy a change of scenery as well as breathing in fresh air. Whether you are stressed because of work, or anything else; a simple walk can change the mood and help you take a break from a frustrating task.