Parent Support

Taking care of yourself

Looking after your own wellbeing and mental and physical health is important. Sometimes it can be hard to do, but as much as possible try to:

• remind yourself that no one is perfect and that you are doing the best you can

• eat well and drink plenty of water

• get enough sleep

• make time every day to do something that you enjoy

• ask for help from family, friends, your GP or a counselor.

If looking after yourself is challenging and you have concerns about how you are coping, support is available. Talk to someone you trust, contact your general practitioner (GP), a counsellor or psychologist or visit a hospital emergency department.

There are a range of services you can access for advice and support:

Parentline - a phone service for parents and carers of children from birth to 18 years old. Offers confidential and anonymous counselling and support for parenting issues.

Raising Children’s Network: parent mental health – offers advice and support on looking after yourself, healthy relationships, conflict management, dealing with stress and anxiety, anger management and helping children adjust to family breakdown.

Better Health Channel’s Self-Care – provides self-care strategies, connecting with others, being kind to yourself, relationship support, seeking mental health support.

Lifeline – a national organisation providing all Australian's experiencing a personal crisis with access to 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention strategies.

Beyond Blue – offers confidential one on one calls and chats with a trained mental health professional and tools and resources to look after your mental health.

Black Dog Institute - provides self-tools and apps, advice on when and where to seek help, information on mental health conditions and support groups.

Additional information

There are support services available to support your whole family. For more information, visit:

Beyond Blue: Healthy families - offers information to support the young people in your life – whether you’re a parent or carer or another family member.

ReachOut: Parents coaching - offers free online coaching to parents and carers of teenagers. If you’re worried about your relationship with your teenage child, or worried about your child’s wellbeing or behaviour, coaching can give you strategies to help.

ReachOut: Relationships for families- information on how to deal with conflict and resolve family issues.

Raising Children Network: Building good parent-child relationships – offers information on why good parent-child relationships are important and guidance on building positive and caring parent-child relationships.