If you have social anxiety, you know what it feels like to experience intense anxiety in social situations. It can involve a fear of judgement or embarrassment and can sometimes result in you avoiding social situations altogether.

While it’s quite common (around 7 per cent of Australians have experienced social anxiety in the past 12 months), there are a lot of myths surrounding it. Debunking these myths is important, so that they don’t create stigma and self-stigma, or prevent people from seeking help.

Here are five myths about social anxiety – and the facts that prove them wrong.

At some point in our lives, many of us will go through or witness a traumatic event - something shocking, distressing, or dangerous. These events can challenge our ability to cope and change how we understand the world. 

It's normal to go through tough times and to feel stress and emotional pain. Here's how resilience skills can help you to cope with adversity. 

Routines are those activities or rhythms that create structure in your day. Here we guide you through how to create routines that gradually help lift your mood and give you a sense of achievement.  

Did you know the small, meaningful or practical activities that you do regularly can support your mental health? Here, we explain why routines benefit your mood and wellbeing. 

People living with borderline personality disorder (BPD) face challenges with managing emotions, their sense of identity and interpersonal relationships. While the symptoms of BPD can be distressing and difficult to manage, it is important to remember that there is effective treatment available.

Almost every new or expectant parent experiences some anxiety. Anxiety in parents is interpreted differently by different people, families and cultures. But parents’ worry or anxiety during pregnancy and the first year of a child’s life can be challenging to recognise and manage.

Deciding on whether or not to talk with children about your mental health issues is a personal choice. We all want the best for our children, and you might worry about the impact this conversation could have on your child. The truth is, being real about mental health issues and showing your children a range of emotions can have benefits for both you and your child.

Mania involves unusually happy or irritable mood, racing thoughts, and intense energy, causing difficulty in a person's life. It can be really distressing for the person experiencing it as well as the people supporting them.

If you are supporting someone who is having symptoms of mania or hypomania here are some ways to assist them (and yourself).

Returning to the office has been a hot topic for the last number of weeks and is something that’s been met with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. For those of us who have worked from home for the best part of a year, we should be jumping for joy that we can finally get back to a routine right? Not necessarily.

Since March 2020, we’ve made our own ‘new’ routines, new rituals, new ways of working. We’ve become comfortable and accustomed to our makeshift home offices and we may have yet to meet some new colleagues off a screen and in 3D!