Thursday is World Suicide Prevention Day, an annual reminder of why appreciating mental health is so important, Emily says.

Stress and the significant impact it can have on people needs to be recognised by employers, she says.

Companies have a legal duty of care for their employees, external, Emily, from Burnhope near Durham, says, which includes their mental as well as physical health and safety.

But it should not just be seen as an onerous requirement, she says, as a healthier workforce means fewer days lost through sickness – almost 9% of workplace ill health in 2025 was stress related, according to the Office for National Statistics, external.

“Humans are still the main resource, and if the people are not there, you don’t have a successful business,” Emily says.

Everyone wears a metaphorical backpack she says, filled with the stresses and concerns of life.

Work “chucks in loads more weight”, she says, and when a backpack becomes too heavy, people become unwell.

“Any senior leader that has any kind of empathy and compassion for people won’t want their business to be chucking weights into people’s backpacks until they fall over,” Emily says.

“Especially when there are things that you could actually do to help to actually take some of those weights out.”