Ginny Coates

Ginny CoatesSep 9, 2026

Tomorrow marks World Suicide Prevention Day 🤍 4 years ago, my life looked very different. I had a six-week-old baby. I was going through the breakdown of my relationship with her father. I was abusing alcohol and substances. I was isolating myself and pushing away the people who loved me most. I was not coping. I remember doing a sales demo and because I was so poorly I became convinced that I had completely ruined the call. To someone else, it may have seemed like one small thing. But for me, in the state of mind I was already in, it became the catalyst that pushed me over the edge. The next day, I woke up in hospital. I am incredibly lucky to be here and because I am here, I feel a responsibility to share stories like this. Not for sympathy, not to dwell on the past but because we need to talk more openly about the warning signs that someone might be struggling. Are they isolating themselves? Are they cancelling plans and withdrawing from the people around them? Have they recently experienced a relationship breakdown, loss, trauma or another difficult life event? Are they using alcohol or substances to cope? Sometimes, the person who is struggling the most is the one telling everyone they’re fine. Four years on, I know that asking someone how they are and really listening to the answer can matter more than we realise. You never know what someone might be carrying alone. For anyone struggling, there is help out there and a life worth living. I know that right now you feel like the entire world is against you, like nothing will get better. But it does.

Ginny CoatesSep 13, 2026

Some of the biggest changes in my mental health have come from learning to genuinely enjoy the small things. For a long time, my mind was always somewhere else whether overthinking, worrying or looking for the next thing to achieve. When you do this, you miss out of the small, beautiful moments in life and the things and people that really matter the most. If you told me 14 months ago, I’d be writing down 5 gratitudes every morning, I’d likely have laughed in your face. In complete honest this has been one of the biggest positive actions I have implemented in my life. Instead of waking up thinking about everything that could be wrong, I start by recognising what is already right. For me, it’s learning to stop trying to work out the whole picture and just focus on doing the next right thing. I don’t have to control tomorrow and I just need to be present today. There is so much more joy in life when you actually slow down enough to notice it ❤️

Ginny CoatesSep 11, 2026

Mental health at work has come a long way but there’s still more to do. For leaders, creating an open door isn’t just about saying “my door is always open.” It’s about building a culture where people feel safe enough to actually walk through it. Well done to those companies who are taking the mental health of their employees seriously 👏