Emily Coates, Mountain Leader

“When I feel down, the outdoors is my motivation. A lifeline and a leveller”

The outdoors has always been a balm for me. From blissfully happy childhood memories of holiday time when every waking hour was spent outdoors; to today, where I live in North Wales and get out as much as possible.  

Struggles with my mental health came with early adulthood. At the age of 20, I had my first psychotic episode, and after a decade of struggling with periods of ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ I was diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder.

During manic phases the outdoors becomes essential to me – it is where I expend my excess energy. I run, I swim, I bike, I ski and I climb; whatever is going, I’m out there doing it. During periods when I feel down the outdoors is also important; it is where I find my motivation. A walk on a windy day invigorates me, being out in the sun uplifts my spirits and exercise with friends lifts me out of my lows. 

I find expedition life and a distance from the shackles of technology, social media and societal complexity is a huge relief. Aged 18 I went to South America on expedition and my love of this style of life was ignited. In my first job out of university as a geography teacher I became very involved in outdoor education, through sport, field trips and expeditions. From overseeing Silver Duke of Edinburgh trips in the New Forest to three-week expeditions to the Himalayas, I adored teaching in an outdoor setting. Pupils took on a new light. Different individuals excelled, a spark was ignited in some of the least engaged pupils and I felt proud and excited to see them flourish.  

After some tough times juggling my mental health and a career in teaching, however, I returned to university to study for a Master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Economics. After this I ended up in a City job recruited as a sustainability economist. Whilst working in this role for PwC I did a huge amount of awareness-raising on the topic of mental health. 

I was on a panel alongside Ruby Wax discussing mental health and campaigning to smash the stigma in the City context. I was part of a team who created a powerful group named ‘DAWN’ standing for the Disability Ability Wellbeing Network. We raised awareness through a number of avenues, including a green ribbon campaign called ‘Green light to talk’. For this we invited PwC staff to wear green ribbons in support of opening up discussions around mental health. 

We also managed to persuade the facilities teams of our two major London buildings to light up in green the facades of the high-rise prominent City buildings to mark this campaign and World Mental Health day. Other prominent buildings across London followed suit – the Government’s Cabinet office being one of them. It was exciting to see our work spread around London and indeed further afield. Green ribbon wearing became a thing and buildings lit up in green as one walked through the city was a fantastic sight to see.    

During my time working for PwC I managed to qualify as a Summer Mountain Leader and trained to be a Winter Mountain Leader, despite it being difficult to carve out time to get to the mountains. Whenever I did escape to the hills I felt restored, relieved and refreshed. It was very clear that whilst campaigning for awareness around mental health was important, preserving my own was also an important priority.   

Eventually in 2018 I made a move to reflect this realisation, and I left my career in the City and relocated my life to North Wales. I now work at Plas y Brenin, the National Outdoor Centre, in an administrative role, but this allows me to be surrounded by an adventure playground of outdoor activities and more importantly people to share these with.

Whilst I cannot run away from my illness - the outdoors certainly helps. It both lifts me up and grounds me.  It acts as a balance to the swings that my life takes periodically. It is a lifeline and a leveller.