Coaching and personal crisis: managing mental health and suicide risks in coaching

We all have mental health in the same way that we have physical health. The World Health Organisation (WHO;2021) views mental health to be an integral component of our overall health, and defines it as ‘a state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.’ This definition acknowledges there is more to mental health than the restoration of it. There are also benefits to the promotion and protection of mental health. This shift in perspective throughout the western world has echoed across the health sector, therapy and coaching (Evans-Krimme, 2023).