Author and Entrepreneur Dedicates Life to Tackling Stress

Thirteen years after receiving the news that she had 18 months to live, an author is donating proceeds from her books to the charity that helped save her life.

Sounds Incredible!

It really is!! In 2009, Emma Crabtree was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme (an aggressive brain tumour) with a prognosis of 12 to 18 months. Emma rediscovered h

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 74 per cent of adults in the UK have experienced feeling so stressed over the last year that they were overwhelmed or unable to cope. But the good news is that there is support available to combat that stress. To mark Stress Awareness Month, we spoke to best-selling author and founder of the Stress Management Society Neil Shah, about how best to cope with the complex issue of stress.

Today Neil is generally happy and relaxed, this wasn’t always the case. In his twenties, he was trying to hold together a failing multi-million pound IT recruitment business, at which point he found himself on the verge of a breakdown. He was so stressed that he became physically ill.

“I didn’t recognise it as stress at first,” he recalled. “I just felt a very great responsibility to the 35 or 40 people I was working with. I couldn’t think clearly, I was drinking. I just knew I wasn’t coping. So I went to the doctor who wanted to prescribe me medication. I ended up having a breakdown but it was off the back of that experience that managed to face some of my demons.”

After trying a variety of treatments that didn’t work for him, he began exploring ways to heal from stress by himself, which led him to create the Stress Management Society. Today, the organisation works with individuals and companies to reduce their stress and promoting wellbeing.

He explained: “A big part of our remit is to raise awareness around these issues. For us, it’s around looking at trends, how our day-to-day life experiences are changing and finding ways for people to cope with modern-day pressures.”

Stress Awareness Month is a significant period in the organisation’s calendar, especially due to the value of understanding stress.

“You can’t take action till you recognise the situation,” Neil said. “Stress leads to poor mental health as well as physical illness. You’re in a state that requires short term intervention. It’s like when you’re facing a tiger - your body wants to run away. To tackle stress we need to be mindful and change our approach to life. You can do anything mindfully, just by being aware of the sounds of the birds and the leaves and more generally being present in your daily activities.”

Stamp Out Stress

Founded in 2003, the Stress Management Society is a nonprofit organisation that helps people build awareness of and tackle stress. Their mission is to create “a happier, healthier, more resilient and sustainable world.”

If you are working to support good mental health and help people to avoid high stress levels, sign up as a member of the Stress Managament Society here.

er love of writing after six weeks of radiotherapy and six months of chemotherapy and has since moved home to Skipton to be with her family.

In 2021, she published her first book ‘The Adventures of Big Boy: Big Boy’s Birthday Walk’. Since then, she has gone on to write and publish two books, donating some of the proceeds to the Yorkshire Brain Tumor Charity (YBTC) to support the work they do and raise awareness of the diagnosis.

That’s Brilliant! How Much Has She Raised?

Since her first book was published a year ago, Emma has raised £800 for the YBTC - her second book was published in October 2022. Her books are available on her website here, with a small portion of each sale being donated to YBTC.

This article aligns with the UN SDG Good Health and Wellbeing.