Five years ago, her dad died unexpectedly. Edward Beattie had been “suffering for ten years and not getting the help he needed” according to daughter Emily. Speaking about her father was the only time during a 40 minute interview where her voice cracked a little. Tears welling. That was Monday, suicide prevention day.

“He had been depressed for ten years,” she says.

“I miss him, I have memories and had him for 19 years and in many ways I am lucky, some others have not been as lucky. But it has affected me greatly and continues to affect me and I have my own problems.”

Those problems that Emily so candidly speaks include her own battle with mental health, although as she argues herself, she is not sure that she even likes the phrase.

“I don’t really like to say mental health problems, to me it is general health. And that is what people need to start to get. So many people still look down at you if you have problems in that way.”

“There is this misconception that if you have struggled with depression or issues such as that, that you are weak when in fact you are the opposite. You are incredibly strong. I am in a very good place now and have come to realise that but when you are suffering that is very hard to see.”

Emily has strong views about the current political stalemate and the wider issue of mental health services. “There is just not enough support,” she says.

“I think it is time too that we had a clear out of the politicians. They have had their chance. I think there are a huge amount of people just sick of the way things are and want something new. I just think it is shocking the way things have been let go.”

When it comes to mental health care it is not only the lack of investment that frustrates Emily but also the structure of the services.

“This £1 billion that we were supposed to be getting. I remember seeing a list of where the money was going to be spent and broadband was top of the list and mental health was the bottom. I think that just shows you where we are. Everyone likes fast broadband but is it really more important than saving people’s lives?” she said before adding:

“What we need is an investment in people. Good people who understand. For me at times it would be far more beneficial to have someone who I know and trust at the end of the phone that I could call. I have had to visit a&e three times in a week to get help, and it was only the last time that I got the help I needed. If I had someone I could call it might have prevented all those visits.”

Emily reveals that she is “very happy with the metal health team” who she has working with her now but admits that she has lost close friends because of her struggles.

“I have close friends who have not spoken to me since they found out that I spent time in hospital. Or others who were there for me the first time I had problems but not times after. It is like you have been ill once and you’re not allowed to be ill again,” Emily says.

She goes on to paint a vivid picture of what life can be like with mental health problems.

“People still think that you should just be OK. Or they think you ae just in a bad mood, It can be hard to explain to people. You just don’t want to do anything at times. Everything is just grey and it is hard to find the joy in things. You certainly find out who your true friends are.”

Emily is a fully qualified aeronautical engineer and says more than once during the interview that she “is in a good place now”.

But she knows that mental illness is something that can strike again.

“It is hard to understand. I have to think of things like having enough money put away in case I have to go off work for a year. Do other people think like that? I know that it is something that I need to be very wary of. Which is why I always go back to the services we have. We need people who we can trust and talk to and who know us as people. That is what would really help,”

Before finishing the interview she returns to the topic of her dad.

“I just wish he got the help that he needed. He didn’t though. And I miss him every day.”