Stress, burnout and the trust gap: Why the mental wealth revolution matters now
Written by The Mental Health Revolution Ltd
On World Mental Health Day (10 October 2025), the latest data paints a stark picture: stress and burnout are no longer side issues — they are defining challenges of our time.
Surveys and neuroscience findings converge around three critical trends that demand urgent attention and fresh approaches.
1 Burnout report 2025
The generational divide in stress is widening - The Burnout Report 2025 reveals that younger workers, especially those aged 18–24, are reporting the highest levels of stress and mental health-related absence.
Many say they don’t feel safe opening up to their managers about these struggles, signalling a widening trust gap between employees and employers.
The scale of the problem is staggering.
UK statistics show around 875,000 workers suffer from work-related stress, depression or anxiety each year, leading to over 17 million working days lost.
Poor mental health is now one of the biggest drivers of absenteeism, staff turnover and declining performance across the economy.
2 Emerging research is reshaping our understanding of resilience
A 2025 study by Zhang and colleagues introduced a Data-Efficient Model for Psychological Resilience Prediction based on Neurological Data, which demonstrated that neurological signals can enhance resilience prediction, going beyond traditional questionnaires.
In other words, the brain’s own data can become part of the roadmap for transformation.
Other findings add to this picture.
Brain imaging studies reported in The Guardian show that people who imagine positive futures share similar activation patterns - proving that “mental rehearsal” of what lies ahead is a measurable brain activity, not abstract wishful thinking.
3 Genetic risk-dependent brain markers of resilience
Even those at high genetic risk for depression show resilience.
Research published in Nature Communications by Lu et al. (2025) found that activation of specific brain networks, such as the orbitofrontal cortex, can act as protective factors.
This shows resilience is not a fixed gift - it’s shaped by a mix of biology, behaviour and environment.
The concept of genetic risk-dependent brain markers of resilience suggests that resilience pathways differ between people, depending on genetic risk.
This opens the door to more personalised approaches - recognising that resilience is built in different ways for different brains.
How we can help
These findings highlight the urgency of approaches that bridge science and lived experience. The trust gap among younger workers demands bottom-up, human-first models that go beyond tick-box wellbeing.
This is where The Mental Wealth Revolution (TMWR), founded by Birmingham-based speaker and activist Jules Mitchell (pictured), steps in.
Her pioneering Neuroshaping approach and the SPIN Method already apply the very mechanisms that science is again validating: looking ahead (cognitive forecasting), and reinforcing small wins to build feedback loops of resilience.
By turning cutting-edge neuroscience into practical, everyday tools, TMWR gives leaders, professionals, therapists and individuals frameworks they can use without stigma, shame or hierarchy.
Jules Mitchell said: “We’re seeing the science shift - resilience is not some mystic trait. It’s made in the moment, through what you imagine and how you respond.
“My mission has always been to equip people with real knowledge and real tools for real change and again, science is endorsing what lived experience and my own research has shown all along - resilience can be trained, rewired, and reclaimed.”
On World Mental Health Day 2025, the message is clear: resilience isn’t about avoiding stress.
It’s about learning how to train your brain inside it - and movements like The Mental Wealth Revolution are here to show you how.