By MARK DUELL and STEPHANIE LINNING FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 02:58 EDT, 11 October 2022 | UPDATED: 12:06 EDT, 11 October 2022
Note from HereNOW Help Publisher: This is a condensed version of the the entire article that the Daily Mail UK wrote.
- rince and Princess of Wales, both 40, have recorded a special programme for BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat
- Kate said there is ‘no right or wrong’ way to seek help and added ‘we all have mental health’ just like physical
- Show was aired on Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra and the Asian Network at 12.45pm today and will air again at 5.45pm
- For free, confidential support, contact Samaritans on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org
The Princess of Wales has said there is ‘no right or wrong way’ to seek help for your mental health as she turned interviewer to speak to young people on World Mental Health Day.
The Prince and Princess of Wales recorded a special programme for BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat, in which they heard from four guests, some of whom had struggled immensely with their mental health.
Mother of three Kate, 40, made note of how ‘everyone has mental health’ that they must look after in the same way they would ‘go to the gym’ to look after their physical fitness.
She also acknowledged that ‘different things will work for different people’ when it comes to dealing with obstacles in your personal life.
In the show, which aired on Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra and the Asian Network at 12.45pm this afternoon and will be repeated at 5.45pm, the Prince of Wales, 40, said mental health has been ‘pushed way down the priority list’ and argued society must ‘find a balance’ that preserves mental wellbeing.
The Princess of Wales added people are much better at acknowledging their mental health these days, but that they still face difficulties in knowing how to deal with it.
During the Newsbeat special, the couple heard from a student, Antonio Ferreira, a psychology and cognitive neuroscience student who is also a mental health activist.
During his teenage years, Mr Ferreira was diagnosed with schizophrenia and emotionally unstable personality disorder.
He revealed how his condition sent him to a dark place, at which point he had decided to take his own life, before he was referred to a psychiatric unit which helped him recover.
‘Coming from an African background, mental health is not a topic of discussion,’ he said. ‘It’s not something I was aware of or had any knowledge of and so I didn’t accept my own diagnosis.
After being seen by my GP I was referred to a child/adolescent mental health service. Things went from zero to 100 real quick’ and he soon found himself ‘inches from the ground’ with ‘no hope’.
Mr Ferreira revealed that was when he decided to take his own life and ended up in the unit – and he was surprised by the support he received from other patients.
‘They did say to me: “We can see you’ve got a light bulb in you. It’s not that the light bulb has gone off it’s that someone has just turned off that switch and simply you just need someone to turn it back on”.’
He added: ‘I came out of there a different man’, which drove him to search for ways to help other people who had been in his position.
Later in the broadcast, William noted the things he had learnt from working with mental health charities and fronting campaigns such as Heads Together.
‘A lot of the work we’ve done on mental health and listening to lots of people talk about it, is everyone likes a toolbox – particularly for men. A toolbox is quite a useful analogy to kind of use,’ he said.
The prince added: ‘Big family networks and support networks around people are really important, but a lot of people don’t realise what they need until it actually comes along.
‘You can be living one life one minute and something massively changes and you realise you don’t necessarily have the tools or the experience to be able to tackle that.’
William appeared to have been referencing his mother Princess Diana’s death in 1997 and the recent deterioration of his relationship with brother Prince Harry.
Dr Abigail Miranda, an educational and child psychologist working in early years, replied: ‘To have, I suppose, in your toolbox, communication would be key and I think some of the myth-busting as well around attachment.
‘We know now through studies that actually any parent who spends a significant amount of time – or any caregiver – with the child will also form similar attachments and have those similar patterns as well.
Kate said she would ‘love to know’ how the contributors look after their own mental health.
Mr Ferreira replied: ‘That’s a big question.
‘I know not every day is going to be roses and sunflowers, you know, I know some days I’m going to have to push against the clouds to see that sun again and, you know, I know that you know when you have a bad day it doesn’t mean it will be a bad week or a bad month.
‘So that’s the type of awareness I’m talking about, you know, coming to accept these things. Because when you can accept these things and you know, you know, on your bad day, what you have to remember is to remain humble and, you know, stay hopeful.
‘Because after bad the good follows, and you know, after good bad follows, after night comes day, after day comes night. So, you know, you want to keep pushing, you want to, you know, however much that hope is, you want to hold onto that hope.
‘You know, you can’t always run away from the issue, sometimes you have to really face them and conquer them and so, you know, with practice there’s progress, and that’s, I guess, in a nutshell how… it was a big question!’
Kate replied: ‘There’s no right or wrong, that’s the thing as well. Different things will work for different people and it’s just sometimes trying isn’t it, as well.’
Mr Ferreira said: ‘That’s it, yeah,’ and Kate added: ‘Different methods, different opportunities that arise as well to help best support you.’ Mr Ferreira responded: ‘Exactly.’