prince's pain
Emotional Prince William reveals the moment his ‘mental health nearly went down a slippery slope’
The royal revealed he finds it difficult to talk about an incident that happened when he was working as an Air Ambulance Pilot
PRINCE William choked back tears this week as he spoke about a traumatic incident that took place when he worked as an Air Ambulance Pilot.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, the royal, 36, said if he hadn’t taken action, he would have gone down a “slippery slope” with his mental health.
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Prince William was asked on the Davos 2019 panel in Switzerland whether there was a particular moment at work which made the importance of dealing with mental health “hit home”.
Without thinking, the dad-of-three replied: “Yes and I still find it very difficult to talk about.
“I get very emotional about it because it relates very closely to my children and so it is very hard to talk about it.
“I just felt that the most important thing was understanding and realising it was there and I think that if I hadn’t been doing what I was doing, I might have gone into my shell a bit and gone ‘I can deal with this myself’.
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“And then potentially, down the line it manifests itself in a much worse situation.”
Prince William explained how him and his team were “very affected by this one particular job”, and they had to “debrief about it”.
He added: “I know that if I hadn't taken the action that I did then, I would have definitely gone down a slippery slope and I would have been dealing with mental illness on a different level.”
The Duke of Cambridge joined the East Anglian Air Ambulance service in March 2015, after serving for nearly five years as a helicopter pilot with the RAF's Search and Rescue Force.
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WHERE TO GET HELP
IF you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
- Beat, , 0808 801 0667
- CALM, , 0800 585 858
- Heads Together,
- Hector's House,
- Mind, , 0300 123 3393
- Papyrus,, 0800 068 41 41
- Samaritans, , 116 123
He carried out numerous call-outs with his colleagues, including suicide attempts, rescues and road accidents.
He revealed his first call-out job was to the suicide of a young man, and it was this type of event which led him to commit to highlighting the growing problem of mental health.
Prince William later set up the charity Heads Together with Kate Middleton and Prince Harry.
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In the forum, he also spoke of the need to protect the mental health of his three children; Prince George, five, Princess Charlotte, three, and nine-month-old Prince Louis.
He said: “We have to start tackling this now so that our children and our grandchildren don't have to go through this process and they can be more open about it.”
Prince William also spoke at length with Sir David Attenborough at Davos 2019 about environmental issues.
The Sun launched its You're Not Alone suicide prevention campaign last year.
Here are the things you should NEVER say to someone who’s suicidal – and the best ways to help them.
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