The Prince and Princess of Wales will speak about the importance of mental health on a specially recorded show for BBC Radio One’s Newsbeat. William and Kate led a discussion for World Mental Health Day on Monday for a special programme which will be aired on BBC Radio One, Radio One Extra and the Asian Network on Tuesday afternoon.
In a clip released ahead of the broadcast, the royal couple speak about young people’s mental health with Newsbeat presenter Pria Rai and a host of advocates and experts. The prince says: “A lot of the work we’ve done on mental health and listening to lots of people talk about it, everyone likes a toolbox – particularly men.
"A toolbox is quite a useful analogy to kind of use. 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.”
Dr Abigail Miranda, an educational and child psychologist working in early years, replies: “To have, I suppose, in your toolbox, communication would be key and I suppose 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 says she would “love to know” how the contributors look after their own mental health. Antonio Ferreira, a mental health activist who was diagnosed with undifferentiated schizophrenia and emotionally unstable personality disorder as a teenager, replies: “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. 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 replies: “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 says: “That’s it, yeah,” and Kate adds: “Different methods, different opportunities that arise as well to help best support you.”
Ben Cowley, a music therapist and assistant mental health adviser for the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and Emma Hardwell, a youth participation officer at The Mix, which offers mental health support to the under-25s, also took part in the discussion.
Aled Haydn Jones, head of BBC Radio One, said: “What was discussed today will resonate with so many of our listeners and it means so much to us that we can all work together to help tackle the stigma around this issue.”
Danielle Dwyer, editor of BBC Radio One’s Newsbeat, added: “Talking about mental wellbeing without stigma or judgment is so key and it’s brilliant to welcome the Prince and Princess of Wales to our reporting team for the day, to join us in such a vital conversation.”
Rai said: “People not only switch us on to get the news, but to share openly and frankly how they are feeling. That’s humbling, to be a trusted part of people’s lives, enough that they can send us a text about feeling lonely, or having lost a loved one.
“We have total strangers speaking to each other on the radio who soon feel like familiar friends, and that’s a really important, uplifting part of what we do.”
The programme will be broadcast at 12.45pm on Tuesday on BBC Radio One, Radio One Extra and the Asian Network. It will be broadcast again on Radio One and Radio One Extra at 5.45pm and will be available on BBC Sounds from 2pm.
