The Duke of Cambridge has spoken out about the impact that child accidents had on him in his role as an air ambulance pilot, which he left after two years in July 2017.
The father-of-three explained how one accident in particular “took him over the edge”, leaving him feeling “very sad” and “very down”.
Speaking at the inaugural This Can Happen conference in London, which aims to promote good mental health in the workplace, the royal didn’t clarify what actually happened to the child involved, but explained that having his own young family meant the incident took a toll on him.
“I worked several times on very traumatic jobs involving children,” he began, “and after I had my own children I think the relation between the job and the personal life was what really took me over the edge, and I started feeling things that I have never felt before, and I got very sad and very down about this particular family.”
He recalled how opening up to colleagues at the time helped him to “come to terms with the enormous sadness” of what had happened, but added that this only helped so much.
“Talking was really important, but even that wasn’t quite enough for one particular incident for me."
The Duke used the anecdote as an opportunity to highlight the importance of tackling the taboo surrounding discussing mental health in the workplace, touting the benefits of maintaining normal working hours and easy commutes to boost the overall wellbeing of employees.
“There’s still a stigma about mental health," he continued. "We are chipping away at it but that wall needs to be smashed down.”
Alongside the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex, he runs Heads Together, the initiative that aims to promote good mental wellbeing in schools, offices and the military.
