Prince William has revealed the emotional impact of volunteering at a crisis helpline for young people, describing his first shift as "terrifying".
The Prince of Wales shared his experience while volunteering with Shout 85258, a text messaging helpline developed by his Royal Foundation and launched in 2020.
Speaking during an engagement in Berkshire, he admitted: "I did volunteering for a bit back over Covid, and some of those conversations lived with me for quite a long time afterwards."
The future king expressed his concerns about whether he had done enough to help those in need.
Prince William has revealed the emotional impact of volunteering at a crisis helpline for young people, describing his first shift as 'terrifying'
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William told members of a youth advisory board: "You always say to yourself, 'did I give enough, did I do enough, did I find the right answer?'"
His candid admission came during a visit to Mental Health Innovations.
The Prince was visiting Mental Health Innovations to mark its merger last year with The Mix, a digital youth support charity.
During his visit, William was shown a new website for The Mix that will go live later this year.
Prince William supports a number of charities and tackles stigmas surrounding mental healthGettyThe site has been streamlined and made more user-friendly for those seeking help.
William emphasised the importance of accessible resources, saying: "The resource thing is really important because when you're in a mental health crisis the last thing you want to do is read more stuff."
The youth advisory team also demonstrated a proposed online tool to help volunteers provide answers to clients.
Reflecting on his own experience, the Prince admitted: "The first one was quite terrifying."
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Prince William has been open about his mental health beforePABefore concluding his conversation with the young board members, William told them: "You guys are going to be the thermometer of the nation."
During his visit, William heard from experts including Lord Darzi, Prof Sir Simon Wessely, and Peter Fonagy about the UK's growing mental health crisis.
When asking if the age of users was getting younger, William was informed that children as young as eight had used the service to discuss self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
"We are digging into some of the real bad things in society," he remarked, referring to the scale of the crisis.
Anyone can call Samaritans for free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org, where more information can also be found on volunteering and fundraising for the charity.
