Prince William on Mental Health: Do You 'Check In' With Yourself AND Your Children? | Loose Women

Understanding Personal Mental Health

• 💡 Prince William emphasizes the importance of taking time to understand one's emotions and regularly check in with oneself to discern feelings.
• 🧠 He notes that mental health crises, while intense, are often temporary and will pass.

Strategies for Self-Awareness

• 🚀 Brenda shared her journey of starting to check in with herself more in the last four years, realizing it benefits those around her by preventing her from entering a "quiet, dark space."
• ✅ She credits journaling and writing positive affirmations for helping her move forward positively, rather than dwelling on past events.
• 📝 Janet advised Brenda to create short daily to-do lists to ensure achievable goals, providing a clear first step for each day.
• ✍️ Janet also used detailed diaries as a teenager to process emotions, especially when feeling misunderstood, and continues to use writing for self-analysis.

Fostering Emotional Openness in Children

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Prince William encourages his children to talk openly about their feelings, even if it means hearing "too much detail," stressing the importance of listening over fixing.
• 💬 Parents are advised to ask open-ended questions like "What was your favorite thing today?" rather than leading questions that might make children feel something was wrong.
• 🚫 It's crucial for parents to avoid projecting their own emotions onto their children, allowing them to feel their own experiences without external influence.

Generational Perspectives on Emotions

• 🗣️ Many panelists reflected on growing up in households where feelings were not openly discussed, contrasting with their current efforts to encourage emotional expression.
• 💔 Janet shared that her father, a Burma war veteran, was closed off due to traumatic experiences, and her mother did not discuss feelings, leading her to rely on diaries for emotional processing.