Prince Harry calls for people to 'build up resilience to emotions' as he discusses 'seeing trauma' around world

Prince Harry calls for people to 'build up resilience to emotions' as he discusses 'seeing trauma' around world
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Anna Fox

By Anna Fox


Published: 12/07/2022

- 16:19

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 10:50

The Duke of Sussex appeared in a new short film entitled "Transform with Mental Fitness"

Prince Harry is urging people to build up their mental resilience, emphasising the importance of achieving "peak mental fitness", encouraging people to "flex their minds" instead of fixing them".

The 37-year-old father-of-two provided an insight into how he maintains a positive mental outlook in a campaign video for $4.7billion (£3.95billion) start-up BetterUp.


In March last year, the company hired the Duke of Sussex as its Chief Impact Officer.

Harry interview three people in the short film – including two-time Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Chloe Kim – about their mental health, while advocating the company's online life-coaching services, unveiling how working with a coach enabled him to "thrive" everyday.

Prince Harry outlined his mental health challenges in a recent short film
Prince Harry outlined his mental health challenges in a recent short film
Henry Nicholls

At the beginning of the five-minute video, the Prince said "we all have greatness within us" adding "mental fitness helps us unlock it. It's an ongoing practice, one where you approach your mind as something to flex, not to fix".

Detailing his personal experiences of bereavement and grief, the 37-year-old said: "Throughout the years of traveling around the world, what I saw was the similarities of experiences of trauma, of loss, of grief, of being human."

He added how it is: "Absolutely critical... to build up resilience' to these emotions through a series of mental health exercises."

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to the US in 2020
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to the US in 2020
Aaron Chown

The Prince and his wife Meghan Markle left the UK in 2020, moving to a $14million (£11.7million) mansion in Montecito, California, with their two children, Archie and Lilibet.

During the video, Harry spoke to Psychologist Adam Grant, probing him for his thoughts on "how we can create more resilience for people?"

Mr Grant maintained how the key is for companies to implement greater mental healthcare practices, stating: "We all want to grow, but it's so hard to do that on our own. If we can design individual routines, organisation cultures, team norms that prevent burnout and languishing, it's a lot easier to maintain peak performance."

Harry nodded in agreement, adding: "The difference it makes is huge."

In February, the Duke of Sussex spoke out about his need for better "mental fitness", detailing his own experiences with "burn out", while insisting that companies need to provide their employees with "time to focus on themselves".

Appearing in a virtual conference for BetterUp, Harry dished out business advice while detailing how he has learned to look at "bad things" as being "lessons from the universe".

He added: "Life is about learning right? If you're in your 20s, your 30s, your 40s, and even your 50s and you think you've got it sorted then bad stuff is going to happen."

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