Prince Harry has revealed in a candid interview with The Daily Telegraph that he spent almost twenty years dealing with his mother Diana’s death the wrong way, and that with the help of counselling, he’s been able to find himself in a “good place” with his grief. This was all in a bid to encourage people with mental health problems to be open, and to break the stigma surrounding such problems, because if a Royal can tell a national newspaper about his struggles with mental health, a troubled teen should be able to tell their parents.

Harry says to face your problems head-on

Harry said that before he attending counselling, he believed that thinking about his mother would only serve to “make (him) sad” and such thoughts would not “bring her back,” but he realised that it’s not about that. Counselling made him realise that he should let “all of this grief” that he had hitherto “never processed...come to the forefront” so that he could “deal with” his feelings surrounding his mother’s death.

In his ongoing bid to get people suffering from mental health problems to seek out counselling like he did, Harry said that therapists are “some of the best people or easiest people to speak to” because they are “someone you have never met before,” so they’re easier to open up to. He says that instead of seeking out their advice, the best thing is when the therapist will “just listen,” and then “you just let it all rip.”