Prince William and Duchess Kate of Cambridge are continuing their efforts to cheer up frontline pandemic workers under mental-health strain as a surge in COVID-19 cases intensifies in the United Kingdom.
On Wednesday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge appeared on a video conference call with seven health and social counselors and emergency workers to talk about the mental-health impact of the pandemic and why frontline workers need access to support services.
According to Kensington Palace, the royal couple discussed Hospice UK’s Just ‘B’ counseling and bereavement support line, which has received funding from Will and Kate’s Royal Foundation partnered with the National Health Service and the government’s national health agency.
Just ‘B’ provides confidential and free bereavement and wellbeing counseling for anxiety, trauma and the stresses from dealing with the pandemic death toll, in addition to dealing with personal bereavement and loss.
Promoting good mental health and erasing the stigma of acknowledging mental-health matters has been a major project of the Will, 38, and Kate, 39, and their Royal Foundation. In part, their interest is an outgrowth of the trauma Prince William and his brother Prince Harry, 36, endured when their mother, Princess Diana, died in a Paris car wreck in 1997 when they were still boys.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has already infected millions around the globe, has killed more than 85,000 thousand in Britain, where the surge in new cases has led the government to order new lockdowns.
Death rates in hospitals and in communities have risen significantly in recent months, forcing health and social workers and emergency responders to deal with a level of fatalities they have never experienced before, according to the palace.
Just ‘B’ counsellors Tony Collins and Caroline Francis spoke to the royals about how callers often cite exhaustion and the relentless nature of the crisis as their reasons for calling, and how support services help them cope and begin to come to terms with their grief.
Others workers on the call stressed the need to encourage frontline workers to use mental-health resources and not be put off by perceived stigma from seeking help, especially during a health crisis.
As a result of the surge in the pandemic, all schools in London have been shut down, including the school where Prince George, 7, and Princess Charlotte, 5, are students. The Cambridges are believed to be sheltering again at their country retreat, Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, and carrying out virtual engagements in the manner they did in the early months of the crisis.
Both Will and his father, Prince Charles the Prince of Wales, 72, tested positive for COVID-19 but experienced mild symptoms and recovered. Will’s grandparents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, got vaccinations for the virus last week.
The Cambridges’ most recent public appearance was in mid-December when they took their kids, including little Prince Louis, 2, to the London Palladium for a charity pantomime performance hosted by The National Lottery to thank key workers and their families for their efforts during the pandemic this year.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kate Middleton, Prince William talk mental health as COVID-19 surges
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