Mental Health of EMS Crews Focus of Prince Harry`s Visit to London Ambulance Service

February 3, 2017 -- Prince Harry visited the London Ambulance Service control room this week—meeting with call handlers and ambulance crews—to kick off Time to Talk Day, the annual awareness day run by Time to Change.

His Royal Highness spent time with staff at the UK’s busiest ambulance service encouraging them to talk about mental health and hearing about the support offered to emergency service workers.

Prince Harry learned more about the Service’s voluntary LINC network, a peer support system set up to encourage staff to talk to each other about the issues they are facing.

"We take the mental wellbeing of our workforce very seriously," says Practice Learning Manager Jules Lockett, who is hosted the event. "Our staff deal with trauma every day and can work in often difficult circumstances. That’s why we’re here today, to show them the support that we can offer. Alongside this, we’ll have our LINC network of trained staff who volunteer their time to offer peer support to their colleagues. As a Mind Blue Light Champion, I’m proud to be breaking down the stigma of mental health, and encouraging everyone to have open and honest conversations about their emotional wellbeing.”

Paramedic Susanna Trow, who spoke to His Royal Highness today, said: “The first time I needed real support from my colleagues was after a patient chased me down the street threatening to kill me. As a paramedic working in a car on my own, I had been first on scene and I still remember the fear I felt. People could see I was upset and encouraged me to talk about it—particularly my station officer, Peter Rhodes, who gave me the time to talk about what had happened. His support set a great example and made me realise that even just having someone you can talk to, and approach when you’ve had a bad day, can you feel so much better.”

Prince Harry also met with control room staff including call handler Alex Turp, who turned to her colleagues when she found it difficult to cope: “Back in October, I was working a night shift in the control room and took a really difficult call. After the call was over, I walked away not knowing if I’d done the right thing and it really affected me. I couldn’t sleep, I kept bursting into tears and my confidence was knocked. Eventually, after speaking to friends, I realised I wasn’t feeling any better and managed to speak to Katie, one of the Service’s LINC workers on my team. We had just one conversation but I came away from it a different person. She gave me the time to talk. After talking to Katie, I felt like I could breathe again - she really was fantastic. It made me realise how important it is to have a support system at work and we really are a little 999 family.”

The visit comes as part of Heads Together’s campaign to change the conversation on mental health, spearheaded by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, in partnership with eight leading mental health charities and three Founding Partners.