Kind thoughts for Meghan Markle - Podcast 85 – 6 Key Points from Prince Harry's & Oprah’s town hall for their Apple+ TV Mental Health Series

Podcast 85 – 6 Key Points from Prince Harry's & Oprah’s town hall for their Apple+ TV Mental Health Series

05/29/21 • 8 min

I watched the town hall follow-up to Harry's and Oprah's Apple+ TV Series, The Me You Can't See - A Path Forward. This free to watch episode features members from the advisory board behind the series, as well some of the people who stories feature in the actual series, and Harry and Oprah talk about what comes next.
These are 6 of the many things that I learned from the town hall episode:
1. The Me We Can’t See series was two years in the making. Harry and Oprah said that their advisory board reviewed each episode for accuracy, appropriate language and to ensure that best practices were used. Harry and Oprah wanted to get it right. Harry also felt it was important to have a global perspective.

2. Oprah and Harry expressed their hopes from the series as including.

Empowering people to talk about their mental health and their emotional well being.
A recognition that physical health and mental health should be seen as equally important – as part of our general Health.
To try and create a more supportive culture where people are more understanding and compassionate to one another.
To let people with mental heath issues know they are not alone. That mental health is not a 'they' problem but a 'we' issue.
To try and remove stigma around mental health.

3. Stigma and its effects, was discussed at various points during this episode.
4. A good deal of time was spent discussing how best to service people with mental health conditions and the services or lack of services available.
5. There was a lengthy discussion on suicide and suicidal ideation, the prevalence of which has increased during the pandemic.

6. We were told that being diagnosed with a mental health illness should not be seen as the end of the world.

There was a general sense of hope.
Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie and if would like, you can email me at [email protected]

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.
Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

2. Oprah and Harry expressed their hopes from the series as including.

Empowering people to talk about their mental health and their emotional well being.
A recognition that physical health and mental health should be seen as equally important – as part of our general Health.
To try and create a more supportive culture where people are more understanding and compassionate to one another.
To let people with mental heath issues know they are not alone. That mental health is not a 'they' problem but a 'we' issue.
To try and remove stigma around mental health.

6. We were told that being diagnosed with a mental health illness should not be seen as the end of the world.

There was a general sense of hope.
Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie and if would like, you can email me at [email protected]

Previous Episode

Podcast 84 – Prince Harry is afraid of History Repeating itself as Nothing has Changed

What a week in terms of Royal Family news. A pregnancy announcement; a wedding anniversary; a Royal Tour; TV interviews, and then the scandal of the week showing that almost 24 years after her death, Princess Diana still has the capacity to generate world-wide news headlines.

The big story of the week was undoubtedly the revelation that the BBC journalist Martin Bashir had, back in 1995, used dodgy tactics to secure the exclusive tell all interview with Princess Diana.

The 1995 interview was watched by 20 million viewers back in 1995 and it was huge news, not least of which because of all the jaw-dropping revelations that Diana made about her marriage and about her life in the Royal Family. The interview came 3 years after Diana and Charles had separated. Immediately after its airing, the Queen wrote to both Diana and Charles and recommended that they immediately divorce. When we think of how huge Meghan and Harry’s interview with Oprah was, Diana’s was bigger still.

So, what is the current scandal all about? In a nutshell, Martin Bashir, a relatively new journalist back in 1995, faked some bank statements. The bank statements falsely showed that Rupert Murdoch’s News International was paying a few of Diana’s aides for gossip about her. Bashir also alleged that Diana was being spied upon by Palace staff and people working for Prince Charles. The false statements were not shown to Diana but to her Brother Earl Spencer. Earl Spencer was duped by Bashir and believed what he was told. Earl Spencer in turn made the introduction of Bashir to Diana, and encouraged her to be interviewed by Bashir.

Role forward to 2020 and Earl Spencer and journalists from the UK Times and Daily Mail newspapers revisited the story which eventually led to the BBC appointing retired Judge Lord Dyson to properly investigate. Lord Dyson’s findings were the ones released in the news this week, and which concluded that the journalist, Bashir, deceived Earl Spencer with fake bank statements to gain access to the Princess Diana and then lied about it before finally telling the truth. Lord Dyson panned the executives at the BBC for doing a poor investigation back in 1996 and basically covering up what had happened.

The more complicated question is what part did this interview play, in anything, in Diana’s ultimate death. A very tricky question to answer.

None of what Diana said in the interview back in 1995 has been discredited as being untrue. Take a look at comments on social media and you will see many many of her supporters are saying that no matter how the interview was procured, Diana spoke her truth, including about her depression and self harming, and nothing about the current scandal should undermine that.

I printed off the transcript of the Bashir / Diana interview and there are a few statements that Diana made about press coverage of her then, that are just as relevant today, 24 years later.

The crux of the issue in terms of press coverage of the Royals, is that the Royals want the press to cover them as they go about their work and bring attention to all of their good causes, but don’t want the press covering their private lives. The press really really want to cover the private lives of the Royals and the dirt as this sells more, and the press suck up having to cover the work that the Royals are doing.

Keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie. And check out other stories or reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformegha

Next Episode

Podcast 86 - A Member of Parliament wants to ‘starve’ Meghan & Harry of Oxygen & Who is Lady Colin Campbell?

I am on my soap box this episode about people whose favourite sport is slamming Meghan and Harry. This week the UK Conservative Member of Parliament Andrew Rosindell told the UK Daily Express newspaper that Harry and Meghan should be starved of oxygen. Also this week, author Lady Colin Campbell stuck her talons into Prince Harry, starting an on-line petition seeking to have his Royal 'styles, titles, and rank put into abeyance.'
Who is Lady Colin Campbell or Lady C. as she likes to be known?
Keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.
You can email me at [email protected]

Check out other stories of my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/