Prince Harry who, just weeks ago, complained of being cut off from his family’s royal fortune, announced Tuesday that he has taken a job as the “Chief Impact Officer” for Silicon Valley mental health startup, Better Up.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Better Up has a network of thousands of mental health coaches and an online platform used by a number of Fortune 500 companies to improve the emotional well-being of their employees.
Harry, who does not live in Silicon Valley, will serve in an executive level position at the company and says he is an active user of Better Up’s products.
His job description is somewhat vague, however.
“I intend to help create impact in people’s lives,” Prince Harry told the WSJ in an email. “Proactive coaching provides endless possibilities for personal development, increased awareness, and an all-round better life.”
Better Up says Harry is “expected to have input into initiatives including product strategy decisions and charitable contributions, and advocate publicly on topics related to mental health,” per the WSJ.
Better Up’s CEO assured the outlet that Harry is serving in a “meaningful and meaty role.”
He, however, “declined to comment on how Prince Harry would be compensated and didn’t share details of his employment agreement, saying that he would be joining the company’s leadership team as an ‘officer of the corporation.’”
“Prince Harry won’t manage employees or have direct reports, but he is likely to spend some time in the company’s San Francisco headquarters once it is safe to do so, and to participate in all-hands meetings,” Better Up’s CEO said. “He is also expected to appear at special company events.”
“This is about acknowledging that it isn’t so much what is wrong with us, but more about what has happened to us over the course of life,” Prince Harry said about mental health, per the WSJ. “Often because of societal barriers, financial difficulty, or stigma, too many people aren’t able to focus on their mental health until they’re forced to. I want us to move away from the idea that you have to feel broken before reaching out for help.
Prince Harry and his brother, Prince William, have been active in the mental health space and, when William first married Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge, the trio launched their own mental health initiative, Heads Together.
Harry has also been open about pursuing psychotherapy and other mental health treatments in order to deal with the fallout from his mother, Princess Diana’s, death.
It surprised many to learn, then, in the Prince’s blockbuster interview with Oprah Winfrey, that he struggled to get his wife, Meghan Markle, help when she reportedly had suicidal thoughts while pregnant with the pair’s first child.
After announcing their departure from working royal life, Harry and Meghan told Oprah that they struggled to make ends meet with just Harry’s multi-million dollar trust fund and the help of Meghan’s A-list friends. Since then, though, the pair has transacted on their celebrity to ink multi-million dollar deals with entertainment companies Netflix and Spotify.