Kate Middleton Launches New Project Supporting Children’s Mental Health and Highlights the Importance of ‘Relationships’

Kate Middleton was back among friends at the children's mental health charity that she has been supporting for a decade during a visit on Thursday, Nov. 27.... SEE THE NEXT PAGES for more... Her visit to Anna Freud's London premises was another sign of the solid foundation Princess Kate has in the world of children's mental health and the importance she places upon raising awareness about it. The Princess of Wales, 43, has backed Anna Freud for around 10 years, and it is the centerpiece of her work helping families and those aged 0-5. During her appearance on Nov. 27, a collaboration between the Anna Freud charity and the Duchess's Centre for Early Childhood was announced. The collaboration will see the creation of an ambitious development program to boost the skills of health visitors, the teams of health workers who support women in the days and weeks after childbirth in the U.K. Prof. Eamon McCrory, CEO of Anna Freud, told PEOPLE after the visit, “It’s been a really important day for us at Anna Freud. The Princess met groups of parents and babies and toddlers and joined a series of discussions with experts. The theme of the day was something that is very close to her heart — the really crucial role of relationships." "We know that strong relationships and connections in childhood are what protect us from future mental health problems, but more importantly, they act as a springboard for lifelong health and wellbeing," he said. “We were thinking in particular how relationships are crucial to prevention; to not simply thinking about how we treat mental health problems after they have reached clinical severity, but how do we support the foundations for good relationships to develop and thrive," McCrory continued. "That resonates with her own work in developing the Shaping Us framework, the social and emotional skills she sees as really critical for health development.” Under the new tie-in with Kate's Center for Early Childhood, Anna Freud will design a training program to support public health professionals who support new mothers and other early years workers to help parents, their babies, and young children. During the morning, Kate enjoyed a bonding session with parents and their young children. "The princess has such a natural down-to-earth manner and very quickly became comfortable in talking to parents about their experiences and parents were very quickly at ease at sharing their experiences with her," McCrory adds. "She sat down and played with the little toddlers and babies that were visiting. It really demonstrated her genuine interest in people and also in her view of relationships really being absolutely key for future prevention," he continued. Kate then joined a series of discussions with experts and professionals. “The Princess is continuing to build a societal narrative about the importance of childhood, of relationships and healthy development," McCrory tells PEOPLE. "At Anna Freud, we’ve been re-imagining mental health care for more than 70 years, but the princess is looking forward to the future in a rapidly changing society. Her recent essay, as well as her recent talk, emphasize how we need to come together to really strengthen the bonds to help protect well-being and prevent mental health problems and addictions from emerging in the first place.” Princess Kate's visit follows the speech she made at the Future Workforce Summit on Nov. 19, where she talked about the importance of "consistent, nurturing relationships which create the grounded and meaningful environments around a child." “Her work has moved to a new level where she is seeking to support the workforce, seeking to engage wider business leaders, and seeking to work with parents and share knowledge. The recently announced collaboration with us is part of that ambition to transform how we think about wellbeing and good mental health," McCrory concluded. SOURCE : People

Kate Middleton Launches New Project Supporting Children’s Mental Health and Highlights the Importance of ‘Relationships’

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