The Prince and Princess of Wales stepped out in Birmingham on Tuesday to mark World Mental Health Day, where Kate delivered a moving speech, in which she said: “Simply talking about mental health is just not enough.”
Prince William and Kate, both 41, were joined by famous faces from BBC Radio 1 as they hosted the forum for young people, run in partnership with The Mix, a leading digital charity for the under 25s.
Addressing the youngsters in the room, Kate told them their ultimate goal was to “shape fairer, safer, kinder, more equal societies”.
She added: “William and I believe we need to do all we can as a society to help young people develop the emotional and social life skills they need for good mental health, and to thrive in the world around them.
“Both learning about the world and learning about how to be happy and thrive within it should go hand-in-hand.”
The Prince and Princess spent almost two hours with around 100 young people taking part in mental health workshops in the Digbeth area of the West Midlands city.
Giving a rare public speech, Kate said: “For just as we need to restore, protect, and invest in our planet, so we must also restore, protect, and invest in the communities, relationships and people living on it. We believe that starts with you, our young people, but it also means all of us. Because when you think about it, we can each shape the world in which we live.
“So, we know, like you, that simply talking about mental health is just not enough. Although many more conversations are now taking place, it is now vital we spend more time focusing on how we talk about our mental health – and crucially; What are we going to do, to build positive, preventative solutions to one of today’s toughest challenges.
“Positive mental health is shaped by our ability to understand and manage ourselves as individuals, and to connect with others through our relationships, friendships, families and communities. We are living in a world however, that is changing so fast, where social media and concerns about the threat of conflict, pandemics, climate change, or the cost of living, can impact our emotional wellbeing and future hopes dramatically.”
The event had the theme – Exploring our Emotional Worlds – and brought together young delegates, nominated by ten leading mental health and youth engagement charities.
Kate joined young people taking part in an ‘Understanding Our Emotions’ workshop, where they played an ’emotions’ wheel by spinning a plastic arrow on a circular colourful card and guessing the emotion it landed on.
The forum comes a year after the Prince and Princess participated in a special episode of BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat for World Mental Health Day. The episode saw them speak to four young people about their experiences and the importance of speaking out on mental health.
In a poignant tribute, the Princess wore a pair of earrings given to her by Maidenhead Rugby Club coach, Sarah Renton, which were made in memory of her 17-year-old daughter, Issy, who tragically took her own life earlier this year.
Kate also sported a yellow LK Bennett blazer, in a nod to YoungMinds’ #HelloYellow campaign.
William then joined a panel discussion with Love Island star and telly medic Dr Alex George and mental health volunteers Michael Lister, 20, and Fatima Diallo, 21.
The Prince said: “Catherine and I are here as a follow-up from our Heads Together that started in 2016 trying to tackle the stigma or taboo around mental health. We feel we made some progress in that we are in this room talking about mental health, and we are chipping away at that stigma but there is a lot more to do.
“I think concrete action some sort of tangibility to come forward is the idea of where we’d like to see the space go next. So really today, particularly for me up here, is to hear from all you guys in the room, is about what is it that bothers you that affects your mental health, what you want to see changed.
“I need to listen and learn from you guys, you are at the stage in your life where there are many pressures on you, there are several concerns and to help us work, what we do next is to hear from you guys.
“Being here today and sharing your experience, and your thoughts help formulate a plan
During the panel discussion, Dr Alex asked William where in his mental health toolbox he reaches to cope with stress.
He joked: “You don’t want to open that part of the toolbox.”
The father-of-three then said: “For me, just general maintenance so general mental health well-being like walking in the fresh air, getting away from screens is a big deal, having a laugh, humour for me is a big deal, I love to laugh, you’ve got to look at lighter things in life so to feel good.
“Time with friends, time with family, things like that matter to me. It’s really important you have something for everything and that for me is all about learning from you guys as well, as we speak, I’m thinking in my head what you are doing and managing and coping, is a very useful strategy, I am learning off you as I go around.
“I meet loads and loads of people and I always do that in the background, because I know I’m going to come across some points when I’m like, I don’t have a tool for this particular moment, what do I do?
“And so you always learn to adapt from other people and work out what tricks and tips and skills they’ve experienced that you can use yourself.”
Kensington Palace said: “Their Royal Highnesses and The Royal Foundation are committed to helping find the solutions that will enable young people to better look after their own and each other’s wellbeing. Work is currently underway on the next phase of The Prince and Princess’ efforts on this vital issue.”
Tuesday’s outing was the start of a series of events for the couple, who have been raising awareness about the issue of mental health for several years, including through their Heads Together campaign, launched in 2016.
Over the next two days, William and Kate will take part in royal engagements with university students and emergency responders to highlight the importance of mental wellbeing.
