The Duchess of Cambridge today made an impassioned plea to back teachers in the battle to improve children’s mental well-being.
Speaking at the Royal Foundation’s Mental Health Education Conference Kate said parents and parents must work together with teachers to support young people and steer them on the right path.
"No one of us can make a difference alone," she said.
The royal mother of three said, “I feel so passionately about working together and being here today has affirmed to me just how much already is being done, so thank you to all of you who are prioritising the importance of mental health and the importance of childhood development as a whole.”
Kate, who has spent eight years working with charities she has met some of our leading experts in mental health, addiction, family breakdown, homelessness and education, says she believes many social problems can be traced back to childhood.
The Duchess said, “They (experts) have taught me over and over again that the root cause of so many of today’s social problems can be traced right back to the very earliest years of a person’s life and often over generations.
“The scientific and other evidence is clear the first few years of a child’s life are more pivotal for development and for future health and happiness than any other single moment in our life time.
“It is also clear that the positive development of our children is directly linked to those who care for them, teachers, carers and parents,” she went on.
“It is therefore vital that we support teachers with their own wellbeing so that they can find the best level of care for all children, in their schools and communities in which they work. No one of us however can make a difference alone,” she said.
Earlier the Duke of Cambridge was named as the patron of the charity, that he first visited as a boy with Princess Diana.
William, 36, has become the figurehead of The Passage, an organisation based at St Vincent’s Centre in Westminster which has helped more than 130,000 people over nearly 40 years.
He was 11 when Diana took him and his younger brother Harry to the charity in December 1993. Kensington Palace today released a picture of The Passage’s visitors’ book, showing where William had signed his name, alongside his mother’s, on that visit.
William, who has also been patron of homeless charity Centrepoint, has said his visits to the centre as a child had left a “deep and lasting impression”.
He has made numerous public and private trips to the centre since then, including with the Duchess of Cambridge before Christmas when he spoke about the effect of the drug spice on the homeless.
He joined volunteers at the charity today to help prepare and serve lunch in his first official engagement as patron.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and patron of The Passage, said: “I know the duke is deeply committed to working with those most in need, such as the thousands of people The Passage has helped off the streets.” The charity’s chief executive, Mick Clarke, said that during William’s visits “it has been very clear that he has a deep concern for those affected by homelessness”.
Kate, William and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex co-ordinate the The Royal Foundation’s Mental Health in Education foundation, which also leads the Heads Together initiative.
