The Princess of Wales has spoken of the need for fathers’ voices to be heard ‘from the get-go’ in the conversation around improving children’s mental health.
Catherine visited children’s mental health charity, Anna Freud, of which she is patron near King’s Cross this morning in a trip focusing on the ‘vital role of relationships and connection in shaping babies, children and young people’s future life outcomes’.
It comes as the princess’s Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood launches a new project with the charity to enhance the skills of health visitors to support early social and emotional development.
The future queen has been patron of the organisation which carries out evidence-based research and training on children, young people and families’ mental health since 2016.
The 43-year-old began her visit to the institution’s offices by meeting families who are working with Anna Freud and the Institute of Health Visitors to shape the new scheme.
Speaking to father-of-three, Andrew Apraku, 41 from Croydon, as his eight-month-old son Judah held on to Catherine’s finger, the princess said: ‘Thank you for being here, because it’s so important we hear from fathers right from the get-go.’
Turning to Judah who began sucking on her finger and smiling, she said: ‘You’re very smiley.’
Mr Apraku replied: ‘There’s a lot out there for women in this space – for fathers, we’re silent. The work you’re doing is amazing so our issues can be heard.’
The Princess of Wales arrives to visit the children’s mental health charity Anna Freud today
Catherine meets young children during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre in London this morning
The Princess of Wales learns about a project to enhance the skills of health visitors today
The Princess of Wales receives flowers after a visit to the Anna Freud Centre in London today
The Princess of Wales learns about a project to enhance the skills of health visitors today
The Princess of Wales arrives to visit the children’s mental health charity Anna Freud today
Catherine meets young children during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre in London this morning
The princess appeared in good spirits as she waved and smiled in a black and white Emilia Wickstead dress with grey pumps, a brown clutch and dainty earrings.
She previously wore the same outfit to Harvard University during a trip to the US in 2022, while it was similar to another dress she wore to an Anna Freud visit in 2015.
Today she also met with the organisation’s chief executive Professor Eamon McCrory at the Anna Freud Centre near King’s Cross to discuss its work with mental health.
Read More
Kate Middleton’s go-to brands are having a huge sale for Black Friday
During the visit Catherine met groups of parents who had taken part in a ‘scribing presentation’ – writing ideas from their discussion on a whiteboard under the banner of ‘putting your priorities into practice’.
Speaking to Dr Alice Haynes, the charity’s head of implementation, Catherine said: ‘It’s being able to translate the science, isn’t it, in a way that feels accessible?’
The princess met with parents and carers helping to shape a new project from the Centre for Early Childhood to support knowledge and skills amongst health visitors and people who work alongside them.
During a chat with one group, which included grandmother Dr Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes, Catherine told her: ‘It’s so nice to have the inter-generational involvement.’
The group spoke to the princess about how health visitors often don’t have enough time during visits to families, and one parent told her ‘we want to help take away some of the admin [for health visitors] so they have time just to sit [with children] and be curious.’
The Princess of Wales learns about a project to enhance the skills of health visitors today
The Princess of Wales arrives to visit the children’s mental health charity Anna Freud today
Catherine meets young children during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre in London this morning
The Princess of Wales learns about a project to enhance the skills of health visitors today
The Princess of Wales arrives to visit the children’s mental health charity Anna Freud today
The Princess of Wales receives flowers after a visit to the Anna Freud Centre in London today
The Princess of Wales learns about a project to enhance the skills of health visitors today
The Princess of Wales arrives to visit the children’s mental health charity Anna Freud today
Catherine also spoke of the need to boost support for families after a child is two.
She said: ‘Once you get into full-time education, there’s this big gap between two to five and check-ins to see that children are meeting those social and physical development points. Would it be useful to have more regular check-ins with health visitors after two?’
After meeting another group of parents, Catherine said: ‘Thank you for being here. It’s so important to have parents’ voices as part of this programme.’
Next, the princess joined roundtable discussions with experts from the charity, teachers, academics, child psychologists and donors to the charity to talk about how children’s mental health can be better supported.
Sitting at one table with Professor Peter Fonagy, the president of Anna Freud and an advisor to the Centre for Early Childhood, the princess discussed the role of schools.
She said: ‘It’s about creating a whole culture and environment in a school, and the idea of flexibility, understanding that each family’s needs are different. Do teachers have the time to build and invest in relationships with children?’
Research collated by the charity indicates that people who are more socially connected – whether with friends, family or their wider community – have fewer mental health problems than those who are less well connected and are physically healthier too.
Catherine wore the same outfit to Harvard University during a trip to the US in December 2022
The outfit was a nod to a previous dress she wore to the Anna Freud Centre in 2015 (above)
However, young people in Britain are more likely to report feelings of loneliness than any other age group, with 70 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds reporting they feel lonely at least some of the time.
With one in five children and young people in England estimated to have a mental health condition, campaigners feel there is an urgent need for more opportunities for connection.
After leaving the Anna Freud Centre, the princess was driven to Kensington Palace for meetings with her team.
Last week, Catherine used her first major public speech in two years to call on business leaders to prioritise ‘time and tenderness just as much as productivity and success’.
She told a gathering of senior executives in the City of London that ‘profitability’ and making a ‘positive impact’ are not ‘incompatible’, at the summit hosted by her Royal Foundation to drive action and investment in the early years development of children.
Delivering the summit’s opening speech, the princess told guests her passion for promoting early years, described in the past as her ‘life’s work’, stemmed from the ‘essential truth’ that ‘the love we feel in our earliest years fundamentally shapes who we become and how we thrive as adults’.
She went on to say: ‘A loving home ultimately teaches us how to love and how to care, but every environment has the potential to shape our hearts.
‘Every one of you interacts with your own environment; a home, a family, a business, a workforce, a community. These are the ecosystems that you yourselves help to weave.’
