DUCHESS RETURNS
Campaign targets education and work
Despite suffering severe morning sickness, the Duchess of Cambridge last night attended a Buckingham Palace reception honouring mental health campaigners with Prince William. A slight baby bump could be seen beneath her Temperley dress.
A HIGH-PROFILE mental health campaign led by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry is being taken into schools and the workplace.
They revealed the expansion plan for the Heads Together campaign during a St James’s Palace reception staged yesterday to help mark World Mental Health Day.
Heads Together aims to encourage people to tackle mental health issues by talking about them or providing a sympathetic ear for those in need.
The reception saw Prince William giving a speech that looked back at the impact made by Heads Together following its launch in May last year.
William said: “Up and down the country, in schools and workplaces, in towns, cities, and villages, among men and women, between young and old – the UK was finally talking about mental health.
“And they were talking without sadness, and without stigma. They were talking in a frank way, with everyday language, and without fear of judgment, to their friends, to their partners, to their children, and to their colleagues. Catherine, Harry and I are of course proud to have played our part in this.
“But it was the people in this room who really made it happen – our partners in Heads Together, the stars of the OK To
Say films, the sponsors who gave generously, the runners who hit the streets of London, as well as the media organisations who helped tell the stories – the success of Heads Together was down to you.
“You changed the conversation on mental health.”
Prince Harry told guests at the reception: “In the months ahead, we will announce new partnerships to support better conversations in schools and workplaces.
“All of this work is proving that two heads – or three, or four, or more – really are better than one. Our charity partners are constantly coming up with new ideas that are only possible through collaboration.
“When we work together, we are greater than the sum of our parts. And we can achieve extraordinary things.”
Guests at yesterday’s event included Phillip Eaglesham, 35, who appears with wife Julie, 34, in a Heads Together video talking about his battles with mental health. While on deployment in Afghanistan in 2010 the former Royal Marine corporal contracted the debilitating infection Q fever, which has weakened his muscles.
He now uses a wheelchair but is helped by his assistance dog Cooper, a two-year-old Labrador retriever who was also present yesterday and at one stage stole the show by giving Harry a playful lick. Mr Eaglesham, who lives in Taunton, Somerset, and took part in the Paralympics in Rio last year, said: “Cooper was really excited when he saw him and Harry’s a dog person as well, he knows about assistance dogs – Cooper’s tail was going round like a helicopter.”
He added: “Everything we’ve been doing with Heads Together is making such a difference.
“Many people are still seeing my video for the first time and they’re saying it’s amazing and it’s helping them with their issues.”
Other attendees at St James’s Palace yesterday lunchtime included Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell, who appeared in Heads Together’s OK
To Say video series, broadcaster Mark Austin and his daughter, Maddy, who both also featured in the films, and a number of fundraising marathon runners.
Heads Together announced a link-up with the Ministry of Defence on Monday that is designed to put “mental fitness” at the heart of training and support for British servicemen and women.
When we work together, we are greater than the sum of our parts. Prince Harry talking at the reception to launch the mental health drive.