KATE: I’VE LEARNT A LOT ABOUT ANXIETY
THE Princess of Wales encouraged children to learn skills to cope with anxiety yesterday during a visit to mark Mental Health Awareness Week.
Kate paid a visit to the north London headquarters of Anna Freud, a charity that brings together research, clinical expertise and training to help young people improve their mental wellbeing.
Fireworks
After the one-hour visit, she said she was feeling “inspired and excited”.
She added: “I’ve learnt a lot today. I’ve got all these fireworks going off in my head.”
The Princess spent time at the centre with a group of secondary school children who have been taking part in interactive activities that explore how to deal with their own anxious feelings.
The pupils are from St Richard’s College in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, which is part of the
charity’s Mentally Healthy Schools initiative.
They helped design Anna Freud’s anxiety toolkit, which was launched yesterday and will be used at schools across the UK.
Kate joined a group at a table to ask them how they dealt with certain situations, using activity cards to help formulate their responses.
Told that one girl was having trials at a football club, she said: “So much in sport is mental as well as the physical skills and abilities. To have these sorts
of skills in your toolbox will really help, not just in school but home life and other things as well.”
Kate sat with Prof Peter Fonagy, chief executive of Anna Freud and a member of the Royal Foundation’s Early Childhood Advisory Group.
Prof Fonagy revealed the Princess had taken a copy of the anxiety toolkit with her. He said: “She’s in the same position as every other parent of needing to have the skills to cope with an anxious child.”