Princess Catherine is set to visit children’s mental health charity Anna Freud on Thursday, November 27. The 43-year-old, who is patron of the charity, has visited Anna Freud on a number of occasions, with one past visit taking place during Mental Health Awareness Week in 2023.
This latest appearance notably comes a week after the Princess’s speech at the Future Workforce Summit, where she spoke about the importance of consistent, nurturing relationships in creating the grounded environments a child needs to thrive. Catherine also issued a call to business leaders and urged them to prioritise “time and tenderness” alongside profit and success.
The news of the Princess’s next appearance also comes after her Early Years Centre announced an exciting new project, which will involve a staggering £100,000 investment in research into how parents can tackle distractions caused by gadgets that disrupt family life.
Anna Freud has had the Princess as their patron ever since 2016. It is the top organisation in the UK for evidence-based research and training on children, young people and families’ mental health. The charity’s goal is to create a world where young people are able to reach their full potential, while they and their families get all the support they need, so that they can develop their emotional and mental health.
Research collected by the charity indicates that people who are more socially connected have fewer mental health problems. However, young people in Britain are more likely to report feelings of loneliness than any other age group, with 70% of 18–24-year-olds reporting they feel lonely at least some of the time.
During the visit this week, the Princess will meet the charity’s Chief Executive, Professor Eamon McCrory, and discuss how Anna Freud is transforming mental health care for babies, children and young people through science, collaboration and clinical innovation.
The new initiative follows the announcement by Princess Catherine’s Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which is inviting researchers to submit proposals on how to combat “technoference,” a phenomenon that can cause unwanted distractions in parents’ relationships with their children.
The centre will fund £100,000 to support the new study, which will work with families across the UK to understand when and why these distractions occur, and test practical ways to reduce their impact. As a result, the move will help to shape future resources for practitioners such as health visitors and early years educators.
The news of the Princess’s upcoming appearance also comes after she shared a new message urging people to “join the conversation” and reframe the topic of addiction with kindness, care and compassion.
