The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit HeadStart Wolverhampton during Mental Health Awareness Week

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have today visited Wolverhampton to learn how the city is supporting children and young people with their mental health and wellbeing, including the city’s National Lottery funded HeadStart programme.

Their Royal Highnesses firstly visited The Way Wolverhampton Youth Zone, a local organisation which motivates and inspires young people to transform their lives. The Way allows young people the opportunity to participate in positive and constructive activities and provides them with somewhere to go and someone to talk to. The Duke and Duchess joined a group of young people who use The Way’s services as they took part in a number of wellbeing sessions and met a group of HeadStart ambassadors.

Established by The National Lottery Community Fund, HeadStart is a six-year, £67.4 million programme designed to improve the resilience and emotional wellbeing of children and young people by giving them the skills they need to address the challenges of modern life. As part of the programme, The Anna Freud Centre, a Heads Together charity partner of which The Duchess is Patron, and University College London are evaluating evidence about new ways to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people and to prevent serious mental health issues from developing. It includes survey responses from 65,000 children and young people – including many young people from Wolverhampton, such as those accessing HeadStart support at The Way – about their mental health and the strengths, skills and social connections that support their wellbeing.

Blondel Cluff CBE, Chair of The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “The mental wellbeing of children and young people remains of vital importance after this challenging year. It was an honour to meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and show them some of the work that HeadStart Wolverhampton makes possible for local young people to help improve their mental health, wellbeing and resilience. Thanks to National Lottery players through the UK we are able to help fund this essential work in our communities.”

Kush Patel, Children's Innovation Lead at the City of Wolverhampton Council, said: "I was honoured to meet Their Royal Highnesses and have the opportunity to discuss with them the vital role that HeadStart is playing in supporting our city's children and young people to improve their mental health and wellbeing.

"Our young ambassadors were also thrilled to meet The Duke and Duchess and take part in activities with them during their visit."

Professor Jessica Deighton, Director of the Applied Research and Evaluation Division at the Anna Freud National Centre, said: “We’re delighted that The Duke, and Duchess of Cambridge, who is our Patron, visited Wolverhampton today. HeadStart is an such an important project and puts young people at the heart of exploring effective support for mental health.

“The learning that we will gain HeadStart has the potential to help us understand more about the best ways to support young people’s mental health. Our data is incredibly rich, and draws on the views of around 65,000 young people as well as their experiences of taking part in HeadStart.”

Mental Health Awareness Week is the UK’s national week to raise awareness of mental health, hosted annually by the Mental Health Foundation. This year’s theme is centred around nature and the important role it can play to help improve mental wellbeing, as well as its power to prevent or aid recovery from poor mental health.