Kate Middleton continues mental health awareness mission

Kate Middleton has made another visit to the Anna Freud Centre as she continues her pledge to help families struggling with mental health issues.

The Anna Freud Centre is a London mental health research institute for children. It carries out research, training, and treatment.

Princess Kate has been a patron of the foundation since her royal life began, and she meets regularly with neuroscientists, researchers, and practitioners in children’s mental health, as well as those in the social aspect of mental health, such as childcare workers and educators, with the mission to make a difference for families when it comes to the mental health of children.

The Thursday outing marks the second of the princess’ visit to a charity for Mental Health Awareness Week.

The princess at Anna Freud

While there, Middleton and the center’s experts discussed the latest research initiatives pertaining to developments in children’s mental health. The princess also talked to students about their work studying childhood anxiety and those who have personal experience struggling with mental health.

The round-table discussion, which featured Professor Peter Fonagy, who is also on the advisory team for Middleton’s Centre for Early Childhood, also focused on topics including support, outcomes, and hope for future generations.

Middleton gets real about anxiety

Middleton then met with high schoolers to participate in activities about how to deal with anxious feelings, and reflection anxiety — which is the theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week.

The high school girl’s mentor, double Olympic gold medallist Kelly Holmes of the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, talked about dealing with anxiety — and revealed what Princess Kate said about her own experience with anxiety.

“She said she ‘had to learn and she’s still learning every day,’ " Holmes told People magazine. “It’s a struggle to know you can be accepted and fit in.”

“Doing public speaking isn’t a natural thing for lots of people, and she said she’s still working that out, how to project,” Holmes continued. “She humanized everything to show not everyone’s perfect.”

“[Middleton was] lovely because she was just willing to be asked questions,” the mentor added. “That was really nice because it showed somebody of her stature and status is human as well.”