To mark the start of Children’s Mental Health Week, The Princess of Wales, Patron of Place2Be, met with primary school children in east London to discuss the importance of supporting children’s mental health, and connecting with others. 

In an exclusive video released today, The Princess joins children at St John’s CE Primary School in Bethnal Green as they take part in creative activities to help them think and talk about who they feel most connected to in their lives.

The Princess builds paperchains with the children and discusses the importance of connecting with others, including family and friends. One pupil told The Princess: “Connecting releases our emotions to other people that we care about”.

Discussing emotions and how they manage difficult feelings such as anger or sadness, one of the pupils told Her Royal Highness: “I take deep breaths in, then I drink a glass of water”. As the conversation comes to a close, The Princess encourages pupils to keep talking about their feelings and to continue to check in on each other.

Last week, Her Royal Highness launched Shaping Us, a major new awareness-raising campaign to increase public understanding of the crucial importance of the first five years of a child’s life.

Her Royal Highness has supported Children’s Mental Health Week since Place2Be launched the week in 2015. The Week aims to build awareness and understanding of children and young people’s mental health and highlight the importance of early intervention to address issues before they become more serious.

Our new data, released on Friday, reveals that nearly 78% of the young people we supported last year felt socially anxious, but with support, two-thirds of those with severe difficulties saw an improvement in their mental health.

The theme for this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week is ‘Let’s Connect’ and focuses on the importance of making meaningful connections with others to support our mental wellbeing. We are encouraging people to connect with others in healthy, rewarding, and meaningful ways.

Take part in the Paperchains activity

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