Kate Middleton in Wales on Oct. 3, 2023.Photo:Samir Hussein/WireImage
Samir Hussein/WireImage
Kate Middletonis calling on everywhere to help break the cycle of addiction.
As patron of The Forward Trust, the Princess of Wales shared a poignant message as Addiction Awareness Week comes to an end. Princess Kate, 41, has been apatron of The Forward Trustsince June 2021 (one month after the organization merged withAction on Addiction), and she has worked with related charities for over a decade as she helped lay the groundwork for her understanding of the complexities of mental health and her work on the early years of a child’s life.
“This Addiction Awareness Week, I am delighted to again voice my support for the campaign and thank all of the charities involved in shining a light on the effects of this terrible illness," the royal began.
Reflecting on her visit last month to theHMP High Down men’s prison, she noted that her work with addiction, mental health and children are all related.
“In September, I visited HMP High Down in my role as Patron of The Forward Trust, where they are helping people overcome their addictions. It is conversations like the ones I had with prisoners that day that also fuel my passion for the importance of early childhood,” she said. “During the earliest years of our lives, we lay the foundations for the sorts of social and emotional skills that help us to navigate life, develop coping strategies to deal with adversity and learn how to establish stable, caring relationships which are such a vital source of support when facing life’s complex challenges.”
Kate Middleton visits HMP High Down on Sept. 12, 2023.Kin Cheung - Pool/Getty Images
Kin Cheung - Pool/Getty Images
The theme of this year’s Addiction Awareness Week surrounded how widespread the problem is.
This week, The Forward Trust released new research that showed 45% of U.K. adults aged 18 to 75 (about 22 million people) have either experienced addiction or dependency on alcohol, drugs, medication, gambling or sex themselves or know someone close to them who has. Despite this, the stigma that surrounds the condition is stopping or making it difficult for half of those experiencing their own or other people’s addictions to speak out, with negative judgment (46%) and shame (39%) cited as top concerns.
The new film “Everybody Knows Somebody” highlights the importance of talking about addiction as the first step to recovery.
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Kate Middleton visits HMP High Down on Sept. 12, 2023.Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
In 2021, Princess Katehelped launchThe Forward Trust’s “Taking Action on Addiction” campaign with a powerful speech.
“Addiction is not a choice,” she said. “No one chooses to become an addict. But it can happen to any one of us. None of us are immune. It is all too rarely discussed as a serious mental health condition and seldom do we take the time to uncover and fully understand its fundamental root causes.”
Graham Beech, chief executive of Action on Addiction,previously told PEOPLEthat Princess Kate is sending out “a really important message that addiction is not something that should be hidden away behind closed doors. The more people talk about it, the more they can find the help and get the treatment that they need.”
Kate has “helped us to bring addiction out of the shadows and encouraged other people to rally ’round and support what we’re trying to do at a time when addiction is becoming ever more complex and growing in volume,” he added.
source: people.com
