Don’t keep quiet and carry on: Kate, William and Harry’s mental health plea

1/6

Prince William, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry today united to stop people suffering in silence and urge everyone to talk about their mental health.

They called on people not to “keep quiet and carry on” - but to open up to a friend or family member about the mental challenges they face.

The royal trio spoke out about the Heads Together campaign at a briefing just metres from the Virgin Money London Marathon finish line.

The Duke of Cambridge said: “There are times when, whoever we are, it is hard to cope with challenges – and when that happens being open and honest and asking for help is life-changing.

“Talking to someone else is a positive and confident step to take – but for too long it has been a case of ‘Keep Quiet and Carry On’.

“As a result, too many people have suffered in silence for too long, and the effects of this can be devastating,” he said.

“It is no exaggeration to say that conversations – simple conversations – can be life-changing: in a workplace, in your kitchen at home, with a friend, family member or colleague.

“And that’s what Catherine, Harry and I want to do – we want more people to be having those conversations.”

The Duchess of Cambridge, added: “In the weeks leading up to the (London) Marathon, our campaign will show people from all walks of life talking about the life-changing conversations that have helped them with their mental health challenges.

“We want to show how simple it can be to have a conversation. We want to show that being a person who listens makes a life-changing difference. We want the campaign to celebrate these unsung heroes, who as William said, are ordinary people.”

Prince Harry added: “Heads Together has the privilege of being the Charity of the Year for the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon, which will finish just meters from this room in less than 100 days’ time.

“Our team of over 500 Heads Together runners will be leading from the front, raising funds for the vital services provided by our Charity Partners. These runners will also be leading by example by starting conversations on mental health with their families, friends and colleagues.”

The Royals hope 2017 will be the “tipping point” for mental health in Britain when more people feel able to talk about it without fear of being judged more than ever before.

They were joined by Heads Together marathon runner Jon Salmon who spoke at the event with his friend Steve Jackson about how their conversations have helped Mr Salmon deal with his mental health problems, along with exercise.

Mr Salmon is running the marathon for Best Beginnings (one of the eight charity partners for Heads Together) in memory of a friend who lost her life to suicide following postnatal depression.

He also lost his father to suicide when he was a teenager living at home and 20 years ago was hospitalised after becoming mentally ill, following previously undiagnosed mental illness.

Mr Jackson, 41, is a married father of three who met Jon back in the 90s at college and also lost a family friend and father figure to suicide.

Mr Salmon said: “I have been lucky enough to have had a really supportive group of friends since my teens.

“But you know how blokes are, we were never good at talking about our feelings.

“It was really only after getting ill myself that I learned about the power of conversation and the importance of being able to open up and talk about sometimes very personal and painful feelings - which is never easy to do.”

Mr Jackson said: “I have found that the simple act of listening to someone talk about how they’ve been feeling can be a huge help to them, to realise they are not on their own.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in