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Changing minds: The young royals' video campaign to tackle mental health stigma

When it comes to attitudes to mental health in Britain, we are now at a "tipping point", the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry have said today, as they recruit a host of high-profile public figures to help "shatter the stigma".

The senior Royals have today launched the next stage of their Heads Together campaign: a series of 10 videos designed to spark "simple conversations" about mental health.

Starring the likes of Freddie Flintoff, Ruby Wax, Stephen Manderson - better known as the musician Professor Green - and Alastair Campbell, the videos are part of the Royals' ongoing battle to break down the "walls of judgement" they perceive to be standing in the way of progress.

Stephen Manderson - better known as Professor Green - speaks to his friend former England Cricket Captain Freddie Flintoff about his own struggles with mental illness.

Both men have suffered with mental health issues and speak about them openly in the film.

Here, Alastair Campbell speaks to his wife Fiona about his psychotic nervous breakdown in 1986, his addiction issues and the chronic depression he has experienced over the years. 

He says: "The thing I always do now, I always say to you when I feel the depression coming on, even if it’s only mild, and it used to be I would just go into lockdown, now the first thing I say is: 'I think I’m getting depressed again.'"

Phil Eaglesham is a Royal Marine Commando who contracted Q Fever when preparing to leave Camp Bastian after a tour. 

In the film, he talks to his wife Julie about his battle with mental health issues nd the difference it has made to talk to her about it.

Mark Austin is a broadcaster whose daughter Maddy suffered with such severe anorexia as a teenager it left her close to death. 

He says: “It was realising it was a serious mental health issue and that we had to treat it as a serious mental health issue, and that’s why now we are talking about it.”

Dan Farnworth is a medical technician for the Northwest ambulance service. A couple of years ago he had a traumatic experience on the job and started having flashbacks and nightmares which were later diagnosed as PTSD. 

He speaks to his colleague Rich Morton about the time he opened up to him about how he was feeling - a conversation he believes helped him overcome it.

He says: “That text message was the first day of the rest of my life... It was the power of that conversation that changed everything.”

Model Adwoa Aboah opens up to her mother Camilla Lowther about her battle with depression, which over the years has been so severe that she once tried to take her own life.  

Having always found it hard to open up about her innermost feelings, Adwoa says: "I couldn't believe it was that simple, to talk. I literally thought it was going to be something so complicated."

"Funny isn't it," her mum replies. "That's the first step. The first step is admitting, and then asking for help."

Ruby Wax OBE speaks to her husband, TV director Ed Bye about the first time she revealed to him she was struggling - when they were just a few feet away from the registry office on their wedding day. 

Ed says: "My belief, and I think it's probably right, is that if you are close to someone with depression, you need to help them make the first move to understand they are sick."

Jo Irwin is a blogger who writes under the name "The Lady London". Here, she speaks to her mum Sue Irwin about the moment she first opened up to her about her struggles with mental health, and the difference it made to talk. She says: "After chatting to you, I'm not ashamed anymore."

Anni Ferguson is a journalist who has spoken openly about the stigma attached to mental illness within the black community.

She first confided in her best friend Naa-Affie on  a beach in Barcelona while they were on holiday about her own mental health challenges.

Sarah Hesz and Katie Massie-Taylor are two mums from London who were struggling with the loneliness which can often come with life as a new mum before they struck up an awkward conversation in the playground. 

They ended up creating an app designed to help other mums in their position. 

Sarah says: “It certainly wasn’t a long conversation, just a recognition that we were in the same boats, that we were both knackered and acknowledging it wasn’t particularly easy what we were doing right now and that was almost enough to start an incredibly important friendship.”

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