Princess of Wales tells primary school pupils to 'keep talking' to promote Children's Mental Health Week
The Princess of Wales urged a group of youngsters to "keep talking" about their feelings, as she marked the start of Children's Mental Health Week by joining them for a craft lesson.
Kate created paper chains with the pupils from a primary school in London's East End and spoke with them about how they cope with their feelings - in a video released as the awareness week began.
One student from St John's Church of England Primary School told the future Queen "connecting releases our emotions to other people that we care about".
While another classmate said "I take deep breaths in, then I drink a glass of water", when asked how they dealt with strong feelings.
Kate is the royal patron of the children's mental health charity Place2Be, that founded the annual Children's Mental Health Week in 2015.
This year's theme is Let's Connect, which encourages youngsters to make meaningful connections with others to support their mental wellbeing.
'Keep talking about your feelings'
At the end of the session, the princess said: "Well, thank you for having a chat with me today.
"And keep talking about your feelings and keep asking others how they're doing and helping them to talk about their feelings as well.
"I'm a firm believer in giving children the skills that they need for life and focusing on their social and emotional development."
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Place2Be's chief executive, Catherine Roche, said Children's Mental Health Week aims "to build awareness and understanding of children and young people's mental health".
"All week, schools, families, youth groups will be getting involved and taking part. People thrive in communities and when we have really good positive connections with others, that's really, really good for our emotional health and wellbeing," she added.
Last week, Kate launched her Shaping Us campaign, a project described as her "life's work" and aimed at raising the profile of the early years' development of children.
