1. Launching Mentally Healthy Schools
Early this year, The Duchess of Cambridge launched Mentally Healthy Schools – a brand new website to help primary school teachers better support their pupils’ mental health.
We worked with three of our charity partners – Young Minds, Place2Be and the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families to develop this groundbreaking site, which now gives all the primary schools in the UK free access to hundreds of mental health resources like lesson plans, assembly plans, information, advice and more.
Visit Mentally Healthy Schools now
2. Mental Health at Work launch
Later in the year, we were excited to work with our charity partner Mind to develop and launch a new gateway to give everyone, everywhere better access to the best resources that will help you improve your mental health at work.
After championing the campaign to change the conversation on mental health at work, The Duke of Cambridge launched this new site with a powerful speech at an event in September.
Click here to visit Mental Health at Work
3. The #MentalHealthMinute radio takeover
In May this year, we made history! For the first time ever, hundreds of radio stations across the UK came together to broadcast the same message at the same time – the Mental Health Minute.
The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex joined Dame Judi Dench, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Lady Gaga, and David Harewood to let everyone know that whoever you are, however you’re feeling and whatever you’re going through, it’s #oktosay.
If you missed it, don’t worry – you can listen now:
4. Supporting CALM’s #BestManProject
At the beginning of the year, The Duke of Cambridge got behind one of our charity partner, CALM’s brilliant new campaigns – their #BestManProject.
He met staff, volunteers and supporters who contributed to the project, and he talked friendship, football, men’s mental health and what it means to be a best man. Two people that joined this conversation was Rio Ferdinand and Jamie Moralee, who featured in Heads Together’s #oktosay series. Check it out below.
5. Our #StopSpeakSupport School Surprise
To mark Children’s Mental Health Week, and Safer Internet Day, Heads Together joined forces with our sister campaign Stop Speak Support to do a surprise school assembly takeover.
The assembly was all about the importance of kindness, and the bad effect online bullying can have on our mental health. It was hosted by Dan Howell and featured a surprise Q+A with The Duke of Cambridge and Professor Green – take a look at the kids reactions in the film below.
Learn more about Stop Speak Support
6. The Royal Foundation Forum
This year saw the first ever Royal Foundation Forum where The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke about why The Royal Foundation was set up, the projects they are currently working on, and their ambitions for the future.
Our principals and guests then heard from our Heads Together Mental Health panel, hosted by Bryony Gordon and featuring familiar faces & fantastic supporters of the campaign: Sean Fletcher, Rhian Burke, Karl Hinett, Victoria Hornby and Simon Gunning.
Watch their full conversation here
7. Mental Fitness at the KCL Military Conference
When The Duke of Sussex attended the Veterans’ #MentalHealth Conference, hosted by Kings College London, he spoke about the progress that has been made by the sector in the past year.
At the conference, he spoke about The Royal Foundation’s partnership with the Ministry of Defence to improve the mental fitness of current and former Armed Forces personnel. You can watch his speech below.
Learn more about our Military Work
8. The Early Intervention Symposium
On behalf of Her Royal Highness, The Royal Foundation organised a symposium where The Duchess of Cambridge set out her ambition to support efforts to give every child the best possible start in life.
The event brought together leading academics and charities that are championing the importance of early intervention to provide solid social and emotional platforms for children in their early years. This work is to make them healthier and more resilient later in life, and thus avoid serious problems which often emerge only in adolescence or in adult years.
The Duchess of Cambridge delivered a speech about the importance of Early Intervention for children and families.
Find out more about our Early Years work
9. An Evening with #MindOverMarathon
In 2017, 10 inspirational individuals, all suffering from mental health issues, stole the hearts of the UK when they came together to train for the London Marathon. Their open, honest and relatable journeys were documented by the BBC and released as a two-part documentary, Mind Over Marathon, presented by Nick Knowles.
One year on from the Mental Health Marathon, we couldn’t have been more excited to reunite these inspiring people with Nick Knowles to talk about mental health, marathon training, the impact of the Mind Over Marathon documentary and what they’ve been up to since.
You can still watch their full conversation by clicking here
10. #TeamHeadsTogether 2018
And last but by no means least, we were full of pride and joy once again as we watched this year’s #TeamHeadsTogether take on the 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon.
Every runner on #TeamHeadsTogether inspired us with their commitment to change the conversation on mental health. They each shared their powerful stories and motivations for joining the team and taking on this challenge and played their part in changing the conversation on mental health.
Read some of their stories here
To all those who have supported us this year – whether you ran a marathon, shared something on social media, told a colleague about Mental Health at Work, or have simply been inspired to talk and let others know it’s ok to say, we want to thank you.
Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do to change the conversation on mental health.
When we get our heads together, we really can achieve great things.
