William and I are absolutely delighted to be with you in Birmingham, on World Mental Health Day, for our Royal Foundation Youth Forum.
Mental health is something we both care deeply about.
Back in 2016, we launched Heads Together, a campaign supported by so many wonderful partners, that helped break the stigma around mental health, and encouraged more people to have everyday conversations about it. Alongside the efforts of many others, we have seen real change. Today, more people feel empowered to talk about their mental health than ever before. This is a major step forward.
William and I continue to be inspired to see young people, like you all here today, leading this charge - being particularly brave in having some of those conversations yourselves. As a generation, you value and talk more about your mental health than any before you - something we truly admire and applaud.
It is important, however, to remind ourselves of the big picture as we meet here today. What are we trying to improve by focusing our efforts on mental health? Ultimately, we are working to build a happier, healthier world. We want to shape fairer, safer, kinder, more equal societies - societies that seek the common good and a better future together.
For just as we need to restore, protect and invest in our planet, so we must also restore, protect and invest in the communities, relationships and people living on it. We believe that starts with you, our young people, but it also means all of us. Because when you think about it, we can each shape the world in which we live.
So, we know, like you, that simply talking about mental health is just not enough. Because although many more conversations are now taking place, it is now vital we spend more time focusing on how we talk about our mental health - and crucially; What are we going to do, to build positive, preventative solutions to one of today's toughest challenges.
Positive mental health is shaped by our ability to understand and manage ourselves as individuals, and to connect with others through our relationships, friendships, families and communities. We are living in a world, however, that is changing so fast, where social media and concerns about the threat of conflict, pandemics, climate change or the cost of living, can impact our emotional wellbeing and future hopes dramatically. On top of this, as young people, this can also be a time in your lives, when you perhaps feel the vulnerability of growing independence and self-consciousness. But, by gaining deeper insight into ourselves, we'll be better equipped, to handle the external challenges we all encounter.
Today we heard the science and research that backs this up, and how crucial it is, that we develop the skills needed to navigate everything we will face in the future. William and I believe we need to do all we can as a society to help young people develop the emotional and social life skills they need for good mental health, and to thrive in the world around them. Both learning about the world and learning about how to be happy and thrive within it, should go hand-in-hand.
So, if we talk about mental health with this in mind, it need not have so many negative connotations. We can choose to see our emotional worlds and mental wellbeing in a different light, we can normalise it and recognise it as something we all have, and require, as human beings.
This will be a key focus for us both as we build on Heads Together. Thank you all so much for joining us today. Together, let's build a brighter, more resilient future.
