The Princess of
Wales spent an away day in northern England on Tuesday to meet with
organisations that focus on creativity, community and nature as
ways to help those living with trauma and poor mental health.
Catherine first dropped in at Family Action’s Children’s Trauma
Therapy Service in Bradford to learn more about their creative
therapy sessions to help young people process traumatic
experiences.
According to Family Action,
their creative therapies use “creative interventions such as
art, movement and creative therapy to help children/young people
manage and process their trauma, incorporating evidence-based
approaches.”
The Princess of Wales met with some of the therapists on staff
to learn more about the processes and then sat in on a creative
therapy session with parents and their children to see how play
helps them process trauma.
Catherine showed a young girl, who was building a box of wishes,
how holding a seashell up to her ear was a way to imagine hearing
the waves. “Sometimes you can hear the waves. If you listen
very quietly. That’s what I like doing with shells. If you close
your eyes you can sometimes imagine you’re by the beach.”
To a little boy who said he liked playing with musical
instruments he could smack, Catherine replied, “That’s a
fantastic way to express yourself and also manage really difficult
and hard feelings that are sometimes harder to express with
words.”
Family Action posted on their social media accounts:
“We know from our work supporting families the lifelong impact
trauma can have on children but we’re committed to supporting whole
families to understand and move past their experiences and break
the often generational cycle.
“We are incredibly grateful to Her Royal Highness for taking
the time to visit the service, and for her continued support of
Family Action and our work with children and families.”
Catherine became royal patron of Family Action in 2019.
Next, the Princess of Wales popped in to visit the Wakefield
Trinity Rugby League in her role as royal patron of the Rugby
Football League. There, she learned how the Wakefield Trinity’s
Community Foundation supports the community and those who
experience social isolation.
After meeting with Rugby Football League and Wakefield Trinity
Foundation officials, Catherine took part in a session of the In
Touch programme, which helps elderly people find activities at the
club to combat social isolation.
The future queen also met with young people involved in the
Inspiring Futures programme, which helps young people at risk of
anti-social behaviour work as a team and learn goal setting
practices.
visiting with Rugby Kensington Palace / X / Fair Use
Catherine lastly joined girls for a skills session on the pitch
supported by the Wakefield’s Champion Schools competition.
“The Princess was really interested in hearing about the
positive social impact of the sport,” said Marc Lovering, the
Director of Performance and Development, in a media release
shared on the Rugby Football
League’s website.
“The programmes showcased today by Wakefield Trinity
Foundation address some of the challenges our communities face
including social isolation, anti-social behaviour and youth crime.
It was brilliant to see her engaging with all the different people
involved with the Foundation.”
Catherine was overheard talking to Wakefield Trinity Rugby
leaders that she loves how embedded the league game is in community
life, and how grassroots and interactive it is. She added that it
was great for “getting youngsters involved” and for
connecting to the community.
“They’re absolute gold dust really,” she said, “and
I’m so proud to help support the league across the
country.”
The Princess of Wales’s final engagement of the day was a walk
in the Peak District with the Mind Over Mountains charity, which
supports mental health programming through therapeutic outdoor
activities.
It started to rain just before the group set out, and the future
queen chirped: “Nothing is going to stop us.”
Mind Over Mountains combines outdoor experiences with wellbeing
coaches and counsellors to help participants with their mental
health needs. After their walk, Catherine’s group paused to reflect
and were each asked to choose three words to describe the activity.
The royal chose “Mind, body and soul.”
On social media, Mind Over
Mountains wrote about Catherine’s visit, “Today we stepped out
onto the hills with The Princess of Wales to enjoy a truly special
day—walking in nature, enjoying the stunning scenery, with the
support of our Mind Over Mountains walk guides and qualified
wellbeing practitioners.
“Spending time outdoors together was a wonderful reminder of
how deeply nature supports our wellbeing. The Princess’ passion
brought moments of joy and true meaning to the walk—highlighting
just how powerful simple moments outside can be, no matter our path
in life.”
The Princess of Wales has been vocal about the healing power of
nature, especially with her own health struggles since her cancer
diagnosis in March 2024.
In a video released by Kensington Palace to mark her
44th birthday earlier this month, Catherine narrates how
“nature has helped me heal” and how winter, in particular,
“has a way of bringing us stillness, patience and quiet
consideration.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalcentral.co.uk ’
