harry-sussex:

Ten years in the making…

My early years journey began by meeting people rebuilding their lives from addiction, homelessness, and family breakdown. Listening to these experiences, I came to understand that poor mental health and a traumatic childhood shaped their lives. I wanted to do more to help prevent those social challenges by improving mental health. But learning more only highlighted the need to start this earlier in life. Hearing from teachers and parents helped me understand the need to support children before school, which led me to the science of our early childhoods and the lifelong impact on our physical and mental wellbeing. And because my journey started by listening, I wanted to hear more about what the public thought. And this has led me to today - the realisation that we need to change the way we think about early childhood. And that starts now…

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge on this week’s big announcement and her Early Years Initiative | 17 June, 2021