HRH the Duchess of Cambridge visiting the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families
We’re delighted to announce that the Her Royal Highness (HRH) Duchess of Cambridge is visiting the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families on Thursday this week. HRH will have the opportunity to hear about how we’re working to lead a step change in children's and young people's mental health care.
She’ll visit the site of our planned Anna Freud Centre near Kings Cross, which will bring together the best people and organisations in neuroscience, mental health and education to work with children and their families.
A key focus of the centre for excellence will be developing and testing new treatments, interventions and approaches informed by the most recent scientific discoveries to deliver better mental health services on a local, national and international level.
Michael Samuel, the chair of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families' Board of Trustees, said "It is very exciting for us and will give us the chance to showcase some of the amazing work done by our staff in partnership with children and their families and the positive impact it has on children’s mental health.”
The Duchess will then have a tour of our unique Family School - where mental health support is completely integrated into children’s education and where the entire family is supported to help the child fully benefit from their learning opportunities.
The Duchess will see and participate in a range of activities that are part of the usual Family School day, including the 'SmartGym' programme whichcombines technology and sports psychology. It aims to build resilience, develop emotional skills and improve academic performance in children with emotional and behavioural problems.
The School is currently on a temporary site at Kings Cross but will be situated at the heart of the planned centre for excellence which we hope to complete in 2018. We need to raise an additional £5 million to make the new Anna Freud Centre a reality.