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North East business leaders meeting Duke of York

North East business leaders will hear an appeal by his Royal Highness The Duke of York on behalf of youngsters suffering mental health problems as The Children’s Foundation charity celebrates its 25th anniversary.

The Duke of York will address an audience of business leaders, civic dignitaries and members of the medical community at the special event organised by the Newcastle-based charity at The Mansion House, Jesmond, Newcastle, on Wednesday.

The Children’s Foundation helps disabled, disadvantaged or distressed children and young people throughout the North East and Cumbria since its formation in 1990, and is supporting their campaign ‘…because minding matters,’ which focuses on children’s mental health issues in the region.

As well as aiming to raise £2million to help improve the mental health and well-being of youngsters, the campaign supports children, families and professionals working in mental health and the provision of services to tackle mental health illnesses.

The Children’s Foundation Chief Executive Peregrine Solly said: “We are absolutely delighted that, as part of our 25th anniversary celebrations, The Duke of York will be coming here to attend this extra-special event and support our campaign.

“We hope the Duke’s visit will help to raise both awareness and vital funds for our ‘…because minding matters’ campaign.

“We want to put children’s emotional health at the centre of everyone’s awareness and thinking. The evidence is worrying as it says that at least one in 10 of our children has a diagnosable mental health challenge or emotional difficulty, and I suspect the real figure is worse than this.

“The problem is urgent as the pressures on young people today are much worse than they were 25 years ago, but the North East is an amazing region with very caring and compassionate communities, and I know that together we can lead the way in helping children and young people through the country cope with these issues.”

Money raised from the new fundraising initiative will focus on a range of challenges from depression to self-harming and even suicide. The North East currently has the highest levels of self-harming and suicide in the country among young people.

The Children’s Foundation, which is based at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, will concentrate on improving early recognition and intervention techniques and practical measures supporting schools, medical services and the professionals working in the sector, alongside offering advice and guidance to children, young people and parents.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Joanna Graham .