Meghan Markle and Prince Harry hosted a mental health summit on Tuesday, during which the couple highlighted the importance of parenting and the role their own children play in their lives.
In honor of Mental Health Day, the couple hosted their first Archewell Foundation in-person event, “Mental Wellness in the Digital Age,” in New York City, per Vanity Fair. Meghan and Harry addressed challenges of parenting in a digital age alongside parents who have experienced tragedy connected to their child’s social media use.
Over the past year, Meghan and Harry have been meeting with parents and tech companies about how protect children on social media, reports Vanity Fair.
“I can’t start without thanking all the parents, the mothers and fathers for being with us physically today, but also being on this journey with us for the last year, creating this community of shared experience,” Harry said after taking the stage with Meghan for the panel, per People.
“We know it’s not easy for you guys to be here, so thank you very much,” he continued.
Meghan opened the summit reflecting on a year of work she shared with Harry, saying, “A year ago we met some of the families, and at the time, it was impossible not to be in tears hearing their stories because it’s just that devastating.”
“As parents, though our kids are really young, 2-1/2 and 4-1/2, but social media isn’t going away and by design, there was an entry post that was supposed to be positive and create community but something has devolved and there’s no way to hear that and not try to help these families have their stories be heard,” Meghan added, per People.
From his perspective as a father, Harry believes it is a “priority” to understand childhood during today’s digital age and spotlight families who undergo tragedy at the hands of social media. Harry hopes Archewell Productions will provide a place for these families to grieve, heal and feel understood, per Vanity Fair.
At the conclusion of the panel, Carson Daly — who was in attendance as a board member of Project Healthy Minds — asked Meghan how she juggles her work at Archewell Productions with being the mother of two young kids.
“Being a mom is the most important thing in my entire life — outside, of course, being a wife to this one,” Meghan responded, gesturing Harry, per People. “But I will say I feel fortunate that our children are at an age, again quite young, so this isn’t in our immediate future, but I also feel frightened at how it’s continuing to change and this will be in front of us.”
“Everyone is affected by the online world and social media. We all just want to feel safe. I’m confident that with more ears and awareness and visibility of what is really happening, we can make some significant change together.”
Kate Middleton speech for mental health day
Kate Middleton and Prince William teamed up with BBC Radio 1 and The Mix, a charity for young adults, to speak with young people about their mental health.
Kate took to the stage on Tuesday in Birmingham as part of a forum directed at young people, reports Yahoo News. She spoke on the importance of talking about mental well-being and breaking the stigma surrounding mental health.
“What are we trying to improve by focusing our efforts on mental health? Ultimately, we are working to build a happier, healthier world,” Kate said, per Harper’s Bazaar. “We want to shape fairer, safer, kinder, more equal societies — societies that seek the common good and a better future together.”
“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,” she continued.
“We can choose to see our emotional worlds and mental well-being in a different light, we can normalize it and recognize it as something we all have, and require, as human beings.”