Best Beginnings together with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are thrilled to announce a new campaign called Heads Together, which will be a yearlong collaboration with six other charities that aims to change the conversation about mental health in the UK. 

An official spokesperson for the Royals said, "Too often, they have seen that people feel afraid to admit that they are struggling with their mental health. This fear of prejudice and judgement stops people from getting help and can destroy families and end lives. They also believe that people need to feel much more comfortable with their everyday mental wellbeing and have the practical tools to support their friends and family."

While making a TV promo to launch the new Heads Together campaign (timed to coincide with this Year’s Virgin Money London Marathon who have chosen Heads Together as their charity of the year for their 2017 challenge), the Duchess met Best Beginnings beneficiary and now head of its Parent Panel, Emilie-Mai MacCormack as she talked about being a single mum and how the charity supported her through a very challenging time. Emilie’s story is one of more than 150 interviews with parents and professionals sharing stories, advice and experience in the charity’s award winning free parenting app, Baby Buddy.

Featuring prominently in the promo is 25 year old mum,  Shereece Foster who is about to embark on her most physical challenge yet – training for the 2017 Virgin money London Marathon on behalf of Best Beginnings and urging others to join her. Shereece has openly shared her stories about her emotional and psychological challenges upon becoming a mum. What helped at the time was learning how many other parents understood what she was going through and sharing her own experiences for Baby Buddy has also helped – just knowing that in being open, she is helping others, has made a huge difference. She hopes that by raising money for Best Beginnings, she will be supporting the development of an app for Dads as well as adding to the many amazing features on the current app which include daily nuggets of personalised, supportive information, a searchable bank of questions, appointment reminders and a map of useful places. 

You can sponsor Shereece here

Alison Baum, founder, and CEO of the charity, said to the Duchess, "At Best Beginnings we are passionate about collaboration and we feel enormously proud, having been selected as one of the Royal Foundations chosen charities to not only help destigmatise mental health but to promote the resources and support that is available in our free Baby Buddy app for parents and parents to be. Together we can make a difference for future generations." 

Another Best Beginnings beneficiary joining the event was Sophie Kathir with her two children, Lasksha, who is six, and Mahish, who is three. Sophie champions a number of causes in her local community and is particularly interested in helping to give a voice to Asian women, for whom there is still a taboo about talking about mental health.

Heads Together is extremely important and timely campaign, and Best Beginnings is proud of its role in helping to bring mental health and wellbeing to the forefront of people's minds. Even if you're not quite ready to run the London, there will be lots of ways to get involved in the coming year. You can join the conversation on Twitter (@Heads_Together  #HEADSTOGETHER) or find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/HeadsTogetherCampaign) and Instagram (@Heads_Together).