ENGLISH SPEECH | KATE MIDDLETON: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (English Subtitles) — Transcript

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1. 0:00but what you do isn't for the quick win
2. 0:03it's for the big win
3. 0:05it's for a happier healthier society
4. 0:08as well as for happier healthier
5. 0:11children
6. 0:12thank you
7. 0:14anton deck and thank you mike and the
8. 0:17ford trust for bringing us all here
9. 0:19together this morning
10. 0:21i'm so pleased to be joining you to
11. 0:23launch the taking action on addiction
12. 0:26campaign
13. 0:27and i'm grateful to those of you who
14. 0:29have shared your experiences of
15. 0:31addiction with me here today
16. 0:34addiction is not a choice
17. 0:38no one chooses to become an addict
18. 0:41but it can happen to any one of us
19. 0:45none of us are immune
20. 0:48yet it's all too rarely discussed as a
21. 0:50serious mental health condition
22. 0:52and seldom do we take the time to
23. 0:54uncover
24. 0:55and fully understand
25. 0:57its fundamental root causes
26. 1:02the journey towards addiction is often
27. 1:04multi-layered and complex
28. 1:06but
29. 1:07by recognizing what lies beneath
30. 1:09addiction
31. 1:10we can help remove the taboo and shame
32. 1:12that sadly surrounds it
33. 1:15as a society
34. 1:17we need to start from a position of
35. 1:19compassion and empathy
36. 1:22where we nurture those around us
37. 1:25understand their journey
38. 1:28and
39. 1:29what has come before them
40. 1:32we need to value and prioritize care and
41. 1:34support
42. 1:36helping to restore and connect
43. 1:38individuals
44. 1:39who are clearly suffering to the people
45. 1:41around them
46. 1:44that is why i'm so passionate about the
47. 1:46work of the forward trust
48. 1:48an organization i'm so proud to be a
49. 1:50patron of
50. 1:52this is the work that you and many other
51. 1:54charities provide day in day out
52. 1:58and it's needed now more than ever
53. 2:02the pandemic has had a devastating
54. 2:04impact on addiction rates
55. 2:06and families and children are having to
56. 2:08cope with addiction in greater numbers
57. 2:09than ever before
58. 2:12we know that over one and a half million
59. 2:14people across the uk
60. 2:16who did not have substance misused prior
61. 2:17to lockdown may now be experiencing
62. 2:20problems associated with increased
63. 2:22alcohol consumption
64. 2:25around 2 million individuals who are
65. 2:28identified as being in recovery
66. 2:30may have experienced a relapse over the
67. 2:33past 18 months
68. 2:36and almost one million young people and
69. 2:38children
70. 2:39are showing an increase in addictive
71. 2:41behavior since the pandemic began
72. 2:46yet there is hope
73. 2:49over the last 10 years i have had the
74. 2:51privilege of meeting many incredible
75. 2:53people who have lived through the harsh
76. 2:55realities of addiction
77. 2:58through their own hard work
78. 3:00and with help from communities and
79. 3:02charities such as the forward trust
80. 3:04lives really are being turned around
81. 3:08these are stories of healing
82. 3:11of hope
83. 3:12and recovery that can inspire us all
84. 3:17i fully support the taking action on
85. 3:19addiction campaign
86. 3:21to improve awareness
87. 3:23and understanding of addiction
88. 3:26the campaign will show us
89. 3:28that not only do many people recover
90. 3:29from addiction
91. 3:31they can go on to prosper
92. 3:34we can all play our part
93. 3:36in helping this work
94. 3:39by understanding
95. 3:41by listening
96. 3:43by
97. 3:44connecting so that together
98. 3:47we can build a happier healthier more
99. 3:51nurturing society
100. 3:53thank you
101. 3:56over the last nine months the pandemic
102. 3:58has been a worrying time for us all
103. 4:01we've experienced isolation
104. 4:03loss and uncertainty
105. 4:06but in the midst of this crisis we've
106. 4:08also seen huge acts of kindness
107. 4:11generosity and empathy
108. 4:14the pandemic has reminded us just how
109. 4:16much we value
110. 4:18living in a world where people care for
111. 4:20one another
112. 4:21and the importance of feeling connected
113. 4:24to the people around us
114. 4:27and it's these connections
115. 4:29these relationships
116. 4:31that are founded in the earliest years
117. 4:33of our lives
118. 4:36people often ask why i care so
119. 4:38passionately about the early years
120. 4:40many mistakenly believe that my interest
121. 4:43stems from having children of my own
122. 4:45and while of course i care hugely about
123. 4:47their start in life
124. 4:49this ultimately sells the issue short
125. 4:52parenthood isn't a prerequisite for
126. 4:55understanding the importance of the
127. 4:56early years
128. 4:58if we only expect people to take an
129. 5:00interest in the early years when they
130. 5:01have children
131. 5:02we are not only too late for them we are
132. 5:05underestimating the huge role others can
133. 5:07play in shaping our most formative years
134. 5:10too
135. 5:12over the last decade i like many of you
136. 5:14have met people from all walks of life
137. 5:17i've seen that experiences such as
138. 5:19homelessness addiction and poor mental
139. 5:21health
140. 5:22are often grounded in a difficult
141. 5:24childhood
142. 5:26but i have also seen
143. 5:28how positive protective factors in the
144. 5:31early years
145. 5:32can play a critical role in shaping our
146. 5:35futures too
147. 5:37and i care hugely about this
148. 5:40because the science shows that the early
149. 5:42years are more pivotal for future health
150. 5:45and happiness than any other period in
151. 5:47our lifetime
152. 5:49because as many as 40 percent of our
153. 5:52children
154. 5:53will arrive at school with below the
155. 5:54expected levels of development
156. 5:57and because the social cost of late
157. 5:59intervention has been estimated to be
158. 6:02over 17 billion pounds a year
159. 6:05the early years are therefore not simply
160. 6:07just about how we raise our children
161. 6:10they are in fact about how we raise the
162. 6:12next generation of adults
163. 6:14they are about the society we will
164. 6:16become
165. 6:17which is why i wanted to start a
166. 6:20society-wide conversation
167. 6:23to hear what people across the uk think
168. 6:25about the early years too
169. 6:27i was humbled that over half a million
170. 6:29people responded to the five big
171. 6:31questions survey
172. 6:32showing just how much people wanted to
173. 6:34talk about this
174. 6:36we combined these findings with national
175. 6:38research and a covert lockdown survey
176. 6:41and together this represents the uk's
177. 6:43biggest ever study on the early years
178. 6:47these collective insights are critical
179. 6:50and the questions they pose will help
180. 6:53guide our work in the years to come
181. 6:56firstly if parents are struggling to
182. 6:58prioritize their own wellbeing
183. 7:00how can we better support them
184. 7:03secondly
185. 7:04what is at the root of why parents feel
186. 7:07so judged
187. 7:08thirdly how can we address parental
188. 7:10loneliness
189. 7:11which has dramatically increased during
190. 7:14the pandemic
191. 7:15particularly in the most deprived areas
192. 7:18and finally
193. 7:20if less than a quarter of us understand
194. 7:22the unique importance of a child's first
195. 7:25five years
196. 7:26what can we do to make this better known
197. 7:30we must do all we can to tackle these
198. 7:33issues and to elevate the importance of
199. 7:35the early years
200. 7:37so that together
201. 7:38we can build a more nurturing society
202. 7:42because i believe
203. 7:43the early years should be on par with
204. 7:46the other great social challenges and
205. 7:48opportunities of our time
206. 7:50and next year we will announce ambitious
207. 7:53plans to support this objective
208. 7:56my final message is a thank you
209. 7:59thank you to all the families and
210. 8:01parents and carers for the important
211. 8:03work you do every single day in raising
212. 8:06our children
213. 8:08and thank you to those of you working to
214. 8:10support these families and their
215. 8:11children too
216. 8:13what you do takes hard work commitment
217. 8:17and vision
218. 8:18it is a brave thing to believe in an
219. 8:20outcome
220. 8:21in a world even that might not be fully
221. 8:24felt for a generation or more
222. 8:26but what you do isn't for the quick win
223. 8:29it's for the big win
224. 8:32it's for a happier healthier society
225. 8:35as well as for happier healthier
226. 8:37children
227. 8:40only by working together
228. 8:42can we bring about lasting change for
229. 8:44the generations to come
230. 8:47because i truly believe
231. 8:50big change
232. 8:51starts small
233. 8:53[Music]
234. 9:11[Music]
235. 9:32you