The Princess of Wales offered a moment of gentle connection during a visit to a trauma therapy centre in Bradford, demonstrating to a five-year-old girl how to listen to the ocean through a seashell.
Kate met with young people at Family Action’s Children’s Trauma Therapy Service, marking the first of three engagements across the north of England on Tuesday.
These visits were specifically chosen to highlight "the healing power of creativity, community and nature for individuals who have experienced trauma, isolation and poor mental health."
During her time at the centre, the princess engaged with a young girl whose therapist was assisting her in creating a "box of wishes." It was then that Kate shared a simple, comforting gesture, holding a shell to the child's ear.
"Sometimes if you put them to your ear, you can sometimes hear the sea, do you want to see if you can hear the sea?" she asked.
"Sometimes you can hear the waves. If you listen very quietly.
“That’s what I like doing with shells. If you close your eyes you can sometimes imagine you’re by the beach."
The girl replied “yes” when Kate asked if she could hear the waves.
She showed the princess a “potion” she had made that would keep “the bad dreams” away.
Kate told the girl’s mother: “Lots of people need more of these.”
The therapist said she had also chosen some feathers for the box to keep the girl’s “busy head” calm.
The girl’s mother said her daughter had “loved” meeting the princess, telling the Press Association: “I don’t know how I’m going to get her back after this. She’s very busy-minded, she’s normally covered in slime.”
Describing how the centre had helped her family cope with their trauma, the mother-of-two said: “You always think when something like that happens, don’t mention it to (the children) but they’re supposed to speak, otherwise they just repress it.”
Kate is a patron of Family Action, a national charity which helps children aged four to 18 and their families recover from trauma.
They work with families that have experienced adversity, abuse and traumatic bereavement.
The princess also met a 12-year-old boy who described using music during his therapy sessions, and told her how he now plays the drums in a school band because he loves instruments “I can smack”.
Kate said: “Exactly, and that’s a fantastic way to express yourself and also manage really difficult and hard feelings that are sometimes harder to express with words.”
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