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In May 2016 three members of the British Royal Family, Prince William and his wife Catherine (the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) and Prince Harry launched Heads Together, ‘a new campaign to end stigma around mental health’ (Heads Together, 2017). Heads Together is an umbrella organisation for eight existing UK based mental health charities that together have ‘decades of experience in tackling stigma, raising awareness, and providing vital help for people with mental health challenges’ (Heads Together, 2017). Bringing these charities together under one organisational ‘brand’, Heads Together seeks to harness the significant media power of the popular younger members of the Royal Family. The publicity for this campaign states that whilst there has been progress ‘in recent decades’, stigma remains a ‘key issue’ in preventing people with ‘mental health challenges’ in accessing the help and support they need (Heads Together, 2017). As Prince William stated ‘people can’t and won’t seek help because they are ashamed about what people might think’ (CALM, 2017). To this end, Heads Together is focused on eradicating stigma as a barrier to help-seeking, through initiatives that centre on promoting individual disclosures of mental distress. As they put it, ‘shattering stigma on mental health starts with simple conversations. When you realise that mental health problems affect your friends, neighbours, children and spouses, the walls of judgement and prejudice around these issues begin to fall’ (Heads Together, 2017)
