Princess of Wales marks Addiction Awareness Week

The Princess of Wales visited The Forward Trust today to mark this year’s Addiction Awareness Week.

The Princess of Wales was in Southend, Essex, today to mark this year’s Addiction Awareness Week, taking place from 19 to 25 September. Catherine visited the charity as patron to see a new gardening initiative which aims to create lasting benefits for participants while helping to build stronger connections between people and the environment.

Forward Growing, in partnership with Garon Park, supports those who use The Forward Trust’s Southend Treatment and Recovery Service (STARS) to engage with the natural world and help participants experience the wellbeing benefits of spending time outdoors.

Picture by David Cliff / Kensington Palace

Launched earlier this spring, Forward Growing runs weekly gardening sessions and creates new opportunities for people to connect with nature, build confidence, and develop practical skills outdoors. As the partnership develops, the program will also contribute to creating a dedicated Forward gardening area at Garon Park, providing a lasting space for recovery, learning, and community involvement. By bringing together gardening, walking, creativity, and community participation, the partnership aims to create lasting benefits for participants while building stronger connections between people and the environment.

The Princess has been Patron of The Forward Trust since 2021. She has supported the charity in raising awareness of the impact of addiction, speaking to the importance of support and breaking the associated stigma.

“By talking about it in the open, together we can bring addiction and the harm it causes out of the shadows. We can reframe this issue with kindness and understanding, and we can help individuals and families coping with addiction know they are not alone.” — The Princess of Wales, 2025

The Forward Trust is a social justice charity that supports people to recover from addiction or leave behind crime, helping them move on in life with family, friends, jobs, homes, and a sense of belonging. Last year, the charity supported almost 40,000 people, demonstrating the transformative impact that support, connection and opportunity can have in helping people rebuild their lives and realise a more hopeful future.

This year, Addiction Awareness Week is calling for the nation to join “The Big Addiction Conversation”. This year’s campaign aims to highlight that while these statistics are stark, recovery is possible, help is available, and lives can be changed when people feel able to ask for support and when families, friends, colleagues and communities have the confidence to reach out with compassion and understanding.