The Princess of Wales has penned a message for Addiction Awareness Week, calling it “heartening to see that progress is still being made” to end the stigma of addiction.

Catherine, who serves as Patron of the Forward Trust, wrote the message on behalf of her charity, which started Addiction Awareness Week in 2021.

Catherine continued: “For too long, many have suffered in silence, harbouring feelings of shame and guilt about their condition, despite their vulnerability.

“Everyone suffering from addiction is another human being, with a story of their own, which many of us don’t understand or see. It is not our place to judge or criticise, we must take the time to sit by someone’s side, learning the values of love and empathy.”

The royal, who has recently completed a course of chemotherapy following a cancer diagnosis earlier in the year, added that simple acts of kindness, like listening or sitting with someone living with addiction, “are crucial in breaking down the misunderstandings that so many face.”

Catherine stressed that addiction is a serious mental health condition that could affect anyone and that people can make a real difference to those living with addiction by “acting with humility and compassion.”

A cornerstone of her royal work has been working with charities and organisations that dive into the causes of addiction—which also led her into her work within the early years sector—and how great access to mental health therapies can help a person get clean and provide them the support to stay clean.

But charities, Catherine wrote, “cannot do it alone. It is up to each and every one of us to change the way we think about and consider the many people coping with addiction.”

“Because recovery is possible,” she concluded.

Addiction Awareness Week begins on 30 November and runs through 7 December.