Kate Middleton’s Next Official Engagement At Action On Addiction

Kate Middleton is all set to attend an official engagement to highlight an issue close to her heart. She will visit the Action on Addiction charity, Centre for Addiction Treatment Studies, in Warminster, Wiltshire on Dec.10. The Duchess of Cambridge will give her support to those who struggle with addiction in her capacity as a patron of the charity.

The British royal will see how the center provides training, education and professional development for those working in addiction and other related fields. She will also meet course tutors and examiners, and learn about their training. The 33-year-old will then attend a ceremony to celebrate the graduation of students from the Foundation and Honors degree programs accredited by the University of Bath.

The Centre, in partnership with the University, trains addiction counselors to a higher standard than ever before. It has long been recognised that the addiction treatment field suffers from an inadequately trained workforce.

So far, 200 people have graduated from the Centre and during her forthcoming engagement, Kate will congratulate the successful graduates of this year. Over 60 percent of students have disclosed either a family connection or declared themselves in recovery.

Kate will also receive an update on the local M-PACT programs, which take a whole family approach to tackling substance misuse. She will meet families and participants, and hear about the charity’s work with the children of addicted parents. The Duchess has been patron of Action on Addiction since 2012 and has carried out a number of engagements in support of the organization.

Tim Leighton, director of professional education and research at Action on Addiction, said that staff were “delighted” that Kate is keen to visit the Centre to find out more about the people who help those suffering with addiction.

The mother-of-two’s last engagement with the charity was in September, when she visited inmates of the Send Women’s Prison. Kate paid a private visit to the prison where she saw the work carried out by the Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust, which works to help prisoners struggling with drugs and alcohol addiction.