Duke and Duchess of Cambridge join forces with UK's first 24/7 mental health texting service

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have reiterated their unwavering support for the father of Molly Russell, the teenager who took her own life after looking at images of self-harm and suicide on social media sites.

The couple met Mr Russell at an event to celebrate the thousands of volunteers working for Shout 85258, the UK’s first 24/7 mental health texting service, backed by the Royal Foundation.

The Duke, who has voiced concerns over “disturbing content” online, put his hand on Mr Russell’s shoulder as he asked whether he thought tech giants such as Instagram were doing enough in their response to online bullying and other problems.

“If we can help you in any way, please let us know,” he added.

Molly, 14, from Harrow in northwest London, took her own life in November 2017 after viewing graphic material online.

Mr Russell has previously accused Instagram of "helping to kill" his daughter with the content on its site and has called on the government to urgently look at ways in which it can spare grieving parents further agony by giving them clear legal rights to their children's devices and online accounts.

In March, the Duke wrote a “personal, heartfelt” letter to the family to convey his support for their campaign.

Mr Russell welcomed the Cambridges’ support on Tuesday, saying: “Support from all ends helps, support from the Royal Family perhaps particularly helps.”

He added: “My thoughts on Instagram are, we're grateful that they're doing something but I think they're only really inching along the road, and they need to do a lot more.”

He argued that accessing and getting rid of harmful material was “easier than the internet giant had made out.”

The Cambridges announced Shout 85258 in May, saying they wanted to utilise the UK’s “incredible national volunteer community” to link up trained home-based support with people suffering anything from suicidal thoughts to anxiety and loneliness.

The system was researched and developed by the Royal Foundation, the joint charitable vehicle for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as a legacy of its hugely successful Heads Together campaign.

It has benefitted from a £3million investment and is modelled on Crisis Text Line, which since being established in the US in 2013 has processed more than 100 million messages and been credited with saving countless lives.

Since going live, Shout’s volunteers have already had 145,000 conversations via text with people in crisis, exchanging six million messages.

The Duke told volunteers at the event at the Troubadour White City Theatre in west London: “Catherine and I heard outside about how many of you are waking up at 3am to answer the peak demand.

"The fact we've had to launch Shout shows just how in need the mental health sector is at the minute.

"We still have an enormous challenge ahead of us.

"Catherine and I, and I know I speak for Harry and Megan as well, couldn't be more proud of what Shout has accomplished."

Mr Russell said: “This is one of the most positive crisis services that I have come across.

“Since Molly's death we've been searching for really solid easy, solutions. This is one of the foremost and it's because it's text based.”

Research has found that young people particularly find text messaging about their problems easier than talking over the phone or face-to-face.