Duchess of Cambridge visits drug rehab centre in third official engagement this week

The Duchess of Cambridge dazzled in turquoise as she celebrated the achievements of counsellors during a visit to an addiction treatment centre.

Wearing an Emilia Wickstead dress and a Reiss coat, Kate toured the centre in Warminster, Wiltshire, as part of a visit to highlight its work in training professionals to work with substance abusers.

The centre in a former manor house is attempting to raise the standards in the field of addiction treatment by training counsellors to a higher standard.

The specialism has previously been criticised for its poorly trained workforce who are sometimes seen as ill-equipped to deal with the needs of addicts.

The Duchess, who is patron of Action on Addiction, embarked on her first official trip to the centre to meet course tutors and examiners.

Action on Addiction said its centre is the only charity-owned and operated institution of its kind in the addiction field in the UK and more than 200 students have graduated from the facility with foundation and honours degrees accredited by the University of Bath.

Many have the graduates have personal experience of substance abuse or have a family member who has been an addict.

During the visit, Kate spoke to some of the teaching staff before joining a group of graduates who officially received their foundation degree diplomas in addiction counselling yesterday.

The Duchess told Derrick Anderson, programme director at the centre, that those studying for degrees must get satisfaction at being able to use their personal experiences of addiction.

She said: "It must be so powerful for them talking to patients who have gone through similar things."

Kate was also given an update about a national programme run by Action on Addiction which takes a whole family approach to tackling substance misuse and privately met families taking part in the initiative.

Additional reporting by Press Association.