Today, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge took the reins of Huffington Post UK as guest editor, focussing on children’s mental health and tackling the taboo in society.
The Duchess helped launched Young Minds Matter, a new global initiative to raise awareness around mental health and children. During her tenure as editor, Kate helped organise a series of posts on the site from children who have suffered with mental health issues, parents, teachers and leaders of charities in the field; Michelle Obama even chipped in.
In a newsroom style set-up at Kensington Palace, Catherine led the way with her own blog post. She wrote that she and Prince William ‘would not hesitate to seek help for our children if they needed it’ adding that they hoped Prince George and Princess Charlotte would ‘speak about their feelings’, and ‘be supportive peers to their friends as they get older’.
“It is such a privilege to have this opportunity to be Guest Editor of the Huffington Post today, and to celebrate the amazing work being done to improve and understand the mental health of young children,” she wrote.
Speaking about her work with mental health shortly after she married, Kate said: “It became clear to me that many children – even those younger than five – have to deal with complex problems without the emotional resilience, language or confidence to ask for help. And it was also clear that with mental health problems still being such a taboo, many adults are often too afraid to ask for help for the children in their care.
“It is time for this to change.”
“Research published today by the Huffington Post indicates that around a third of parents still worry that they will look like a bad mother or father if their child has a mental health problem. Parenting is hard enough without letting prejudices stop us from asking for the help we need for ourselves and our children,” the mother-of-two said.
The Duchess, 34, discussed the articles, blogs and videos she commissioned to raise awareness about the psychological well-being of children with journalists for the post, charity executives and children themselves.
DUCHESS RELEASES VIDEO FOR CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH WEEK
Michelle Obama’s article featured the story of a former navy officer who saw action in Iraq, and was affected mentally by his experiences.
“The Duchess of Cambridge has been a passionate voice on so many important issues, and I’m grateful that she is using her day as guest editor to shine a bright light on mental health, particularly children’s mental health, and on the tens of millions of people who suffer in silence,” Mrs Obama said.
Kensington Palace also announced that Catherine has taken on another patronage – the Anna Freud Centre. Kate has visited a number of times in the past few years; the centre was the first child psychoanalytic centre for observational research, teaching and learning in the 1950s. It will combine the areas of mental health, neuroscience and education under one rood with a planned hub.
1 comment
I would like to contact HH Katherine about my son Joshua who has mental health issues. The pressure and problems we have faced with the lack of support available to families and children.
If you could give me an email address for her or to be passed on to her that would be great