As part of her guest edit for the Huffington Post, the Duchess of Cambridge has written a blog submission as part of the #youngmindsmatter campaign.
The new series, Young Minds Matter, was created to start the conversation about the mental and emotional health of today’s youth. This will enable children to “feel loved, valued and understood.”
Other contributors to the campaign include First Lady of the United State, Michelle Obama who praised the work done by Catherine, saying: “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.”
The Duchess has been heavily involved with bringing awareness to the mental health issues that children face, saying: “Shortly after I got married, I started working with charities helping those affected by issues such as addiction, family breakdown and vulnerable children. As was to be expected, I often heard some heart-breaking stories about lives that had been torn apart, with devastating impacts for all involved, particularly children.
What I did not expect was to see that time and time again, the issues that led people to addiction and destructive decision making seemed to almost always stem from unresolved childhood challenges. 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.”
Just today she took on another patronage, the Anna Freud Centre, a children’s mental health charity. This adds on to other organisations she represents such as Place2Be and the Art Room which she will be visiting next week.
Catherine notes of both her and husband, Prince William can relate to raising children and will “encourage George and Charlotte to speak about their feelings, and to give them the tools and sensitivity to be supportive peers to their friends as they get older. We know there is no shame in a young child struggling with their emotions or suffering from a mental illness.”
Although she understands not everyone has the same resources that she is blessed with and through Young Minds Matter, they hope to provide help to those who don’t know where to look.
The full blog can be viewed on Huffington Post, along with the rest of the Young Minds Matter campaign.
