Mental health problems carry a stigma that causes many people to avoid getting care, even for their children. Now, children with mental health issues have a good friend. The Duchess of Cambridge, AKA the former Kate Middleton, is helping to shatter the stigma attached to psychiatric problems as a guest editor of the British edition of the Huffington Post.
The Duchess stated that she and her husband, Prince William, would seek mental health services if they felt that their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, needed it. The British edition of Huffington Post has started a campaign called Young Minds Matter, to raise awareness about the mental health needs of children. Having the Duchess edit an edition was part of this campaign because she is the patroness of several charities that work with mental health issues in children.
The duchess spent a day working in a temporary newsroom set up at Kensington Palace, where she and her family live. She worked with Huffington Post staff and mental health volunteers from the charities she works with.
In a blog post, she wrote of how she heard "heart-breaking stories about lives that had been torn apart." She called for change in the way that mental health problems are perceived, adding that mental health problems are still seen as a taboo, with many adults often too afraid to ask for help for their children.
"The mental health of our children must be seen as every bit as important as their physical health. For too long we have been embarrassed to admit when our children need emotional or psychiatric help, worried that the stigma associated with these problems would be detrimental to their futures," she wrote.
Michelle Obama, the United States' First Lady, also wrote an article for the Huffington Post. She praised the Duchess for shining "a bright light on mental health, particularly children's mental health, and on the tens of millions of people who suffer in silence."
As part of her one-day job as guest editor, the Duchess commissioned articles on mental health and published them on the website.