Last year, mental health issues were given more space than ever before by editors and media outlets, with publications such as VICE, The Times, the BBC, and the Sunday Mirror all nominated for the Mind Media Awards. Hopefully, the increased coverage had a positive effect on the estimated one in five people who suffers from mental health problems in a given year in the U.S. (that's one in four in the U.K.), and hopefully, the issue will continue to be prioritized in 2016.
In a surprising move, Kensington Palace has announced that the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, is to guest-edit The Huffington Post's U.K. website for a day in mid-February. She'll commission a series of features focusing on mental health in children from leading experts in the field, as well as teachers, parents and “young people” — presumably who have suffered mental health issues in childhood. It’s an extremely important issue, and one that’s been underreported with the majority of mental health editorial focusing on adult issues and treatments.
“The Duchess of Cambridge has made the mental health of young children a key focus of her work in recent years," Kensington Palace said in a statement. "She is delighted that The Huffington Post will help put the spotlight on this important issue.”
“I know that I was lucky — my parents and teachers provided me with a wonderful and secure childhood where I always knew I was loved, valued and listened to, but of course many children aren’t so lucky," Kate said at the Place2Be Headteacher Conference late last year as she addressed parents, teachers and school staff. "Since beginning my work in areas like addiction, for example, I have seen time and time again that the roots of poor mental health in adulthood are almost always present in unresolved childhood challenges."
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