Published 5th February 2019
One in ten children and young people are affected by mental health problems including anxiety, depression and conduct disorder. As such, it’s vital there is a focus on positive mental wellbeing in children and the correct measures are in place to aid children with their mental health issues. Children’s Mental Health Week is the perfect way to raise awareness of this fact.
About Children’s Mental Health Week 2019
Place2Be, a children’s mental health charity that provides school-based support and in-depth training programmes to improve the emotional wellbeing in schools, launched Children’s Mental Health Week back in 2015. Now in its fifth year, the week is underway with the strapline: Healthy: Inside and Out.
The charity explains this year’s focus on its website: “Our bodies and minds are actually very closely linked, so things that we do to improve our physical wellbeing can help our mental wellbeing as well. When we take steps to be Healthy: Inside and Out, it helps us to feel better in ourselves, focus on what we want to do and deal with difficult times.”
A royal helping hand
The charity’s mission will be further propelled thanks to the Duchess of Cambridge who will be visiting schools this week promoting the charity’s ethos, having been a patron of Place2Be since 2013.
Place2Be works with more than 280 primary and secondary schools across England, Scotland and Wales and Kate Middleton will visit a handful this week. She will join in with round-table discussions with teachers, chat to parent groups and watch students take part in the Daily Mile challenge promoting the importance of being active.
How young carers can benefit
By highlighting the importance of mental health in schools, Children’s Mental Health Week encourages open conversations about mental health between school staff and students. Young carers can sometimes slip under the radar in school yet with an active discourse on mental wellbeing and steps in place to support students, we can hope this will improve the identification of young carers and they, indeed all children can get the mental health support they need.