Maternal mental health: how does it impact on children and young people?
It is increasingly clear that maternal mental health is one of the most crucial determinants of a child’s mental health – which in turn suggests that if we want to improve the emotional health of children in this country we should be focusing on families, not individuals.
Given the fundamental importance of maternal mental health to the health of children and families, we need to be actively seeking answers to these questions, as well as thinking about how to integrate maternal mental health into child health programmes.
The increase in awareness and recognition of the importance of mental health is welcome, but there needs to be a policy shift to reflect the mountain of evidence showing that the key determinants of health lie outside of the health care system.
[ > Education Policy Institute — May 3, 2019 ]