I am also saddened that I am a part of a group of people who are being blamed for this gun violence against children. I have a mental illness. My heart hurts and my body recoils every time I read or listen to a blanket group of people, the mentally ill, being blamed.
In the wake of a deadly school shooting in Florida, President Donald Trump called the confessed gunman "mentally disturbed" in a tweet and vowed his administration would "tackle the difficult issue of mental health."
Finally, a DJT tweet I can relate to. I welcome this from our current Administration. Our family is involved with NAMI (Natl. Alliance of Mental Illness) and my husband facilitates a monthly group locally and has been through extensive mental heath training. He sees and hears first hand how broken our system is and how hard it is to receive the appropriate mental health care.
Paul Gionfriddo, president and CEO of Mental Health America, said the country needs to rethink its approach to mental health entirely. Suicide rates keep rising as the mortality rates of other major killers like cancer dips because the nation invested in early, preventative care to catch symptoms early, he said.
"We never did that with mental illness. Here, we wait, and we wait, and we wait until we have crises," Gionfriddo said. "The lesson of yesterday is not what we’re going to do about the shooter, it’s what we’re going to do about all the victims of the shooting: Three thousand people in that school — they’ve all experienced a profound trauma, and yet we have no level one trauma centers for mental health in this country. We have no plan." We all want to blame somebody for this brokenness. I am inspired to see and hear discussions by our children on TV this week. It is indeed a combination of both sad and wonderful when our children make more sense on the national stage than our own elected leaders.
In summary, I do not claim to have the answers or a solution to fix these tragedies. However, I do know whatever we are currently doing is NOT working. I don't care what side of the aisle you are on, the answer for you as a legislator is clear - You must do SOMETHING!
https://www.nami.org/Press-Media/Press-Releases/2017/NAMI-Statement-on-the-Parkland-School-Shooting
