From Charles M. Schulz, "Peanuts"
The initial reaction to the most recent mass shooting, this one at a high school Florida, followed all the predictable fanfare that these things tend to follow. People upset, arguments occur, nothing really happens other than a festering anger that has been building in parents and children alike to address a clear danger in public spaces. But then, a slightly different feel came about. It seems the other students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida have been given a bit of a voice and have answered admirably.
Their healing on display for everyone, surviving such an event makes therapy a necessity. Sometime after the Virginia Tech shooting occurred in 2007, I recall an administrative push to reach out to literally EVERY student and offer free counseling services. Such a thing could be a positive move for the felled Florida high school, and chances are they are already working hard at providing such things.
In addition to the clear need to facilitate healing practices among those directly and indirectly affected by this tragedy, there is an underlying need to provide adequate resources to people BEFORE shootings like this occur. The perpetrator of this, the worst high school shooting in the States, had issues with Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism, according to a report by the Washington Post. Glaring warning signs presented themselves, so glaring that even the FBI became involved.
To match, the school's counseling resources were very limited, not meeting the prescribed
school counselor to student ratio of 250:1. So when the young troubled man came in with the anger and rage that teenage-hood can sometimes bestow on a broken heart, it was already too late. It is reasons like this that the majority of Americans now believe that inadequate mental health resources contribute more to mass shootings than gun control. With a suicide to homicide ratio of 3:2, I tend to agree. There are not enough therapists in the world to deal with this...
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