Our prayers and hopes go out to all the people impacted by the events in Connecticut last week.  Such senseless violence is rarely understood and never to be accepted at any level.  As the world continues to grieve the horrific event at Sandy Hook it is even more important that we recognize the need for reflection and evaluation of our world today.  As the lyrics of a wonderful song says “the times they are a changing” and we recognize that in so many ways.  The ease of obtaining guns, the speed of social media in bringing information to us in “real time”, and what seems like our inability to hold a moral course in our fast-paced world.  There has been a great deal of focus on gun laws since this happened as well as on mental health treatment.  We all have opinions about these issues yet nobody truly knows what changes would make the biggest impact.  The debate is an important one none-the-less. 

As a person who has worked in various capacities in mental health I am always concerned when mental health issues get pained with the brush of violence.  Our professionalism, treatment resources and even those who suffer from mental health issues are in the spotlight due to this horrible act.  We can handle that without a problem but please don’t “scapegoat” us…allow us to be part of the solution and not merely seen as the problem.  That would only add to the pain of this already nearly unbearable act of violence.  It is important to note that  “According to the National Institute of Mental Health, half of the people with a mental illness have it by the time they’re 14. But on average, people don’t receive formal treatment for their illness until they’re 24, says David Shern, the president and CEO of Mental Health America, an advocacy group.”  We can do better….we will do better!  One of the reasons we started SubstanceEducation.com is to provide a place for all people to be better educated on issues which can so severely impact our lives.  May we all be willing to learn more and be blessed as we move forward in our sorrow.  Whatever any of us can do to support the Sandy Hook families let it be so that this never happens in another community.

“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among rocks.”
 – Charlotte Bronte