Schools, Youth and Violence: Where Do We Go From Here?
The Community
On the issue of the broader community, Dr. Cora Breuner, chairperson of the Committee on Adolescence at the American Academy of Pediatrics, believes that schools need to provide students with more access to counseling.
"If you are going to have an armed teacher, you should have a psychotherapist right next to them that has checked out a kid and said, 'This kid is depressed and anxious and disengaged and bullied and teased and is going to explode," said Breuner.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"If you are going to do something as horrific as armed teachers, you probably should have an incredible crew of people who are willing to take a child who is depressed and anxious and get him some help."
Breuner also explained that she felt students suffering from mental health issues are punished more often than helped, mainly because schools lack the resources to aid them.
"If they had better access to mental health right now, a lot of these issues wouldn't be as present," she said. "Our kids are supposed to go to school to learn, not to think that at some point someone is going to take them out."
Amy Swearer, visiting legal fellow at the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, believes that efforts need to be focused more on "the underlying causes of most school and youth violence: mental health crises, familial instability, ineffective disciplinary structures, and inadequate safety measures," rather than stricter gun regulation.
"It's easier to say 'ban firearms' than it is to formulate comprehensive policies directed at these more complicated societal issues, but we must keep redirecting the conversation back to how we fix the deeper problems," stressed Swearer.
Dr. Gregory Jantz, mental health counselor of 31 years and founder of A Place of HOPE, a Seattle, Washington-based treatment facility, sees value in faith-based programs for the community.
"It starts with us working with our neighborhoods and people actually being neighbors, with churches coming forth. And the difference that can be made — and this doesn't mean the church is going to solve the mental health issues — but we have a safe place for people to belong," said Jantz.
"These are places where there are groups, [for example] Celebrate Recovery, where we open it up to the faith-based communities that say 'look, we need the prayer of the church and the community.'"
Jantz often hears people say that they knew "something was wrong" with a person suffering from mental illness but failed to say something. To those who feel that way, Jantz said, "trust yourself."
"When we speak to schools we tell kids, 'If you notice something that doesn't seem right, be empowered to speak up. Because a lot of times troubled kids who isolate, they sometimes move off our radar, but we knew there was trouble,'" said Jantz.
"We may not know what to do but it's time to speak up. More and more, we need to speak up when we see something that is out of order."
Mia Wright, co-pastor and director of ministry at 20,000-member church The Fountain of Praise in Houston, Texas, said there needs to be a collaboration between churches, law enforcement, and the community.
"We can bridge the gap between the Church and community and law enforcement by helping everyone understand our goals and desires and objectives. Life is different than it was several decades ago, but we have an opportunity to bridge gaps and understand how one role plays into another," said Wright.
"The Church has a wonderful opportunity right now to show itself as strong and as a leader, especially in times of tragedy. We have a voice in this world and we need to let our children know they have hope beyond measure."
