Monday, January 17, 2011
The Arizona Tragedy and What You Can Do to Help Prevent a Next Time
A statement by Ted Sapp, Executive Director,
The Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Foundation
It’s not possible to make sense of the senseless act that was perpetrated on Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, supporters and constituents. No words can ever truly express the sadness that all of America feels for those that were touched by this horrible act. What we hopefully can do is use this tragedy as a “teachable moment.” There is an opportunity here for society to:
- Turn toward accepting that all of us are touched by mental illness. The statistics make that clear.
- Accept that it doesn’t “just go away”
- Embrace our societal responsibility to act responsibly
- Use it as a catalyst to evolve, grow and bring into focus the line between what we know and what we do
Deficiencies in education, parity legislation and concomitant funding shortages for research continue to contribute to individuals requiring mental health screening and treatment being underserved. In the case of concerned individuals seeing or being impacted by behavior suggestive of mental imbalance, there really hasn’t been a place to turn to become educated about what to do when confronted with such behavior. Nor what steps to take to bridge the gap between seeing the early signs of mental disease and early intervention. Now there is such a program.
Mental Health First Aid is a novel, evidence-based public education program that teaches average people how to assess a situation, select and implement appropriate interventions, and help a person in crisis or developing the signs and symptoms of mental illness. This groundbreaking training equips people to provide initial help until appropriate professional, peer, or family support can be engaged. Participants also learn about the risk factors and warning signs of specific illnesses such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, and addiction.
The training has also done much to expand people’s knowledge of mental illnesses and their treatments, and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness by helping people understand and accept mental illness as a medical condition. Trainings are offered around the country — visit Mental Health First Aid for dates and locations.
We also know that after highly publicized tragedies like this, people may be seeking mental health counseling. We suggest they use the “Find the Provider” search tool at The National Council. We, of course, understand that no amount of training can guarantee these horrific acts won’t recur, but we do encourage people get trained and be better informed in the hope that they may be able to help and intervene early.
Excerpt from Statement from Linda Rosenberg, President and CEO, National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare
Dr. Bob Ross, President of The California Endowment spoke at the launch of The Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Foundation a couple of years ago and he said that he thought that this would be “the decade of mental illness.” He said that “This is the time for us to become as comfortable talking about mental illness as we are now talking about cancer. A disease that we once spoke about in hushed tones or like many of us too often still think about mental illness, it might magically go away if we don’t talk about it.”
Films like The Soloist elevated the dialogue about mental illness in the country. Let’s make the good that comes from the tragedy in Arizona be a united effort to make the health of both our mind and body our goal.
