MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Mental Health America ranks Florida forty ninth nationally in access to mental health resources. A South Florida pediatric psychologist says higher access is a must with the rise in gun-related deaths for children.
“Mental health right now seems like it’s a privilege because a lot of people aren’t able to access it,” mentioned Dr. Natasha Poulopoulos. “Waitlists are exceptionally long.”
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Poulopoulos says we have now a mental health disaster in access, coupled with elevated gun violence.
Data shared by the CDC reveals in 2020, firearms had been the leading cause of death for these 19 and youthful.
More gun violence, extra trauma.
“If you’re about five blocks from where gun violence it’s going to impact your mental health directly,” mentioned Poulopoulos. “We want to minimize traumatic experiences in kids.”
In 2018, the Florida legislature handed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act.
It got here after the Parkland capturing, which killed 17.
“Children are afraid to go to school.” mentioned State Rep. Dan Daley. “That’s not any way we should be living in this country.”
Daley factors to some positives of the laws, just like the pink flag legislation. It permits legislation enforcement to take away firearms from folks deemed harmful.
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“You can’t put a number on the number of lives that’s potentially been saved in this state,” added Daley.
Daley hopes for extra regulation surrounding what he calls the mass shooters’ weapon of alternative, the AR-15 fashion rifle.
“We can do it responsibly and well-regulated, so you don’t have an 18-year-old kid going into my alma mater killing 17 people,” mentioned Daley.
CBS News reported variations of the AR-15 had been used in this month’s bloodbath in Uvalde, Texas, at a faculty, at a Buffalo grocery store, and in the Parkland capturing in 2018.
Violent acts, Dr. Poulopoulos says, can not all the time be considered by the prism of mental health issues.
“Hate is not a mental disorder,” she mentioned. “Neither is racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia. Those are views of the world that are dangerous and scary.”
She says that mental sickness doesn’t make yet another inclined to commit violent acts.
“Individuals with mental health disorders are 2.5 times more likely to be the victim than the perpetrator of a crime,” mentioned Poulopoulos.
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Connecticut U.S. Senator Chris Murphy mentioned Sunday that Florida’s gun legislation “signals” what’s potential on a federal stage following the capturing in Uvalde, killing 19.