Blog by Liz
This morning I spoke at a public policy institute focused on school mental health. One of the questions that keeps running through my head is how can we keep our country attentive to crisis prevention and intervention long after some type of crisis has passed. This is the million dollar question. We watched a tsunami devastate the other side of the world and a month later, it was gone from the tv screen. I am sure all of the money nations pledged to help victims was never fully realized. And Katrina was on our own shore. We know how that process has gone. Or not gone. What does it take to get political will and, consequently Congress, to stick with something and actually affect real, sustainable change?? I guess that's just too much to ask- even as we watch school shootings and unprecedented violence take place. Where is the outrage????
Elizabeth Lind
Policy Associate
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
1101 Fifteenth Street, NW, Suite 1212
Washington, D.C. 20005
(202) 467-5730 ext. 113
Fax: (202) 223-0409
E-mail: elizabeth@bazelon.org
3 comments:
I agree Liz, and I share your outrage. Interestingly, being in Rwanda right now has opened my eyes to the devil in the details. Rwanda has received a great deal of money (many would say guilt money) in the last ten years since the horrific genocide here. The money should be used effectively and efficiently and help rebuild society, and most of all prevent the same tragedy from re-occurring. It is and it has to some degree. But the planning, organizing, accountability, and just ability to spend money quickly- is so challenging. I think we not only need to focus on important issues like disaster relief, mental health, and international aid- but we need to collectively have the stamina to stay focused, break through beaurocratic barriers, and deal with the details!
Prevention is the key word. We are such a reactive society that we seem to respond to things well after they happen and only for a time period that people deem necessary until another "crisis" happens. In terms of mental health working for prevention is integral to all disasters. I've been to a ton of school mental health meetings myself and unfortunately most of them end up being so reactive that even with fancy titles like "Putting School Mental Health Prevention Policies Into Action" they end up not getting the point. I have seen some amazing private schools that do a ton of preventative work and unfortunately a lot of it gets thrown out the window when kids spend so much time out of school. Hopefully we'll find the answers one day.
When I was researching soldiers returning from the war in iraq with ptsd, I wanted to rip my hair out---because ptsd is an illness that can be GREATLY ameliorated with a little education and therapy. We could not have PREVENTED the ptsd of this generation of soldiers--unless, of course, we had resisted waging war--but we could prevent the extraordinary destruction of individuals, familes, and communities that occurs when nothing is done to help someone with PTSD. As for outrage---hmm. I think it leads to burn out. We moreso need persistence like termites, functioning systems and solid research.
Post a Comment