The news is grim. I just learned that another young person committed suicide secondary to the Parkland incident last year. It just reminds me that the initial problem of the shootings was not the end. The capture of the shooter, the marches, the recriminations of who was at fault, who should have done something and how come we didn’t do enough will be an ongoing discussion. However, the death toll will increase. The surviving students have been hurting all this time, and although they had counseling aids, therapists, counselors, psychologists, and all the specialists, it was not enough. No matter how many experts we bring to the scene, how many people with Dr. in front of their names, it isn’t enough. This week, we bury more children as a consequence of this traumatic event. Two more kids took their lives, and we will continue to write and protest and do all the things that we were taught in school, except do something, anything to help those kids. These were not the kids who made the front pages, but the kids in the background. The kids who should have been found, but weren’t. So, what do we do?
I can leave this note on a negative point or I can offer a suggestion. Statistics will say that given a situation like what occurred, this will continue to have people who fall prey to depression and the inability to cope. They will know someone who was hurt or killed and not understand what to do. They will do the only thing that allows them to not have to deal with the aftermath. They will attempt to stifle themselves. They will do anything to stop the headaches and the pain that they are feeling. However, we can do something. We can speak to every kid, follow every lead to ensure that no child is left with the thoughts that the world is better without them. Upon reading this, my wife asked, “didn’t we do that before, didn’t we speak with the children, didn’t we tell them they are important and are wanted?” She is right, maybe we did do all these things and then again, maybe we missed some kids. Maybe we didn’t do everything we could, so we need to do it better. We need to let every child know that they are wanted, cared for and loved. We need to make sure that every child has others that speak with them, and if they find something that may be wrong or may have a question, we have another group follow up with them. We ask friends to help friends to make certain that no child is left without someone to talk to or someone to help them. We need to put in more effort to do it all better. That is the beginning.
Dr. Howard Chusid has a doctorate in Counseling Psychology and works with PTSD and ADD/HD. Check out his website at PTSDSolutionstherapy.com. Feel free to call him at 954-455-0388 or email him at PTSDSolutionstherapy@gmail.com. He has offices in Hallandale and Coral Springs, Florida.
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