Pete Earley

I published this blog — OUTPOURING OF FRUSTRATION, WHAT’S NEXT? — the first time on January 24th, 2011 and was struck when reading it this week by how little has changed. Although it has been two years, I could have taken the date off this blog and published it as if it were new. It was written after I appeared on CNN’s State of the Union news show. I was a guest with my friend, Fred Frese, because of the January 8th, 2011 murders in Tucson, Arizona.

This week, I have received several emails from frustrated readers who want to do something, but don’t know what to do. Reader Joseph Meyer offered this suggestion on my Facebook page:

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It’s the time of the year when news organizations broadcast and publish lists from 2012. The July movie shooting in Aurora, Colorado, that left twelve dead and 58 wounded, and the December killings at the Sandy Hook Elementary school that claimed the lives 20 children and six adults, are on every Top Ten 2012 Story List.

On NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, President Barack Obama promised to put his “full weight” behind legislation aimed at preventing gun violence. One of his top priorities, he said, will be pushing for increased background checks and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity bullet  magazines.

“It is not enough for us to say, `This is too hard so we’re not going to try,’” Obama said.

Sadly, there was little mention on the news show about the need for meaningful mental health reform. A cynic might conclude that the only change that seems in the works is further stigmatizing of persons with mental illness by targeting them in background checks.

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I first posted this blog in April 2011 after being asked about spirituality and mental health. Since it was posted, I have learned that several National Alliance on Mental Illness chapters have reached out to religious organizations to promote local educational and recovery programs or have helped spawn groups that address the spiritual needs of persons with mental disorders.

A weekend conference in Boulder, Colorado, led to the creation of the Interfaith Network on Mental Illness.   After Gunnar Christiansen’s son developed a mental illness in college, Gunnar got involved in the NAMI chapter in Orange County, California. A member of the Trinity United Presbyterian Church in Santa Ana, Gunnar asked why NAMI wasn’t reaching out to religious groups. That question eventually led to the creation of NAMI Faith.Net, an organization that links mental health advocates with religious groups.

What’s happening in your community when it comes to mental health and religious organizations? Is there a tie between spirituality and recovery? Is this an issue that your local minister should address?

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Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, has recommended that we put armed security guards in our schools.  He’s made several stigmatizing and hurtful statements about persons with mental illnesses.  I’d enjoy hearing your responses. Here are mine.

1. It would cost several billion dollars to put armed guards in every school. If we are going to spend that much public money, let’s do it to improve our mental health care system. Let’s fund mental health screening and educational programs that combat stigma by teaching students that getting a mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of.

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Matt Milam, another casualty

Pat Milam knows what it is like to bury a child. But it was not a gunman who murdered his son in  October 2011. It was America’s failed mental health system, the still-grieving father says.
Pat and Debbie Milam’s twenty-four year old son, Matthew, ended his own life eight days after he was discharged from a psychiatric ward in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was being treated for bi-polar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia – although his parents have a difficult time actually calling what happened comprehensive “treatment.” Pat calls it “stabilize and release.” They claim Matthew was hustled through a system that did little to actually help their son while their repeatedly pleas for help were ignored.

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