The time has come to push for federal legislation to curb gun violence and to increase access to community mental health services.
There is no reason policies cannot be developed to support the right to legally own guns and also promote actions that make our communities and schools safe from the likelihood of more fatalities. What is urgently needed is a national dialogue on public safety and mental health in addition to, or in place of, all the rhetoric around gun models and ammunition capacities.
Our communities, and their schools, all present diverse needs, wants and situations. Likewise, great divergences also exist in availability and quality of mental health programs and services.
We urgently need community-wide approaches that focus on emotional and social behaviors and related outcomes. Then, we can get at the early warning signs and respond to deviant behavior in a timely, coordinated and effective manner.
Urban and suburban communities have an array of available services, but they lack a one-stop approach for agency assistance, akin to what Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced for the business community. Meanwhile, rural areas are often lacking in available physical and mental health services.
Our state-level planners ought to be concerned over these issues as the quality of the future workforce will depend upon physically and mentally healthy workers. The time has come to build safe community environments where everyone will receive the timely help they need in order to succeed at some level.
Kenneth York
East Nassau