Couch Chat: Protecting Our Children

That mother lost her 14 year old daughter, Alyssa, in the Florida school shooting. You heard the mom focus her grief and anger at the White House. And she’s not alone.

Parents, students and teachers are worried about safety at America’s school. President Trump plans to visit the grieving families in Parkland.. but some say, they’ll boycott his trip. He also says, later this month, he’ll meet with US Governors and Attorney Generals on how to make schools safer.

The President’s words of comfort went on for 6 minutes. The big take away is his promise to tackle mental health. The President’s budget proposal for 2019 adds 1 million dollars to the children’s mental health services programs. But the budget blueprint also slashes spending for the substance abuse and mental health administration by 665 million dollars.

Additionally, Bloomberg reports the national institute of mental health would see a 30% reduction in funding – a half a billion dollar decrease – in 2019. Perhaps those numbers will change now. But just to move this forward, if mental illness is such an issue, how can we as a society be more aware and spot the warning signs?