Let’s focus optimism on mental health

Spring and Easter are a time of optimism. But it's tough to be optimistic when mass shootings cast such a pall over our society. The thing about optimism, however, is the inherent sense that no matter how bad things are, people have the resilience, determination and intelligence to seek and find solutions.

A few common sense gun control measures can and should help keep weapons designed only for killing lots of people quickly off the streets and out of the hands of mentally ill individuals.

But those measures alone offer no guarantee that mentally ill people won't find other ways to execute their twisted terror.

In the healthcare realm, resources allocated to dealing with mental health fall far short of making any meaningful impact.

Much more needs to be done to, not only research mental health problems, but also to identify them early so they can be addressed before they become a serious danger to the individual and society.

Identifying and addressing mental health issues will also mean more of our students can take full advantage of their educations.

Just as this nation built a public education system community by community in our earliest days, we have to do the same for mental health. That will mean training and adding many more counselors and psychologists to our schools.

At Cape Henlopen High School, 1.5 counselor positions are available for more than 1,250 students. The need cries out for many times that number, and for attention for our youngest students.

If the money's not there, then a referendum should be held to raise funding specifically for counselors and teacher training to identify and treat the root causes of these tragic shootings. If having full-time constables in school hallways would be valuable, a referendum could also be considered for that funding.

Only hypervigilance at the local level can head off problems here, and that vigilance needs to begin with taking mental health problems more seriously.