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CT Shootings Spur Mental Health Debate

192 views · Published 20 December 2012 · 2:15 · Indexed 29 October 2026

Channel: WTVC NewsChannel 9 · 2012 · News & Politics

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By Jerry Askin  The Sandy Hook elementary school shootings have refocused the nation's attention on the state of mental health care in this country. While we do not know exactly what developmental disorders the shooter had, if any, many people are saying it is a reminder that we are not using all available options to treat the mentally ill.Licensed clinical social worker Farlie Chastain spends every day working with mentally ill patients."We are seeing a rise in need for mental health services and they are certainly more identified cases every year," says Chastain.He works at Parkridge Valley, a mental health institution for children. He says the rising number of mental health cases nationally should mean more money.But, several states are cutting back on mental health funding.  A report released by the National Alliance on Mental Illnesses (link is below) highlights the top 10 states with the greatest cuts over the last three years -- and Georgia and Tennessee have also taken a cut."Funding to help people with mental illnnesses cannot be something we just forget about," says Carrie Williamson.Williamson grew up around people with mental health issues."My grandmother was a paranoid and schizophrenic and my mother is paranoid, schizophrenic, and paranoid," says Williamson.And though she doesn't like the stigma associated with people who are mentally ill."Not all people who are mentally ill are murders and not are murders are mentally ill," says Williamson.She says any funding to help her family is vital."It's easy to cut that funding, but when something hoirrble happens, people say why haven't we taken care of this? Well we haven't for years," says Williamson.To find that full report released by the National Alliance on Mental Illness head over to  http://www.nami.org/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm?ContentFileID=147763To find out how you can help someone in need of mental health services, call 423-499-2300 or visit http://parkridgevalley.com/

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