Mental health funding tied to Fla.’s controversial gun law
News-SunMar 12, 2018
A bill passed by the
The state has seen three mass shootings in 20 months — at the
In today’s dollars,
“That means there are fewer providers or fewer sources that the individuals can access,” she said. And that lack of resources, she and other mental health care providers say, undercuts the ability to catch mental illness early and treat it.
Since 2000, the state has increased funding for mental health services by
The shooting in Parkland shifted the focus of many people in
Scott called for
“Florida is never going to be the same — and we’ve got to make sure
The mental health provision is attached to the controversial gun legislation. It raises the age of most firearm purchases to 21, institutes a mandatory three-day waiting period for all firearm purchases and bans the sale of bump stocks, devices that can be attached to a weapon to enable it to fire more quickly.
These provisions are not popular with many in Florida’s legislature, where conservatives have opposed any restrictions on gun ownership in the past. On the Democratic side of the aisle, there was opposition to the provision allowing guns in schools (and Scott, too, opposes that).
But many people on both sides of the gun issue favor the bill’s mental health provisions, which would allocate nearly
Right now, there is roughly one school psychologist for every 2,000 students in
Dr.
Though lawmakers have stressed that early detection of mental illness is key to keeping another school shooting from happening, Cavitt said there are other contributing factors, such as drug and alcohol use and gun availability. More research is needed, he said, to tease out the true mix of causes.
Brown-Woofter said she does think legislators are directing some money in the right place in this budget: funding to put more counselors in schools and to offer more training to help school employees identify mental illness.
“We are really pleased to see the attention and the awareness of mental health services now in the budget,” she said.
Survivors of the shootings also may need ongoing treatment, she said, and more counselors in schools could help students and parents get through situations like this — including families and schools that weren’t directly affected.
“Parkland versus my school — they are very similar in the way they are set up,” he said. “So, everyone was asking, ‘How are we preventing this from happening here?’”
In the days after the shooting, officials across
“It’s terrifying when an incident like this happens,”