Caught in the Crosshairs: Mental Health and Gun Violence

May has been Mental Health Awareness month, but it leads seamlessly into June’s focus of Gun Violence Awareness month. The United States is in a continual pattern of mass shootings and gun violence. Continually, the cycle repeats: an unthinkable tragedy of lives lost, a public outcry about needed change, politicians and public figures sending “thoughts and prayers” and then doing little until the next disaster. Many people lately have been decrying the necessity of mental health care and how it can be part of the solution for the USA’s gun violence problem. Mental health CAN help, but that’s only if there is access to it and if it is truly available to everyone! This just isn’t the case, though, currently, since our schools and our mental health and healthcare systems are poorly funded due to our nation’s preference to prioritize other items (war, corrupt corporations, gun lobbyists). So, what can we do?

Since the government underfunds some of the people groups and areas most historically harmed by policy, we, as individuals can choose to give to those groups, and to vote for policies and officials who will prioritize racial equity and mental health. CHOOSE180 is just such a place to put your money where it matters: we work in schools, incarceration facilities, and in communities, offering free mental health care to those who may never have been given access otherwise. 

We use a relational approach and anti-oppression lens to offer care that is historically and culturally humble and focused on the personal strengths of the individual. We have seen this approach make a marked difference in individuals (many of whom have lost family members to gun violence, have witnessed it or experienced it themselves) and those individuals are part of a community, committed to healing and transformation. 

Gun violence continues in communities where resources have been withheld, AND it continues being perpetuated by those with more privilege who inflict mass harm on others. All of these people deserve mental health support early on in their lives so they can build a positive self-identity and genuine system of support. We believe change is possible and it is necessary. Until it happens on a larger scale, we are going to be here, serving the community, one person, place and group at a time and knowing that every person’s presence makes a difference. Thank you for joining us in support, encouragement, resources, finances, time, and any way you are able. The need is great, the resilience is greater.