Gun Violence and Mental Health

Help prevent mental illness and gun violence...mental health would be greatly improved if life skills were taught in grammar school and high schools...this could be one class called life skills including - communication skills - stress management, anger management, marriage and parenting training, setting boundaries, problem solving and leadership skills. This must be made mandatory for the schools to offer this or they can't grant degrees just like english or history or any other subject. The states won't do it unless it is ordered by the federal government.. Also America stays strong when american families stay strong...Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists are also excluded from being covered for medicare and medicaid....when it would be less expensive to the government if licensed marriage and family counselors were on board as psychiatrists charge twice as much and marriages need someone who specializes in marriage not drugs, but psychiatrists I know have put in alot of money to try and stop this effort in the past. 50% of the clients I see and most mental health counselors are there because of the lack of the above mentioned skills...not because they are psychotic....You don't have to be psychotic to have severe anger problems that could lead to you buying a gun and using it. All you need is pent up rage with no healthy way to express it.. I respectfully hope you will seriously consider these options. Changing the privacy laws for mental lilness would backfire people would be afraid to come in for treatment.

sincerely,
Jeri DeVale, Ph.D.
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
for over 35 years