I’m Just Curious: My own experience

by Debbie Walker

I have to tell you that I am permitted to carry a concealed weapon. I went through the check on who I am and do I have mental health problems that would interfere with practical use of a weapon.

I can buy a gun in local shops because I’m not in a big hurry, so I could wait a few days for approval, all done legally.

I really don’t understand what happened or who decided it was open season for school shootings. Shootings of all sorts, country concerts, etc., what was the reason? At any rate it is hard to understand any of it. However I have a story to tell you:

There was a time in Florida that I had a front row seat to life with a violent teenager. I believe he honestly didn’t know how to behave when his questions were answered with the word “NO.”

I followed the process through trying to get some help. The shocker was when I was told, “when he gets arrested they will get him some help.” Getting arrested was not my idea of “help” for a 15 year old. I figured he’d get quite an education from the more experienced! Can you imagine a parent being told, oh yeah, go ahead, and call the police on your teenager. “That’s the only way he/she will get help.”

I was at a NAMI meeting one night. NAMI is group support for these kinds of, mental health issues. We were all pretty depressed after we sat through this meeting. It was quite a letdown that day. These people had been in similar situation and things didn’t sound helpful.

Can you imagine the fear and frustration of a parent who tries again and again to get help for their child? Again and again they hear, “We’d like to be able to help but we don’t have ….”

So, you are a parent who knows their child is really in trouble (he/she is a mental health mess!). They keep trying to get help but there just isn’t anyone with an answer. After years of looking for mental health help for your child:

Now you have a phone call: your child’s school is in lockdown. You couldn’t get in if you went there. You have to wait and wait, quietly wondering if it is your child causing the lock down.

There really isn’t much relief when it’s announced this was a false alarm. The parent has already had those thoughts.

This is only about one type of situation and we all know there are many more. Just please don’t assume those parents haven’t gone through every avenue they could think of.

I know this cannot cover all the situations, it wasn’t intended to; just keep an open mind as you are looking for answers. I’m just curious how many other situations there are.

Thank you for reading, contact me a dwdaffy@yahoo.com. And don’t forget we are online too!