The Sutherland Springs tragedy has brought into clear focus the serious problem of mental illness, especially in young people, and now San Antonio's Clarity Child Guidance Center is stepping up to address that issue, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Clarity's Michele Brown says the city will use a major grant from the John L. Santikos Foundation to expand its treatment options and help more of the estimated 80,000 children and teenagers in Bexar County alone who suffer from mental illness or emotional issue.
"We will increase the areas where clinicians, our therapists, who meet one on one with with kids, one on one with the families, have a space to do that," she said.
Clarity provides mental health treatment for children between the ages of 3 and 17.Brown says with the need so great and so obvious, the Santikos grant will allow the Clarity Center to help get more kids the care they need.
She says a key goal is to help parents and teenagers recognize the early symptoms of mental illness, and to convince parents to acknowledge the issue and get their kids in for help at the early age when help can do the most good.
She says parents frequently don't react well when they are told that their child has a mental illness.
"Being able to talk about it, that is the biggest thing," she said. "Stigma is a barrier to treatment."
She says this type of program can go a long ways toward helping prevent domestic violence, street crimes, and other acts of violence that plague our society.
Researchers say not only are high profile killers frequently mentally ill, but as many as two thirds of all street gang members and common armed robbers and sexual offenders suffer from some level of mental illness.
Brown says treatment when they are young can head off serious societal trouble later on.
"We know when you treat kids when they are kids they grow into resilient adults," she said. "If you have a child that has severe mental illness, we have a place for them, to them get them stable."