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Focus on Mental Health for SA adolescents

La Prensa (San Antonio, TX) - 6/27/2014

The recent surge in violent shootings across the United States has people asking about the underlying causes and motivations of the shooters.

These growing concerns have shifted the conversation away from gun control and toward the issues surrounding mental health, specifically the mental health of the shooters.

The numbers show that mental health among adolescents is a prevalent, yet an ignored national issue. According to One in Five Minds, a campaign to improve children's mental health, one out of every five children will struggle with mental health issues at some point in their life. That number represents over 80,000 children in Bexar County alone.

The issue of children's mental health was addressed at Clarity con on Wednesday, a summit hosted by Clarity Child Guidance Center, which is the region's only nonprofit center for adolescent mental health treatment, serving children ages 3-17.

Mental health experts and spiritual leaders like Kay Warren spoke to break through the stigma and shame that individuals and their families suffer from because of mental health issues.

Warren, who is the co-founder of Saddleback Church and the wife of Pastor Rick Warren, shared the story of her son Matthew, a young man who ended his life in 2013 after a long battle with mental illness.

"My job as his mother is finished. There is nothing else I can do for him, but there I can still fight for better treatment," Warren said.

Warren explained that it begins with awareness and education for parents, pediatricians, and teachers.

"Our family was devastated by his death, but not destroyed," Warren said.

Warren said the years of misdiagnosed mental illnesses and wrong medications discouraged Matthew, and eventually caused him to lose hope in finding effective treatment.

"Right now the number one source of healthcare in our country for the largest cities in the county jail. I think you can trace the issues back to what the government spends on health care. That tension between the federal and state governments ends up hurting people in individual states," Warren said.

National resources like 2-1-1 allow individuals to seek help via a toll-free line, where they are given information needed to access to local services.

"We need to make it a priority at both the state and federal levels of government. Right now though, there are still organizations like Clarity that serve as a bright spot in a broken system," Warren said.

By Lea Thompson

lea@laprensasa.com