{"id":751,"date":"2012-12-17T08:37:29","date_gmt":"2012-12-17T14:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/?p=751"},"modified":"2012-12-17T08:37:29","modified_gmt":"2012-12-17T14:37:29","slug":"after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"After Another Shooting Tragedy, Let’s Talk About Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

The article below was written by Shannon Royce, who deals with this issue every day. She has a child with a mental illness. It’s right on point on why we must address mental health now. You can read more of Susan’s writing at http:\/\/chosenfamilies.org<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like the rest of the nation, I watched in horror as the tragedy of the Newtown, Connecticut massacre broke on Friday.\u00a0\u00a0 The unthinkable, the unspeakable had happened.\u00a0 Again.<\/p>\n

Like the tragedy in Arizona in January, 2011, the tragedy in Colorado in July, 2012, we now have another loss of devastating impact.\u00a0 The innocents of Newtown, 20 beautiful children, will never flower.\u00a0 We will never see the doctor, teacher or athlete who could have been.\u00a0 And six adults lost their lives seeking to protect them and their classmates.<\/p>\n

The loss is unimaginable.\u00a0 We grieve from a distance.\u00a0 The families and community grieve intimately.<\/p>\n

And then it begins.\u00a0 The same discussion of gun control we saw in the aftermath of Arizona and Colorado.\u00a0 Those who would make political hay out of this tragedy.\u00a0 An opportunity for them to press their perspective with new fervor.<\/p>\n

And then I saw this<\/a> article of a Mom in crisis rolling around social media this weekend.<\/p>\n

And I agree with this writer that it is time.\u00a0 How many more tragedies must we have before we consider the issue of mental health in America?\u00a0 And closer to home, how many more tragedies must we endure before we consider the role of the church for families in mental health crisis?<\/p>\n

How should the church engage these issues?\u00a0 Not just after they happen but before<\/em> they happen. What would Jesus do?\u00a0 We are His body.\u00a0 What should we do?<\/p>\n

We need to understand better what happens when mental health challenge and evil meet.\u00a0 What happens when disability mingles with sin.\u00a0 We see the devastating results.\u00a0 We need to consider what we can do to prevent them before they occur.<\/p>\n

Two years ago I founded a ministry for families living with hidden disabilities.\u00a0 ChosenFamilies.org<\/a><\/em> is a Biblical worldview ministry for families living with those disabilities that don\u2019t show on the outside with any physical marker.\u00a0 There is no wheel chair, no assistance dog that might indicate this is an individual who might require our assistance or accommodation.\u00a0 Yet there is a deeply life affecting disability even still.<\/p>\n

Hidden disabilities cover the Autism spectrum; those with mental health concerns such as bipolar disorder, depression, Schizophrenia; those with neurological concerns such as Epilepsy or Tourette\u2019s.\u00a0 Each of these disabilities is deeply life affecting for the individual and the family who loves him or her.<\/p>\n

Clearly there are distinctions between those on the Autism Spectrum, those with mental health concerns, and those with neurological disorders.\u00a0 But the thing they have in common is they each are hidden from obvious view.\u00a0 They tend to be misunderstood.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know how to respond to them.\u00a0 They make us uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

And we tend to avoid that which makes us uncomfortable.\u00a0 We are busy.\u00a0 Our calendars are full.\u00a0 Full of good things.\u00a0 Important priorities.<\/p>\n

I am reminded of the man who fell into trouble as he went to Jericho.\u00a0 The church leaders who saw him did not throw a rock at him.\u00a0 They did not curse him.\u00a0 They took no deliberate action to harm him.<\/p>\n

They just walked past on the other side of the road.<\/p>\n

Jesus commended the man who stopped, took notice, and got involved.\u00a0 He said the good Samaritan was our example of how to respond.\u00a0 We need to stop, take notice, and get involved.\u00a0 This is not about programs, though programs may be fine.\u00a0 This is about personal engagement.<\/p>\n

We are called as the body of Christ to engage the fallen and broken world with the grace and power of the Gospel of Christ.\u00a0 That includes those with mental health concerns.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shannon Royce is president & C.E.O. of ChosenFamilies.org<\/a>, <\/em>a non-profit organization for families living with hidden disabilities. She is an attorney, marathoner and cancer survivor who lives with her husband and two sons in the D.C. area.\u00a0 She is a Southern Baptist preacher’s kid who formerly worked with the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The article below was written by Shannon Royce, who deals with this issue every day. She has a child with a mental illness. It’s right on point on why we must address mental health now. You can read more of Susan’s writing at http:\/\/chosenfamilies.org   Like the rest of the nation, I watched in horror as the tragedy of the Newtown, Connecticut massacre broke on Friday.\u00a0\u00a0 The unthinkable, the unspeakable had happened.\u00a0 Again. Like the tragedy in Arizona in January, 2011, the tragedy in Colorado in July, 2012, we now have another loss of devastating impact.\u00a0 The innocents of Newtown, 20 beautiful children, will never flower.\u00a0 We will never see the doctor, teacher or athlete who could have been.\u00a0 And six adults lost their lives seeking to protect them and their classmates. The loss is unimaginable.\u00a0 We grieve from a distance.\u00a0 The families and community grieve intimately. And then it begins.\u00a0 The same discussion of gun control we saw in the aftermath of Arizona and Colorado.\u00a0 Those who would make political hay out of this tragedy.\u00a0 An opportunity for them to press their perspective with new fervor. And then I saw this article of a Mom in crisis rolling around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[28,72,273,274,327,390,450],"class_list":["post-751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-paul","tag-author","tag-chosenfamilies-org","tag-mental-disabilites","tag-mental-illness","tag-paul-stanley","tag-shannon-royce","tag-writer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nAfter Another Shooting Tragedy, Let's Talk About Mental Health - Paul Stanley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After Another Shooting Tragedy, Let's Talk About Mental Health - Paul Stanley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The article below was written by Shannon Royce, who deals with this issue every day. She has a child with a mental illness. It’s right on point on why we must address mental health now. You can read more of Susan’s writing at http:\/\/chosenfamilies.org   Like the rest of the nation, I watched in horror as the tragedy of the Newtown, Connecticut massacre broke on Friday.\u00a0\u00a0 The unthinkable, the unspeakable had happened.\u00a0 Again. Like the tragedy in Arizona in January, 2011, the tragedy in Colorado in July, 2012, we now have another loss of devastating impact.\u00a0 The innocents of Newtown, 20 beautiful children, will never flower.\u00a0 We will never see the doctor, teacher or athlete who could have been.\u00a0 And six adults lost their lives seeking to protect them and their classmates. The loss is unimaginable.\u00a0 We grieve from a distance.\u00a0 The families and community grieve intimately. And then it begins.\u00a0 The same discussion of gun control we saw in the aftermath of Arizona and Colorado.\u00a0 Those who would make political hay out of this tragedy.\u00a0 An opportunity for them to press their perspective with new fervor. And then I saw this article of a Mom in crisis rolling around [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Paul Stanley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-17T14:37:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Stanley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@authorstanley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Stanley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paul Stanley\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/10ef2597eaf48c1f1f6f0527ff625868\"},\"headline\":\"After Another Shooting Tragedy, Let’s Talk About Mental Health\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-17T14:37:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/\"},\"wordCount\":719,\"commentCount\":2,\"keywords\":[\"author\",\"Chosenfamilies.org\",\"mental disabilites\",\"mental illness\",\"Paul Stanley\",\"Shannon Royce\",\"writer\"],\"articleSection\":[\"My Blog Post\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/\",\"name\":\"After Another Shooting Tragedy, Let's Talk About Mental Health - Paul Stanley\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-17T14:37:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/10ef2597eaf48c1f1f6f0527ff625868\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"After Another Shooting Tragedy, Let’s Talk About Mental Health\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Paul Stanley\",\"description\":\"Digital & Traditional Marketing Services\/Copywriting\/Social Media Management\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/10ef2597eaf48c1f1f6f0527ff625868\",\"name\":\"Paul Stanley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5be8257add812bc3f0f8ef8780bf0be7534719ab0e7dbdbd5b1153b46ee8a298?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5be8257add812bc3f0f8ef8780bf0be7534719ab0e7dbdbd5b1153b46ee8a298?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paul Stanley\"},\"description\":\"Paul Stanley is a commercial insurance executive, writer and former journalist living in Memphis, Tennessee.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/@authorstanley\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/author\/paul-stanley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"After Another Shooting Tragedy, Let's Talk About Mental Health - Paul Stanley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"After Another Shooting Tragedy, Let's Talk About Mental Health - Paul Stanley","og_description":"The article below was written by Shannon Royce, who deals with this issue every day. She has a child with a mental illness. It’s right on point on why we must address mental health now. You can read more of Susan’s writing at http:\/\/chosenfamilies.org   Like the rest of the nation, I watched in horror as the tragedy of the Newtown, Connecticut massacre broke on Friday.\u00a0\u00a0 The unthinkable, the unspeakable had happened.\u00a0 Again. Like the tragedy in Arizona in January, 2011, the tragedy in Colorado in July, 2012, we now have another loss of devastating impact.\u00a0 The innocents of Newtown, 20 beautiful children, will never flower.\u00a0 We will never see the doctor, teacher or athlete who could have been.\u00a0 And six adults lost their lives seeking to protect them and their classmates. The loss is unimaginable.\u00a0 We grieve from a distance.\u00a0 The families and community grieve intimately. And then it begins.\u00a0 The same discussion of gun control we saw in the aftermath of Arizona and Colorado.\u00a0 Those who would make political hay out of this tragedy.\u00a0 An opportunity for them to press their perspective with new fervor. And then I saw this article of a Mom in crisis rolling around [...]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/","og_site_name":"Paul Stanley","article_published_time":"2012-12-17T14:37:29+00:00","author":"Paul Stanley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@authorstanley","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul Stanley","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/"},"author":{"name":"Paul Stanley","@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/10ef2597eaf48c1f1f6f0527ff625868"},"headline":"After Another Shooting Tragedy, Let’s Talk About Mental Health","datePublished":"2012-12-17T14:37:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/"},"wordCount":719,"commentCount":2,"keywords":["author","Chosenfamilies.org","mental disabilites","mental illness","Paul Stanley","Shannon Royce","writer"],"articleSection":["My Blog Post"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/","url":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/","name":"After Another Shooting Tragedy, Let's Talk About Mental Health - Paul Stanley","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-17T14:37:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/10ef2597eaf48c1f1f6f0527ff625868"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/17\/after-another-shooting-tragedy-lets-talk-about-mental-health\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"After Another Shooting Tragedy, Let’s Talk About Mental Health"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/","name":"Paul Stanley","description":"Digital & Traditional Marketing Services\/Copywriting\/Social Media Management","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/10ef2597eaf48c1f1f6f0527ff625868","name":"Paul Stanley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5be8257add812bc3f0f8ef8780bf0be7534719ab0e7dbdbd5b1153b46ee8a298?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5be8257add812bc3f0f8ef8780bf0be7534719ab0e7dbdbd5b1153b46ee8a298?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Paul Stanley"},"description":"Paul Stanley is a commercial insurance executive, writer and former journalist living in Memphis, Tennessee.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/@authorstanley"],"url":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/author\/paul-stanley\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p130KW-c7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}