SMP Appeal - Orlando

ORLANDO

The mere mention of the name will stand out for horror as does 9/11...Sandy Hook........The Boston Marathon finish line. We are not strangers to the nightmarish acts perpetrated by disturbed, troubled people.

We can remember the "Texas Tower Sniper", the Oklahoma City bombing, Newtown, the Fort Hood shooting, the murderous targeting of Planned Parenthood in Colorado, the assassinations of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, the sexual slaughters of Matthew Shepherd and Brandon Teena, the rapaciousness of Brook Turner and the existence of a culture wherein one in five women can expect to be sexually assaulted, the impulsive racist snuffing of the lives of Trayvon Martin, Tamar Rice, Eric Garner and others too many to name..

As professionals who have devoted our lives to a process that has brought individuals into an important awareness of their deepest feelings, we need to reach out to more and more people to seek treatment that would benefit them and the world at large.

The "shooter" in this most recent tragedy was a person who needed to be in treatment for the mental disturbance he suffered. Like every individual born, he began as an innocent and became his own victim of unknown trauma and acted on chaotic feelings he couldn't manage. The media feeds on the destructive actions of disturbed people and sends out waves of troubling scenes and editorials that touche many people who are aroused to feelings of rage and disgust. Any number of these can be moved to act out to the detriment of our society.

As members of SMP please keep in mind our responsibility to help people make referrals to our colleagues, our schools and treatment services. I know it is only a very small segment of the overall mental health community, but if only one person who has the latent potential for committing an act of mortal consequence, our effort will be successful. We can, through engaging the world in the peaceful outcomes of saying everything, in the process of analysis, our call to action will resound.

Thank you for your consideration of this appeal.

With sincere remorse for all who have suffered personal loss and for all of us who must share the deep sadness that such an act delivers.

Sincerely,

Ted Laquercia, PhD
President
SMP