We all have a role to play in ending mass shootings

If Nikolas Cruz had received proper and timely mental health care, could 17 Parkland lives have been saved?

As a responsible society, are we doing enough to take care of our youth’s mental health care?

The truth is that if we knew exactly what caused mass shootings, the problem would be easy to fix. But sadly, we don’t have all the answers.

In America, there are roughly 75 million minors and nearly 7 million of them suffer significant mistreatment or neglect from their parents or guardians. There are also 50-70 million Americans with mental or emotional issues, yet only 20 million of them receive care.

As the dad of a former Stoneman Douglas student, the recent tragedy personally affected me. Parkland was that safe and affluent bubble that people aspired to move to. It’s the city where my kids grew up and where my grandmother died peacefully surrounded by family, friends and essentially the whole town because that’s how Parkland is.

If something like this can happen in Parkland, to Parkland, it can happen anywhere.

Initially following the shooting, I wanted to stay out of the political debates, let the dust settle, give myself and others a chance to heal. But honestly, we cannot afford to lose more time.

We must stop using tragedies like this to drive forward narrowly defined political agendas.

Guns, mental illness, drugs, upbringing, membership in hate groups and trauma do not independently cause mass shootings.

There are a variety of contributing factors, including: glorification of violence, access to weapons capable of inflicting largescale harm, lack of accountability by parents and guardians, lack of access to mental health care, stigma related to getting help and lack of vigilance by the community to get help for those who need it. We need to address all of these factors methodically as part of a systemic approach, not as a series of point solutions.

In the case of Nikolas Cruz, taking away his gun might have reduced the magnitude of carnage, but the desire to injure others would have still been there, and when there is a will, there is a way. We need to address both the desire to inflict damage and the magnitude of damage when it occurs. Those looking for gun reform and those looking for mental health care reform should be working together to address the issue. This is not a zero-sum game.

Proposed legislation requiring medical providers to share mental health diagnosis data with the federal government with the explicit purpose of limiting the rights of citizens is not the right path. These laws exacerbate the problem by acting as yet another barrier to mental health care. Would you talk to a doctor about feeling depressed, or about a desire to injure yourself or others, if you knew that it would be reported to the federal government? Would you take your child to a therapist if you knew it could result in forever limiting their rights?

We all suffer from bouts of mental illness, just as we all suffer from bouts of physical illness. Whether it’s the flu, cancer or depression, the government has no place in our medical records.

Violence is a symptom of a much larger disease. If we hope to make the world better and safer, we have to get to the root of the problem, and we must all take accountability for the steps needed to improve the world around us.

As a former Parkland resident and founder of the only mobile psychotherapy service available to those under the age of 18, I felt a personal responsibility to help, so we extended an offer of free, licensed therapy for those impacted by the tragedy.

Whether it’s providing mental health care services, legal support or transportation for those fighting for change, or curtailing the sale of guns, I urge others in a position to help to do so. We must work together for the greater good and create real solutions that don’t just address one particular symptom, but rather, the variety of causes that have led our society to this point.

Shawn Kernes is the co-founder and CEO of LARKR, which aims to make mental health care immediate, accessible and affordable for all.