The AP (12/12, Eaton-Robb) reports that nearly two years after the Dec. 14, 2012 shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, “the scope of the psychological damage to children, parents and others is becoming clear, and the need for treatment is likely to persist a long time.”
Many townspeople are “reporting substance abuse, relationship troubles, disorganization, depression, overthinking or inability to sleep, all related to the” shooting rampage that cost 27 lives. Various agencies are putting together a long-term support system bolstered by $15 million in grant monies from the US Justice Department and the US Education Department, along with private donations made to the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation.
The town school system is putting into place a long-term program to help kids come to terms with what has happened. Meanwhile, the town has been consulting with outside experts to put together long-range plans to meet residents’ mental health needs for the next decade and beyond.
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— “IN NEWTOWN, MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS STILL EMERGING,” Pat Eaton-Robb, Associated Press, December 11, 2014.