Published in Children'southward Vocalism Volume 23, Number one

by Julie Collins and Emily Swoveland

Over the past few years, gun violence has risen to the forefront of public consciousness. Much of the debate has focused on gun regulation and keeping deadly weapons out of the hands of potential killers, especially those with mental illnesses. Unfortunately, far less attending has been dedicated to the impact of gun violence on victims. While individuals killed and injured in atrocities such equally the Sandy Hook and Aurora Theater shootings are publicly remembered and mourned, victims of these tragedies are not limited to those men, women, and children killed, injured, or present during these horrific events. The consequences of gun violence are more pervasive and bear on entire communities, families, and children. With more than 25% of children witnessing an act of violence in their homes, schools, or community over the past yr, and more 5% witnessing a shooting, information technology becomes not just an outcome of gun regulation, but also of addressing the impact on those who have been traumatized by such violence (Finkelhor et al., 2009).

Although mental health issues are part of the fence most gun regulation, the discussion has focused primarily upon the mental health of the perpetrators' of gun crimes. In fact, well-nigh people with mental illnesses are not violent and are really more likely to be victimized than they are to victimize others (Teplin et al, 2005). While much more can be washed to address the problems of perpetrators with a mental affliction, that conversation lone will not address the problems associated with gun violence. The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) believes it is fourth dimension to broaden the focus of the gun contend to include the social, emotional, physical, and mental wellness impact of those traumatized by gun violence, especially children and youth. In their 2002 article "Mitigating the Effects of Gun Violence on Children and Youth," James Garbarino and his colleagues pointed out that "children exposed to gun violence may experience negative brusque and long-term psychological effects, including acrimony, withdrawal, posttraumatic stress, and desensitization to violence" (Garbarino et al., 2002). They also bespeak that the research shows that "certain children may exist at college risk for negative outcomes if they are exposed to gun violence." The groups they identified "include children injured in gun violence, those who witness fierce acts at close proximity, those exposed to high levels of violence in their communities or schools, and those exposed to violent media."

Addressing the social, emotional, and physical well-being and mental health needs of children and youth exposed to gun violence is a complex process that requires proper identification of those exposed. It also requires a sufficient number of providers trained in historic period-appropriate, prove-based, and trauma-informed treatments to meantime sympathise all of these concerns. In addition, it requires our society to find ways to reduce the bodily numbers of children and youth who are initially exposed to gun violence. This is no like shooting fish in a barrel chore, given the many settings in our world that comprise tearing situations or imagery: schools, homes, communities, and the media.

At CWLA's 2013 National Conference, our staff and its Mental Health Advisory Board brought together professionals in the child welfare and mental health fields for a Listening Session on the topic of gun violence . Together, they started a dialogue about the often ignored impact of gun violence on the well-existence of children, youth, families, and communities and discussed current efforts to address this issue; they besides identified problems encountered in both policy and practice fields, providing suggestions and potential solutions. Influenced past CWLA'southward National Blueprint for Excellence in Child Welfare and its vision for all children and youth to grow up safely, with loving families and supportive communities, the conversation focused on the shared responsibility of individuals, families, organizations, and communities for ensuring the condom and well-being of children and youth. Specifically, participants focused on the culture of violence and fearfulness in many of the communities they serve, the difficulties of combating gun use and violence, the need for customs development that is focused on reducing violence, the touch on the children and youth exposed to violence, and what is needed to address the mental health needs of those exposed to gun violence.

Guns and Violence

CWLA'sNational Pattern voices the need to protect the fundamental rights of children and emphasizes the obligation that all individuals accept in ensuring a prophylactic and supportive environment for children and youth. In line with theNational Blueprint, participants at our 2013 conference discussed the ways that service providers and communities were working to protect the rights of children in relationship to gun legislation. They also pointed out the necessity of addressing gun regulation and violence at the national level, fighting for legislative protections for children and youth.

Many participants voiced frustration with the role guns currently have in American order and their frequent glorification in the media. They pointed out that gun ownership is seen as a primal American value, and that many citizens feel entitled to gun ownership and dislike interventions that limit their access. Unfortunately, gun buying is oftentimes associated with the devastating violence that takes place in communities around the country–especially those in which there is a high poverty rate, which can increase the difficulty of preventing gun-based crime. Participants identified that frequent media portrayal of guns glorifies their utilize and promotes using gun violence equally an acceptable means of conflict resolution. They pointed out that the media fails to provide the counter- message that guns are unsafe, should be stored properly, and are not to exist used for disharmonize resolution.

Given the current climate citing personal liberties vis-a-vis the United states of america Constitution, participants recognized that irresolute American values regarding gun buying is an unrealistic goal. They agreed that the focus should exist on providing gun education and gun prophylactic training to gun owners and not-owners akin. In addition, communities should take access to accurate information regarding the realities of gun utilise, such every bit the annual number of gun homicides and the number of children killed past guns. They suggested that efforts must be made to counter the glorified image portrayed in the media by educational activity proper gun use, illuminating the dangers guns pose to children and youth, and explaining alternatives to gun ownership for ensuring personal and home safety.

Community Culture

Conference participants as well voiced concerns about the pervasive culture of fright and violence that exists in many of the commu- nities they serve. At the community level, participants observed that guns are often used in response to fear. They pointed out that children and youth living in violent neighborhoods feel at take chances; without nonviolent disharmonize-resolution skills, they too readily depend on guns to solve issues. Garbarino and his colleagues, too, stated that "exposure to gun violence also can desensitize youth to the effects of violence and increase the likelihood that they will use violence every bit a means of resolving problems or expressing emotions." Often, it is just through conveying and using weapons that these youth feel safe, secure, and protected. Just despite gun ownership, many children and youth remain unprotected from the violence within their communities.

Participants noted that fighting a community's culture is an uphill battle that is netting few positive results. All agreed that when communities, families, children, and youth are empowered to work together and claiming negative values, they can begin to change the culture of violence and reduce community-wide fright. While non a quick procedure, is essential to encourage communities to have buying of the safety and well-being of all children, youth, and families. Consistent with the standards in CWLA'sNational Pattern, conference participants further suggested working ane-on-one with families, children, and youth to aid them build their protective factors, develop resiliency, regulate their emotions, strengthen coping strategies, and transform negative life views into ones of hope for a amend future. At that place was also widespread agreement about the importance of pedagogy parents how to model nonviolent behaviors for children and educating them on positive methods of discouraging violent alternatives.

In improver to shifting community acceptance of violence at a micro level by working with families, children, and youth direct, participants suggested that child welfare and mental health agencies must also encourage neighborhood residents to go connected to one another and oppose violence at the macro level–i.e., within the greater customs. Agency leaders and those who provide services can encourage these changes by nurturing residents' social connections and fostering strong social networks inside the community. Once united with the larger community, they will be in a position to more easily influence the needed systematic changes to norms and values.

Effects on Kid Development

The consequences of exposure to violence on child development are very real. CWLA'due southNational Blueprint points out that children and youth exposed to chronic trauma tin can experience inhibited brain development, producing a lasting impact on life outcomes. Probable a event of such exposure, participants noted numerous skill deficits among the children and youth they serve who live in neighborhoods that take high rates of poverty and crime. As suggested by the research, many children experience problems with violence and aggression because they lack nonviolent disharmonize-resolution skills. Much of this violence and aggression is farther exacerbated past emotional overload from exposure to violence. Children and youth exposed to violence experience significant stress, and often struggle to place and regulate their emotions, as a effect of developmental impacts from their frequent exposure to trauma. Their emotions are often internalized and can afterwards erupt in aggression and violence.

The Listening Session attendees also acknowledged that these skill deficits can exist the result of children and youth learning behavior through observing and mimicking the deportment of those around them. When adults exhibit aggressive and fierce behavior, such behavior is ofttimes interpreted as appropriate and adequate. A bike of violence starts when children and youth observe and embrace negative adult behaviors and, eventually, model such interactions with their own children. With much at pale, a laundry list of strategies and supports was offered to accost the affect on child development and reduce the negative touch on of exposure to violence. Participants lauded the importance of early, family-level prevention, suggesting that parents must be assisted in accessing the social services necessary to strengthen protective factors, build resiliency, help their children regulate their emotions, develop coping skills, and provide physical and psychological safety.

Participants also identified numerous skills that must exist taught direct to children and youth affected by violence to reduce the impact of traumatic stress, including disharmonize-resolution skills that demonstrate elementary problem-solving techniques that are irenic and/or force-aversive. In addition to developing advice skills, children and youth need to exist taught to place and regulate their emotions; once they better understand their emotions and how they affect their behavior, they tin learn how to accordingly answer to their feelings in ways that are not harmful to themselves or others.

Mental Health Concerns

The Listening Session attendees recognized that until child and youth exposure to violence is eliminated, childhood mental health issues will likely continue to grow. The group noted that they are witnessing dramatic growth in the number of children and youth with mental health problems, and that service providers must actively work to educate the public on childhood mental affliction. Mental illness continues to be stigmatized, and public hesitancy to talk over the matter is detrimental to children and youth who are impacted past mental health problems. It was further noted that many parents, teachers, and workers are often uneducated regarding mental wellness conditions and, equally a result, fail to place early signs of mental illness, delaying child and youth access to treatment. It was pointed out that fifty-fifty once treatment is received and a diagnosis is given, many adults lack noesis about specific mental illnesses and are unsure of how to interact with children and youth with a mental health problem. Without proper education, parents, teachers, and other well- meaning figures may unknowingly exacerbate a child or youth'south mental wellness bug.

In improver to reducing chance factors and developing protective factors and resiliency among youth currently suffering from mental health issues, professionals agreed that communities must likewise help children and youth at-risk of mental wellness issues develop protective factors to shield them from the negative mental health outcomes that frequently event from exposure to traumatic life events.

Summing it Up

Preventing childhood exposure to violence and mitigating the impact of previous exposure is likewise big a job for whatever one group or organization. Child welfare, prevention, and mental wellness agencies cannot tackle this problem lonely. Agencies must embrace the message of CWLA'south National Blueprint and encourage communities to have responsibleness for the well-being of children and youth. Combating the negative impact of violence on children and youth requires the collaboration of teachers, principals, social workers, police officers, doctors, parents, friends, and more. Each person has a role to play, be it screening for exposure to violence, mitigating the impact of violence through emotional support, or preventing violence through community activism and policy initiatives. Only when all facets of society recognize the true negative touch that exposure to violence has on the well-being of children, youth, families, and communities, and actively work to accost this problem, will substantive modify take place.

While it will take collaboration between diverse agencies and specific communities for a significant drop in child and youth exposure to violence to occur, many professionals are actively fighting this battle. Doctors around the country are talking to parents of young children about gun prophylactic and protecting their children from damage. Teachers, principals, and school administrators are actively working with students, reinforcing pro-social behaviors and education conflict-resolution skills. Religious figures of all faiths are teaching children and youth about loving themselves, others, and their communities, and about how to be morally centered people. Social workers are educating parents on positive childrearing to reduce exposure to domestic violence and other dwelling house-based traumas. Lobbyists and politicians are fighting for legislation that increases access to mental health services and limits public access to guns.

All of these professionals, and many more than, are actively working to reduce violence and improve the well-being of children and youth beyond the country. Individually, they brand pocket-sized merely meaningful contributions to the effort, only together, as a united front, these individuals and agencies tin make a significant impact in the lives of children and youth exposed to violence in their homes, at their schools, and in their communities. Contempo incidents like the Fort Hood shooting once again raise the issue of gun violence. Although this happened on a armed forces base, children, youth, families, and the surrounding communities have all been impacted. While the upshot of gun violence seems stalled in this current Congress, it continues to be a central concern for all of us.

CWLA's Listening Session helped begin the dialogue on current efforts to prevent kid and youth exposure to violence and mitigate the impact of previous exposure. Now is the time for all to come together and finish this discussion. north

Julie Collins is CWLA's Managing director of Standards for Exercise Excellence. Emily Swoveland served as an intern at CWLA in 2013. The authors offering special thank you to Linda Spears and Andrea Bartolo.

References

Garbarino, J., Bradshaw, C.P., & Vorrasi, J.A. (2002). Mitigating the Furnishings of Gun Violence on Children and Youth.The Future of Children, 12(two), 73-87. Retrieved fromhttps://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/12_02_05.pdf.

Finkelhor, D., et al. (2009). Children's Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey.Juvenile Justice Bulletin, October 2009. Retrieved fromhttps://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227744.pdf.

Teplin, L., et al. (2005). Criminal offense Victimization in Adults With Severe Mental Affliction: Comparing With the National Offense Victimization Survey.Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 911-921.

To comment on this article, e-mail service voice@cwla.org.