Dear Future President,

Here in America we do have several options for getting supports for mental health issues, but not everyone gets the options for help that they'd think would work best for them. Suicide rates are higher than homicide rates. When soldiers come home from fighting for our country most many commit crimes, abuse alcohol and drugs, or commit suicide.  Is it possible that we could be a stronger, better America if these problems were solved? 

Numerous options can be utilized by people plagued by mental illness. Several of the options that are available are listed on http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/types-mental-health-treatments. In spite of there being many treatment options, not all of them are offered by therapists or psychologists for those who are seeking help for themselves or others. Individuals do not know what kind of help they need, but how would they know when they do not get to see the options?. In some cases, the treatment that is suggested by the mental health professionals does not work. With other cases, such as mine, the patient is left confused and the treatment is not successful. 

According tohttp://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/types-mental-health-treatments, the suicide rates in the chart are far higher than homicide rates in the United States of America and higher than in any other country. People could make the argument that suicide and homicide can be caused by peer pressure or guilt trips, however both cause a problem to the mental state. In any case people's lives are being unfairly lost. When someone's life is taken, either by themselves or another person, that affects other people as proven by the same source.

When the many strong men and women that fight for our country come home, there can be some issues. Coming home, soldiers are not always guaranteed mental health help. Soldiers are supposed to be screened and checked for mental health issues before returning home. It is harder for them to find a place called home and easier to find a residence because of the complications they have taking care of the mental health issues they have that no one told them they could get help with. According to http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=209441, it is wrong that we let the ones that are risking their lives for us go without mental stability and support.

There are several options that people have when they have mental issues to get treatment, or at least help to alleviate the symptoms, you could help by letting people know ALL of the options they can use to get mental help. "Younger groups have had consistently lower suicide and homicide rates than middle-aged and adults.," states the American Foundation for Suicide prevention at: https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/; this shows if we (being the community and you as the president) teach the younger generation that they can and are able to get mental help, it would lower the suicide and homicide rates. In order to help our stalwart soldiers you should consider requiring them to have the handout for mental health before they even step out onto the malicious field. It is possible to solve these problems to make us a stronger, better America; we just need people to be aware of the problem and get involved in creating a solution.

Thank You