No More Excuses for Not Helping People

A complete waste of time? Not entirely, but we need to reassess how we address those who need help. Helping them adjust their behavior patterns or destructive thinking isn't nearly enough anymore.

We already have the tools and the resources needed, but they are being used inefficiently. Implementing a co-responder program with local police and sheriff's departments is only part of a solution. Giving those who have just exited jail or prison, rehab, detox or some other mental health facility easier access and encouragement to use other resources, such as group housing, the safehouse, workforce services, family services, etc. would help them integrate back into and become a productive member of society, and may even prevent them from slipping backward through the cracks.

Isn't this a common goal, despite our differences? What's stopping us then? Cost? Politics? Religion? Ethics? Morality? In fact, nothing is preventing us from offering extended help or other services outside of what was initially given. We just don't want to.

We make up rules and regulations, trying to convince ourselves that it's unethical, illegal or even immoral to do so. How does it violate privacy? It doesn't.

Assuming one is ready to integrate back into society based on "finished" or "completed" standard treatment plans is unethical. Assuming a one-size-fits-all treatment plans work is immoral. Treatment plans need to be adjusted accordingly and as new information is known.

Assuming politics or religion don't play a role in denying help to those who need or want it is grossly incorrect and only hurts all of society. Any excuse political parties and religions have for not helping the broken only enforces distrust of them and their beliefs.

Cost shouldn't even be a considered factor. Placing a monetary value on "help" of any kind goes against any belief system a society has in place. Expecting some kind of reward or gratitude for helping someone is counter-productive, and only enforces resentment and encourages abuse of the system and those needing help.

Excuses are like assholes – we all have one.

Another Domestic Abuse Victim Falls Through the Cracks

Kudos! I want to thank the state of Wyoming, our governor, our judicial system, the state Legislature, our Mayor Collins, current Cheyenne Police Chief Francisco, former police chief and current Laramie County Sheriff Kozak, as well as the officers of both the Cheyenne Police and Laramie County Sheriff's departments for a job well done.

Not having a full-time paid mental health professional on staff like other municipalities allowed another woman to fall through the cracks and succumb to her addictions. But she was also another victim of domestic abuse. Her husband just turned Wyoming's once powerful piece of legislation for domestic abuse victims on its side.

He was able to play the victim and get a restraining order against her, not allowing her to communicate with her kids. Knowing her kids meant the world to her, he understood that this would push her over the edge and further her addictions, while driving her deeper into depression.

What he had put on that restraining order while playing the victim was totally fabricated, completely untrue, petty and unequivocally false. When the restraining order was served, not only was she given 15 minutes to vacate her own home, but the officers that served it did not explain the restraining order to her in a way that she could understand what was happening to her, nor even tell her where to go to contest it, and they did not take her to a safe environment that could've helped her deal with her circumstances.

Basically, she was treated like human garbage by the officers of both the Cheyenne Police and Laramie County Sheriff's departments, as well as our judicial system, which did not want to deal with another person who was more a domestic abuse victim than an addict.

If both the CPD and LCSD had a full-time mental health professional on staff, this would've been more apparent. Seriously, what's another addict's life if it means breaking the cycle of domestic abuse? Nothing, apparently.