Students are lacking spiritual guidance and may benefit from school chaplains

Therapist approves of school chaplains

As a retired Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I must counter the letter of April 24, “Don’t send children to school chaplains,” which criticized the governor’s bill allowing chaplains in the schools.

All schools have some form of social worker and/or counselor on duty. Teachers are aware of the ability to refer students for mental health counseling or to advise such to parents.

Religious freedom: Satanic Temple eager to provide students with spiritual guidance

In my years of experience in the schools, I have found that there is a marked lack of spiritual/moral guidance offered. There are many programs to identify mental health issues and to find resources for them. But, in fact, it has become taboo to mention God or a higher power as an integral concept in human experience.

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As chaplains in the armed services and hospitals can attest, a focus on our spiritual connection to each other and a higher power can offer comfort and support in a different way than traditional counseling. This service is voluntary and can address an aspect of existence sorely lacking in our culture.

Laurel Maul, retired psychotherapist, Sarasota

Take control of government by voting

Abe Lincoln once famously said, “… government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

How do you make it a government of the people? By voting!

Shame on all those who can but don’t vote. If you want change, do not reelect those who are not doing what you want them to do.

If you don’t like all the local development or the denial of funding for the 211 system, vote out the members of the commissions and councils.

If you don’t like the abortion/women’s health rules being put forth and passed in Tallahassee, vote them out!

If you don’t like the way the state Senate and House are defining “small government” as “the way I see it, not the way you see it,” vote them out!

If you don’t like the way that the House of Representatives is behaving, ignoring the needs of the people and not representing your needs, vote them out!

We don’t need term limits; we have the vote.

Use it, or after November you may lose it!

John Oelfke, Sarasota

Trump, Biden: Between rock and hard place

To paraphrase Don Corleone in “The Godfather”: "How did things get so bad?" Only former President Donald Trump could make current President Joe Biden look good – and only Biden could do that for Trump.

Trump is up to his neck in criminal indictments and the president continues to stumble, fumble and mumble – and utter inane threats that the targets of these utterances ignore!

Trump seems unable to tell the truth if it doesn’t help his ego or career and Biden “has been wrong on nearly every foreign policy and national security issue for over four decades,” according to Robert Gates, defense secretary under former President Barack Obama.

Thomas G. Moore, Bradenton

Leaving abortion up to states divisive

USA TODAY columnist Ingrid Jacques continues to be annoying and shortsighted as well as askew (“Trump makes right call on national abortion ban; states should decide,” April 10).

She wrote that former President Donald Trump's "messaging on abortion is about as mercurial as one would expect coming from the former reality TV star.” On that we agree!

However, since Trump's mental acuity is very questionable − he suggested we inject bleach or disinfectant or use UV light to treat COVID-19 − it has occurred to me that Vladimir Putin or Steve Bannon may be coaching him on abortion policy.

Leaving it up to each state is yet another method of fracturing the United States.

Edy Browne, Venice

Pass Alzheimer’s bills to improve care

Florida has the second highest number of residents living with Alzheimer’s in the U.S. We must ensure we are ready for the increasing impact of this disease in Sarasota County.

I have seen many of my friends struggle to get a diagnosis. It was frustrating and exhausting on top of a very scary time. They were either misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all and told to come back in six months.

They lost valuable time with their families, and no one should have to go through what they did to get a proper diagnosis.

There are two bills in Congress that must be passed to support families in Sarasota and address these issues.The BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Reauthorization Act would empower public health departments to implement dementia interventions such as increasing early detection and diagnosis, reducing risk and supporting caregivers.The Accelerating Access to Dementia and Alzheimer’s Provider Training Act would provide education and training to more primary care providers.

These two bills go hand in hand. You can’t ask families to seek early detection without educating physicians to give an accurate and swift diagnosis.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, of Longboat Key, must join the Alzheimer’s Association in supporting both of these bills.

Denise Gibson, Bradenton

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Therapist approves of governor's voluntary school chaplains