Troubled students require mental health guidance by licensed counselors, not chaplains

Schools need more counselors, not chaplains

Apparently, the supporters of Florida SB 1044/HB 931, which purports to address students’ mental health needs by establishing volunteer programs for school chaplains, are confused about the difference between mental and spiritual guidance.

Certainly, in some instances, there’s an overlap between the two domains, but in my 35 years as a clinical social worker, those instances have been few and far between.

Mental health is about far more than spirituality. You can’t pray away abuse or trauma, although prayer provides comfort for some.

For the down-to-earth, critical issues faced by students in today’s schools − violence, family and social media pressures, bullying, gender questions, addiction, depression, anxiety and loneliness − what’s needed are more paid, licensed mental health counselors in schools.

Therapists and counselors are trained to be value neutral and unbiased on spiritual matters. Will we be able to say the same for school chaplains?

The school chaplains bill, already approved by the Legislature, will become law July 1 if not vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Karen R. Koenig, licensed clinical social worker, Sarasota

Keep government out of women’s lives

Wow! The most insulting thing about “Florida’s Amendment 4 poses incalculable risk to women,” a guest column by Denise Burke, is that only women, not men, need “protection” − apparently from bureaucrats and politicians and judges, for their health and safety needs!

Oh, my! Really? I’ve done quite well all by myself for over 60 years, making my own choices about my health and safety needs − and my life.

This issue is not about abortion, ladies. It’s about control, over you. It’s about whether you get to make your own choices about your life and health or whether someone else is going to do it for you − against your will.

In other words, men: How would you feel about those bureaucrats and politicians requiring you to get permission to have a vasectomy, buy condoms or take erectile dysfunction meds?

Oh, you say, but this is about another life, the unborn. No, it’s about the imposition of someone else’s religious or moral views onto a pregnant woman, whether she likes it or not.Last I heard this is still a democracy. All genders are equal, and all people have the constitutional right to live by their own religious and moral values− and their reproductive health choices.

Roxcy Platte, Venice

Students responsible for student loans

Where are the billions of dollars coming from to pay student loans?

It is not fair to people who paid their loans, or to people who couldn’t afford a higher education. Taxpayers should not be paying student loans.

We didn’t get the education they did. We did not sign the loan papers; they did. When they accepted the loan, they knew they were responsible for paying it back.

Opinion: Biden sets up student loan borrowers for disappointment, hardship

The president has to stop babying people. Help seniors that need food and money for medicine. Give money to food banks to help feed people.

I didn’t go to college. I worked to pay my way in life, to buy a home and a car, and raise my kids.

Everyone needs to be responsible for their debt choices, without taxpayers’ money. Grow up, stand on your own two feet and figure it out.

Rita Hofrichter, Ellenton

Scales of justice unbalanced

Remember “Taxes are for the little people”?

I think now we can add to that “Law and order is for the little people.”

Thanks for reporting on the endless ways that this plays out at all levels of government and the world of finance.

Gene Schulze, Bradenton

Media ignores Trump’s outbursts

When will our news organizations finally stop treating former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric as normal?

I know he has lulled the media to sleep by getting more outrageous with time, but when the heck are you folks going to catch up?

Listen to Trump daily with quotes like:

• “Dictator for a day."

• “I’m your retribution.”

• “They’re poisoning our blood.”

• “The J6 hostages” – who, by the way, he says he will pardon.

Just think of any other candidate or president uttering this trash. Substitute Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton or even Dwight Eisenhower. Every one of them would have been immediately disqualified, ostracized or impeached.

Yet the majority of our news organizations barely mention these dangerous rantings.

And what’s worse yet, partly because of this lack of coverage, we have tens of millions of voters ready to put this damaged man back in control of the levers of power.

Laurie Ulrop, Punta Gorda

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Schools need more trained counselors, not chaplains