CHESAPEAKE, Va. – Mayors from across Hampton Roads are continuing the conversation about the ongoing gun violence ripping families apart. They came together in a roundtable discussion Thursday to identify some of the root causes of violence and eventually work toward solutions.
There has been no shortage of gun violence across Hampton Roads.
The latest string of shootings happened in Hampton with three separate shootings over the weekend that left three people badly hurt.
Community activist Darrell Redmond is working toward a solution to cut down on the violent crime. He mentors kids through his grassroots group Give Back 2 Da Block and said he keeps them from going down the wrong path by building a relationship.
“It’s about putting people there to gain their trust and responsibility as we do with the kids in the community,” Redmond said. “Then we’re able to navigate and help them process through whatever is going on.”
During the Violence Prevention Roundtable at the Regional Building in Chesapeake, mayors and mental health professionals talked about some of the underlying issues causing violence.
Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover said they created a task force to tackle crime and bring people together to build relationships and bring about change.
“We have the mayor’s task force on reducing gun violence and we bring stakeholders into those meeting, like police and fire, behavioral health, grassroots, pastors and also business owners,” Glover said. “First, understand what the needs are; where the violence is occurring, and then provide the solutions and the resources to impact that violence. We believe we are making a difference. There’s more we can do.”
Part of the problem, mental health experts said, is violence is often triggered by trauma in a person’s life that goes unaddressed.
Colonial Behavioral Health’s executive director David Coe said trauma is pervasive in communities across the region.
“Dealing with things like food deserts; dealing with homelessness; dealing with violence, with abuse; poor housing; inadequate housing; lack of affordable housing, all of those add to traumas for multiple families in each of our communities every day
Experts said many people are committing crimes who go through traumatic event after traumatic event and don’t get mental health help.
Mental health professionals said more resources need to go to counseling services in schools and toward educating people to break the stigma around mental health treatment.
Erasing the stigma is something Hampton City Schools Board Chair Dr. Richard Mason is working toward.
“Mental health is not such a taboo subject anymore,” Mason said.
Hampton City Schools is working to address stressors in students before it festers and turns into a violent situation. The school board has recently dedicated money for mental health services.
“We want our kids to be able to come to school and deal with those things, but also be ready and available and prepared to learn every day,” said Mason.
Mental health professionals said not everyone who has a mental illness commits a crime. They say someone without a mental illness is more likely to commit a violent crime than a person with a mental illness.
