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The tragic event in Newtown, CT, where a man killed 20 children and 6 adults, has spawned a new wave of stories about access to mental health treatment. You may have read that treatment isn’t available, or that it’s too expensive and inaccessible. The truth is that treatment is available and affordable for anyone who needs it, and Tarzana Treatment Centers works hard to spread the word.

When we see the capacity of the human mind come out in such a terrible manner, the first question is if there was a history of mental illness. After all, a healthy person would never even consider committing this horror. So we get distracted by trying to get answers to how this could happen in a civilized society. Then we get mad because, “Something should have been done to prevent this”. And then we can accept that, sometimes, bad things happen that can’t be explained.

The good news is that this process is very healthy. We’re grieving as a nation because the crime was unfathomable. We were caught by surprise. The discussions with friends and strangers alike help us to get past the disbelief, resistance, anger, and to finally accept that it happened. If you are stuck on any part of the grieving process, you should seek short-term therapy. It will help you process the emotions, and you will learn how to cope better in the future.

The bad news is that many people who could use that short-term therapy or a long-term form of treatment for severe illness won’t seek it. It may be a fear of being stigmatized, which won’t happen because treatment is confidential, and we care enough to keep it that way. They may fear that they can’t afford it, which often keeps them from beginning the research for help, so they never find out that public funding, including Medicare, can usually cover them.

Family members might make a call for a loved one, but they often don’t follow through. This is a tragedy because it may just take one therapy session to see an improvement. For most new admissions to mental health treatment, this offers hope that they didn’t think existed, and they gladly enter long-term therapy. So you only need to get them to the facility, and we can do the rest. You may be surprised how easy it is to do this.

We have many programs at Tarzana Treatment Centers for mental health treatment, covering minor cases of depression to severe mental disability. We accept Medicare, Medi-Cal, Healthy Way LA, and several other forms of public funding. If you or a loved one is sick, treatment is needed. It starts by picking up the phone or filling out a contact form. As soon as you take that first step, you will feel the weight begin to lift from your shoulders. We know this from years of experience.

It may never come to light what caused Adam Lanza to commit the unthinkable, and it probably doesn’t matter on a personal level. What matters most is that we are healthy as a society, and we take care of each other when tragedy strikes. We offer our services so you, our neighbors, friends, and family, can stay healthy when the going gets tough. And we have set our services up so you can access them and afford them.

Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles provides a full array of health care services including adult and youth alcohol and drug treatment. We specialize in treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, and have two primary medical care clinics in the San Fernando Valley and Antelope Valley and specialized services for HIV/AIDS care. If you or a loved one needs help with alcohol dependence, drug addiction, or co-occurring mental health disorders or from other services we offer, please call us now at 888-777-8565 or contact us using our secure contact form.

Telemedicine services are also available with online medical care, online mental health treatment, and online alcohol and drug treatment.

Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, and in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley.