The unprecedented mental health crisis currently gripping our Newtown community and our nation — and how it is devastating those from every background and especially young people — requires the attention of everyone. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so attention being paid to this escalating epidemic is receiving even greater focus in recent days.

Regardless of your political affiliation, and your like or dislike of our President, we commend the Biden Administration for recognizing the mental health crisis and investing billions of dollars through the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to clearly send the message: Support is Here.

This latest infusion of financial support comes on the heels of other related actions including last year’s installation of the 988 Suicide Prevention Lifeline, expanding mental health services in schools, advancing a center for excellence on social media and mental health, and launching the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Roadmap for Behavioral Health Integration.

In addition, the HHS has helped states establish Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics which provide care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is additionally providing hundreds of millions to programs such as Project AWARE, Mental Health Awareness Training, and the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative to help reach families and youth where they are, including at schools and in the community.

Other investments are strategically funding programs to better support child and youth resilience and programs serving LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, Black, and Latino youth; expanding access to mental health services in early childhood settings; and a multidimensional screening tool (Screen4Success) to help parents and caregivers determine if a child may benefit from early intervention or additional support, by asking questions about substance use, mental and physical health, general well-being, and family life.

The CDC is also at work updating its health education curriculum analysis tool (HECAT) to help schools strengthen mental and emotional health education; and is continuing implementation of its What Works in Schools program that is already reducing sexual risk behavior, experiences of violence, substance use, and poor mental health among students.

With all the support already available or in the development pipeline, however, there are still huge challenges for those who recognize they may need some assistance. The network of professionals equipped to help those bravely stepping up to request it is woefully limited. And among them, the number who will accept insurance coverage to help pay for mental health treatment is fractional.

We not only need the young people who are exploring career choices today to give serious consideration to joining the ranks of our dwindling mental health professionals, we also need federal and state agencies to legislate insurance companies to make it easier for mental health professionals to receive adequate reimbursement for their services.

Finally, there is something we can all do to help support our friends and neighbors, brothers and sisters, our aging loved ones, and especially our kids: Stop regarding mental illness as some type of personality flaw.

Diabetics, cancer survivors, and those fighting back from a stroke or cardiac arrest do not wish to suffer the myriad affectations of their condition — and neither should those working to recognize, address and recover from mental health challenges. If you as engaged Newtowners do nothing else during Mental Health Awareness Month — and every other month — you must fight and reject lingering stigmas that are still among the greatest barriers to those who want to come out from suffering in silence to seek the help they deserve.