Last week's tragic shooting in Newtown, Conn., has the country
asking itself: What has happened to our society? Is it lax gun
control laws? Underfunding for treatment of the seriously
mentally ill? The breakdown of the nuclear family? Violent video
games? All of the above? Although much remains unknown about the
shooter's mental state, it appears he was diagnosed with
Asperger's Syndrome, which typically is not associated with
violent behavior. But one aspect of the shooter's emerging
profile is that he was socially isolated. Such isolation plays a
big role in the lives of people living with mental illness. If
their illness renders them faceless and invisible to society,
they will never get the help they desperately need. A program in
our city, the B'More Clubhouse, seeks to address the isolation
of mental illness. By providing a place for community and by
believing that people can reclaim their lives from the despair
living with a mental disorder entails, we can remove the
crippling isolation that leads to d