People Magazine: 9 Years After Sandy Hook Massacre…

HO  421726.JPG HO  1C257A51 HO  1C223C14 Dec 14, 2012 - Newtown, Connecticut, U.S. - State police personnel lead children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in this handout picture from the Newtown Bee, in Newtown, Connecticut, December 14, 2012. All public schools in Newtown, Connecticut, were placed in lockdown on Friday following a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. An official with knowledge of a shooting at a Connecticut elementary school says 27 people are dead, including 18 children. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still under way. (Credit Image: © Shannon Hicks/Newtown Bee/ZUMA24.com)

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Proactive Approaches to Preventing School Shootings

Since 2012, Lewis and other parents of children who died that day have dedicated their lives to finding ways to stop these shootings from happening again.

As founder of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement, Lewis is trying to prevent school shootings through her award-winning program that teaches social and emotional intelligence and effective coping skills to students and adults.

“There are two ways to handle school shootings — reactively or proactively,” Lewis says.

Active shooter drills and “hardening schools” with panic buttons, metal detectors, and other reactive security measures “are good, but clearly not enough,” she says.

Instead, she says, “we need to incorporate a proactive and preventative approach that addresses the root cause of these school shootings as well as the escalating anxiety, depression, suicide, mental illness, and substance abuse issues.

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