Most people heard about the horrific double homicides. And last Tuesday, Nick Reiner, 32, was formally charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He is accused of violently killing his father, the iconic movie director, Rob Reiner, 78, and his mother, Michele, 70, in their Brentwood, California, home.
The legal term is called double parricide, or the killing of both parents. It’s rare, but parricide does occur and not just in Hollywood. There have been instances in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and throughout the country, where a parent or parents have been murdered by their children. It’s tragic, deeply upsetting and often, psychologically complex.
And it isn’t helpful when the president of the United States doesn’t appear to understand how mental illness and drug addiction frequently go hand-in-hand. Maybe Trump misspoke last week when asked about the violent deaths of the Reiners. The president has been firm on his administration’s war on drugs, most recently calling fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction.” This would perhaps have been a teachable moment to unify the country, reenergize his drug message and offer the family his condolences.
Instead, Trump fired off a political social media post, saying Reiner’s death was “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through… a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
In cities and towns across Southern New Hampshire, local public health departments have seen an increase in mental health and substance abuse struggles among our youth. Nashua’s Bobbie Bagley, director of the Division of Public Health and Community Services (DPHCS), spoke at City Hall recently on behalf of two grants that could benefit the public.
First is a $10,000 grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation to help fund the production of the city’s “Speaking Our Minds” podcast series. Nashua’s DPHCS hosts highlight “the lived experiences and struggles of Hispanic and minority communities in New Hampshire.” Five hosts speak five different languages on the podcast, sharing their experiences and valuable community resources.
“Speaking Our Minds” is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Podbean.
The second comes in a $12,000 grant from Dartmouth Hitchcock for Substance Misuse Prevention Efforts, a program designed for mental health first aid training, increasing awareness of substance abuse disorders, courses on opioid use prevention and the Annual Behavioral Health Summit with partnering organizations.
Bagley says that more young people from the Greater Nashua area could use assistance from their communities. The results from the Youth Risk Behavior Study conducted by New Hampshire’s Department of Health & Human Services speak volumes. Statistics from the 2023 YRBS found an increase, for example, under the category of Suicide, Sadness and Helplessness, 40.4% of students surveyed reported yes when asked if they had ever felt sad or hopeless (almost every day for two or more weeks in a row so that they stopped doing usual activities) during the past 12 months.
Another survey question asked students if they never or rarely received the help they needed when they felt sad, empty, hopeless, angry or anxious. And 56.9% answered yes.
The 2023 YRBS can be seen online at dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/population-health/health-statistics-informatics/youth-risk-behavior-survey/youth.
Most high school students are honest when filling out these surveys, and cities and towns can learn much about our youth and whether they’re thriving or coping in today’s fast and often unpredictable world.
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