Another side to Connecticut shooting: Join our discussion [Google+ Hangout]

For parents around the nation, the mass school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut fueled fears about how to ensure the safety of their own children. But for parents like Elizabeth Guzman in Los Angeles, the tragedy affected them in a different and terrifying way, as they saw signs of their children in the shooter.

LIVE DISCUSSION: Join us at 12:30 p.m.

Guzman and other parents say getting the right help for their mentally ill children is a constant and emotionally exhausting challenge.

At 12:30 p.m. Pacific time, Times health reporter Anna Gorman and Darcy Gruttadaro, director of the Child & Adolescent Action Center at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will discuss how parents of troubled children might cope. Please join them in a Google+ Hangout hosted by The Times’ Sarah Hashim-Waris.

For a good primer on the issue, read Gorman’s article about Guzman and others in Friday’s Times.

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-- William Nottingham