Florence One Schools currently has 18 mental health counselors for all 22 schools in the district and parents are concerned this is not enough.
Renee Graham has a 16-year-old son who attended West Florence high school, and knows first hand how hard it is to find her son the help he needs.
“There’s not enough mental health workers for the amount of students that are in the schools,” said Graham.
Renee’s son was diagnosed with ADHD and comprehension disorder at a young age, and the hardest part has been finding the help they need within the school district.
“It’s frustrating as a parent. I take my child to school and I expect the school to have things that are available for him while he’s learning,” said Graham.
The district is short by four counselors, meaning several schools are sharing the same counselor.
“We don’t have the resources to put two or three counselors at this point in our schools,” said clinical coordinator for Florence One Schools, Lisa Spears.
“It’s affecting not only the teachers, but the children. It affects everybody in the rim because the child can’t learn at it’s potential. The teacher can’t teach the child at her potential and the counselors are just worn out. It’s just beating everybody up at one time,” said Graham.
News13 sat down with a counselor in the area who said there’s need not just in Florence but all across the state.
“It’s vital because if they’re not receiving that mental health support they are not going to be focused in the classroom,” said Dr. Misty Goodwin.
South Carolina lawmakers are working to use $2.2 million of their budget to put mental health professionals in every school by 2020.
