CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — The Charleston County School District is launching a new program tailored to help fill mental health needs for its younger students.
The new program is called THRIVE, which stands for Teaching Healthy Regulation, Independence and Vital Engagement. It is designed to support students with mental health and behavioral challenges.
The program uses small, specialized classes to help students stabilize emotionally and behaviorally before returning to their zone’s schools. It is open to students across the entire district.
Program structure and location
THRIVE will be housed at Liberty Hill Academy, which was selected for its central location to provide access to families across the district.
The program will offer four class groupings: pre-K and kindergarten, first and second grade, third through fifth grade and sixth through eighth grade. Each class will be capped at eight students, but school officials say they believe class sizes will adjust to meet their student and staff needs.
Funding and staffing
The program is funded by $984,910 in state and property taxes, allocated toward teacher salaries and student transportation.
Charleston County School District is also investing $3.2 million to expand mental health and behavioral specialist resources across every school in the district.
As a separate expansion, the $3.2 million will add 39 full time mental health and behavioral health specialists to give extra support to district schools.
Daniel Prentice, the district’s chief financial officer, said the all the additional funding will be balanced so that county residents won’t see a tax increase.
But, according to district officials, this program is specifically focused on helping students grow not only mentally, but academically.
“When students aren’t well, they can’t learn,” Lisa Allison, the executive director for support services, said.
Allison said the goal was to create a program that met academic expectations while also providing intensive clinical care and therapeutic support that cannot always be delivered in a traditional classroom model.
Sherry Bell, the executive director of the Department of Exceptional Children, said the program prioritizes behavioral stabilization as a prerequisite to academic success.
“That’s what we want for all of our students,” Bell said. “With this program, it is targeting regulation of behaviors, stabilization of behaviors. If a student is in crisis or having a variety of issues with their mental health and behavioral needs… then that has to be a priority.”
Bell added that addressing these behavioral needs is foundational to reaching academic goals.
“We can’t get to the root of the academics if we can’t get to the root of the behavioral issue,” she said.
Launch timeline and enrollment
THRIVE launches in fall at the start of the 2026-2027 school year. Enrollment is based on school recommendation and parent input. Families who believe their child could benefit from the program can provide that input as part of the referral process. Each student in the program will have an individualized timeline in the program based on how they are progressing.
The referral process is currently in development.
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