CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — The Charleston County School District is marking Mental Health Awareness Day on Wednesday, encouraging students and staff across its 88 schools to wear green, start conversations and challenge the stigma surrounding mental health.
District leaders said the effort, held during Mental Health Awareness Month, is meant to reinforce that student well-being is a year-round priority and not a one-day campaign.
“Mental health is health. If children aren’t well, they can’t learn,” said Lisa Allison, the district’s executive director of student support services. “We are always supporting students’ well-being day-to-day.”
As South Carolina’s second-largest school district, CCSD serves a wide range of student needs. Officials say scale requires a flexible, individualized approach to mental health care.
Support can range from informal check-ins with trusted teachers to ongoing services provided by school counselors, social workers, psychologists and wellness coaches. Students may access help through partnerships with community organizations.
District officials say those resources are expanding. CCSD recently received a four-year school-based mental health grant of more than $5 million from the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen services as student needs continue to evolve.
“We use an integrated systems framework, a multi-tiered system of support so that we can evaluate and assess student needs and then meet those needs in varying levels of intensity,” Allison said. “It is our mission and goal to have a fit for every student and every family in CCSD, no matter what school they attend, what neighborhood they are from.”
Allison said that approach starts early and is designed to reach families wherever they are.
“Making sure that from our Early Head Start programs, our Head Start programs, our pre-K, CD, kindergarten that we really wrap around the whole family unit and the community to make sure that we reach families where they are, we meet them where they are, and we listen to their needs and then we provide those supports whether they are from in-school supports or whether they are from community providers,” she said.
She added that district leadership is focused on the whole child.
“We’re so proud of the commitment from our superintendent, from our board, from our leaders in our district to really support the whole child,” Allison said. “To make sure that kids are not just physically safe, but they’re psychologically safe because we know that in those environments they can thrive.”
The district also emphasized a shift in student needs in recent years.
“The needs have definitely shifted, especially when we think back to COVID,” said Shanequa Palmer, the district’s mental health and wellness systems coordinator. “A lot of times students didn’t necessarily have the support, and we wanted to make sure we have strong frameworks in place.”
Palmer said the district is focused on treating student well-being holistically.
“We recognize that mental health does not exist in silos, and we want to make sure that we recognize the whole child,” Palmer said. “Mental health does impact all aspects of a child’s life.”
She added that ensuring students feel supported is central to the district’s approach.
“It’s just reinforcing that students know that they’re not alone,” Palmer said. “Their teachers care, there’s the staff in the school, their principals, the admin staff, they all care about their well-being. They care about their academics, they care about how they show up to school and what happens in school. Just knowing that they have the support there is what we try to make sure that we focus on.”
Palmer also said support continues beyond the school year.
“If parents are recognizing some things around their students’ mental health, you don’t necessarily have to wait for the school year to start to get help, but reach out to the school teams,” Palmer said. “We also partner with community partners who then provide the support throughout the summer as well for students.”
She added that partnerships help reduce barriers to care.
“We have partnerships for telehealth services as well, so it definitely decreases the barrier for parents having to bring students into a counseling space,” Palmer said.
Palmer said caregivers should strive to pay attention to changes in behavior.
“If a parent or a caregiver sees that their child is being withdrawn or just a little bit different than they’ve been weeks prior to, that’s always a sign,” Palmer said. “It’s really about having the conversation with your child and opening up dialogue to talk about how they’re feeling. This can be daily check-ins parents and caregivers can do with students.”
She added that consistency and routine during the summer can also support student mental health.
The district is also making major changes in the upcoming school year by partnering with the Medical University of South Carolina to launch the THRIVE program, which will place students in smaller, specialized classroom settings designed to help them stabilize emotionally and behaviorally.
“We really think it’s going to fill a gap that we have to date had for those students who need really intensive supports that are difficult to provide in a traditional classroom model,” Allison said.
Palmer said the district is committed to equitable access.
“We want to be able to make sure all students, regardless of their background, who they are, where they come from, that they have access to these resources,” she said.
Leaders say mental health support must also be tailored by age.
“Mental health services are critical across the age span. It just looks different in its delivery,” Allison said, noting that high school students may need more direct engagement while younger children often require family-centered support.
To extend support beyond the classroom, CCSD is partnering with the National Alliance on Mental Illness to host two free virtual sessions for families at 6 p.m. Wednesday, one in English and one in Spanish. Sign-up information is available here.
Officials said the sessions are part of a broader effort to connect families with resources year-round. In urgent situations, leaders advise calling or texting 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
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