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Cabarrus County school leaders pushing general assembly to help improve mental health in schools

Data from the district shows Cabarrus County does not have the recommended staffing to help address the well-being of students.

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Cabarrus County school leaders are working to ramp up mental health resources for students, with data showing the ratio of students to counselors is drastically lagging behind.

"We're sitting at one social worker to every 1,144 students, and we're supposed to be one to 250," the school district said. "There is a capacity issue."

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They say the goal is to ensure no students are being left out, and that there are enough psychologists and social workers to evenly cover buildings.

"The social workers and psychologists can't be there because we don't have enough of them to have them staffed one per school," the district said. 

Officials say right now they're seeing a youth mental health crisis, and they're working to meet the needs of each and every student.

"We just need some support, we want to make sure that we're addressing it in the best interest of our students and families every single day," the district explained. 

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The district said as they work to staff up and adjust to the crisis, they also want to get back to implementing more prevention methods in efforts of reaching students early.

Contact Tradesha Woodard at twoodard1@wcnc.com and follow her on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram. 

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