MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Charlotte area school districts continue increasing funding for mental health resources.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) was recently awarded a $60,000 grant to support mental, well-being and behavioral health components. The grant helped fund calming rooms for staff, and students at several schools.
The money comes from the Strong Schools NC COVID-19 Testing Program.
Many investments in mental health in the past three years have been made possible by federal COVID-19 dollars, but this funding is not permanent.
Some advocates say more state and local funding is still needed.
A CMS social worker is seeking solutions to get lasting mental health help for students. Carrie Bushell, a social worker at Hough High, put together the school's first mental health summit.
"Last school year, I saw there was a need post-pandemic for mental health services at our school and it's so limited as to what services we can provide as a school," Bushell said. "So I felt that if we could put something together to offer all the students that it will kind of you know, build and help our student population and even some of our staff."
During their day at school, students could choose mental health sessions that ranged from yoga, playing in sand, and coloring.
"I was just hoping the students would learn the signs and symptoms of depression and or anxiety, and learn some coping skills to try to deal with them," Bushell said.
Xavier McIntyre, a CMS senior, wasn’t sure what to expect when he stepped into the makeshift yoga room in his school’s cafeteria.
About 500 students responded to the school's optional opportunity to participate in the summit.
"I just needed to relax and everything just my mental and everything," McIntyre said. "Make sure I'm good and everything."
The students were greeted, and embraced by calm music, calm voices, and calming tactics by a local yoga studio.
"A little bit of movement, a little bit of breath work," Brian Ethridge, Tejas Yoga Lab founder and certified yoga therapist, said. "And how to take that from here to the classroom, take it home, take it to sports, take it to anything they're doing in their world."
Students learned how to identify stress and dispel it through a number of mediums like talking, music, activities, and movement.
McIntyre said he believed some adults don't empathize or take seriously the stress students are facing.
"It can be stressful because you might have like plenty of AP (Advanced Placement) classes that they do and try to figure out how to get into college and stuff like that," McIntyre said.
Bushell said she works with students every day and many times the resources provided can’t match the great need. She'd like to see student mental health become a community priority.
"We're losing students because of mental health issues," Bushell said. "Yeah, it's real with our teenagers. So pay attention to your babies, pay attention to those students in your neighborhood. If something looks off, then let somebody know."
Bushell said she's looking to expand the summit.
"'My big pie-in-the-sky goal is to eventually have it where it's a Saturday and we can go maybe down to the Charlotte Convention Center and have like a whole big mental health day for our CMS students," Bushell said.
Hough High School's mental health summit could be used as a blueprint to help other schools create their own program within the district in the short term.
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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