COLUMBIA, S.C. — October is National Depression and Mental Health Screening Month, and taking care of your mental health is just like keeping up with dentist appointments. That's the example Seth Scott, CIU counseling professor, gave.
He's the director of a brand new PhD program at CIU that began this fall, focusing on counselor education and supervision.
Scott explains right now in the state, there's a need for more counselors since people are retiring and aging out of the profession, adding that wait times to see a mental health professional are significant.
"We see that we need more counselors in the communities around us and so while we want to focus on creating those counselors, actually by training trainers of counselors, we can exponentially affect the availability and accessibility of counseling in the field," Scott said.
Scott explains that when fall comes around, it's important to check back in on your mental health.
"Once we hit October, a lot of people's schedules have stabilized. The business of summer is over, the holidays aren't quite here and so October, November do provide opportunity for people to get back into healthy rhythms," Scott said.
Here in the Midlands, kids under 18 can access an interactive mental health screener at hope.connectsyou.org.
There's also the Columbia Area Mental Health Center, NAMI of South Carolina and Richland School District 2 Family Intervention Services.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, contact DMH's Mobile Crisis Team at 833-364-2274.
"As tragedies strike, as you experience anxiety, trauma, depression, the world kind of shrinks in your view and you can only really see what's directly in front of you. One of the major functions of counseling is to help people see beyond what's directly in front of them, to expand their scope and their view," Scott said.