/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/I3XLZAESANEQDKFVJ6UJ2YJ7T4.jpg "Lowcountry hospital holds event for Mental Health Awareness Month")
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – One in five U.S. adults experiences mental illness each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Sunday officially marked the beginning of May and the beginning of National Mental Health Awareness Month.
During the day, Trident Medical Center, a hospital in North Charleston, held its first “Pinwheels for Mental Health Event.”
The pinwheels represent individuals and families battling mental illness.
“We are the air to the pinwheel,” Michelle Whittier, director of the hospital’s behavioral health program, said. “The air brings life to the pinwheel, and that’s how we see our role in helping our patients. We want to help them regain their life.”
Research indicates more than half of the people with a mental illness in the U.S. did not receive any treatment in the last year.
“Any of us, based on life’s journey and experiences, will go through and will be experiencing some form of mental illness throughout their lives,” Mark Hood, a member of the Trident Medical Center’s behavioral health team, said. “There is no profile. It’s all of us.”
For mental health emergencies, the Charleston Dorchester Mental Health Center crisis call center can be reached at (843) 414-2350.
Trident Medical Center says they are working on a new freestanding 60-bed behavioral health hospital.
It’s scheduled to open in the spring of 2023.
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