The University of South Carolina has launched a new initiative to address critical mental health access gaps in rural South Carolina. Those seeking therapists in the region face months-long waits or must travel hours for care. South Carolina ranks 49th in the country for mental health access. The Rural Occupations Workforce Expansion program, called ROWE, is funded by the South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare and targets two major barriers: long travel times and provider shortage.
Recruitment and Training Strategy
The program’s success hinges on recruiting students who grew up in rural South Carolina and understand firsthand the challenges of accessing healthcare. ROWE will begin with 14 students over the next two years, training them to support current providers and prepare them for future careers in behavioral health. Training will include burnout prevention and suicide assessments. According to Dr. Candice Morgan, Assistant Professor at USC College of Social Work, financial barriers compound the crisis. “Many of the federally qualified health centers in the state have closed because their sliding scales have had to slide up a bit, and people can’t walk in the door and pay a $75 fee just to be seen,” she said. “It’s a vicious cycle because people need the services, but if they’re not capable of paying for those services, they might as well not show up at the door to ask for those services.”
Long-Term Goals
Program leaders aim to strengthen rural behavioral health access and ultimately reinforce the mental health workforce throughout the state. The true measure of success, they note, will be whether trained students remain in the Lowcountry and whether families finally gain access to needed services.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.live5news.com/2025/11/24/usc-program-recruits-rural-natives-address-lowcountry-mental-health-crisis/