COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) - One of Georgia's United States Senators made a stop in Columbus Tuesday morning at one local elementary school to push new legislation.
Students and staff at Dorothy Height Elementary School were thrilled to welcome Senator Raphael Warnock on campus to unveil a new mental health resource package.
Warnock says the legislation is aimed at fighting Georgia's mental health crisis, with multiple angles and acts.
A few of those acts include: Improving Access to Tele-Behavioral Health Services Act, Crisis Counseling Act, and the Behavioral Health Coordination and Communication Art.
However, what brings Warnock specifically to Dorothy Height, a Muscogee County School District elementary school, is the "Advancing Student Services in Schools Today Act."
The Senator says this legislation would establish new grant programs to hire and retain mental health providers in Georgia schools.
"People are hurting as they are clawing their way back from this pandemic, as they're dealing with the stress of putting their children in school, dealing with virtual learning, in-person learning," Sen. Warnock said. "Wondering what's going to happen from one day to the next. So that's trauma layered on top of whatever trauma people already have."
Warnock adds the announcement at Dorothy Height was just as intentional as it was important, while reflecting on his days in school.
"I have been working on these kind of issues for years," Sen. Warnock said. "When I was in high school I was a teen peer counselor and our local health department actually trained teenagers to listen to their peers in order to hear if they were going through some crisis, to get them some help or to provide support, so I've been thinking about these issues for year."
The senator's office confirms the new mental health legislation will officially be introduced tomorrow on Feb. 23.
After leaving Columbus, Sen. Warnock is expected to make a stop in Atlanta this afternoon to highlight his role in lowering gas prices in the peach state.
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