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FLORENCE — The City of Florence will light the City Center green May 23 to raise mental health awareness. Awareness events such as lighting buildings take place periodically throughout the year to raise awareness for many different issues, Florence Planning Director Jerry Dudley said. "We all have been personally affected or know someone affected by mental health issues, so it’s critical to bring awareness to the issues,” Dudley said.

Green is the color chosen to symbolize struggles with mental health because it is a calming color, according to the Mental Health Foundation . According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mental illnesses are among the most common health conditions in the United States. More than one in five people ages 13 to 18 have had a seriously debilitating mental illness during their life.



Story continues below About one in 25 U.S. adults lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression, according to the CDC.

"Mental health is just as important as someone's physical health. For me, these two things impact one another," said Pee Dee Mental Health Center Counselor Katina Fisher. Fisher said people once didn't take mental health issues as seriously as other health issues.

Sometimes they were even taboo. That's begun to change in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet there's still work to do, she said.

"It will always have a certain level of taboo I believe, but I do think it's been more ac.

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