CLERMONT, Fla. — May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Spectrum News is highlighting an issue people are facing in Central Florida.

National data shows rural areas suffer from a severe lack of mental health resources, and it's a problem one Lake County therapist is trying to help solve.

Music can bring out different emotions in different people. For Sandi Burchfield, owner of Family Life Counseling Center, it is more than just notes on a keyboard, it’s a pathway to the human heart.

“Music is something that goes in your ears that you can’t really control how it affects your emotions," she said. "It’s a very safe way to get in touch with your emotions."

Getting in touch with your emotions is more important now than ever, Burchfield said, especially in rural areas like Lake County. The National Library of Medicine reports 60% of rural Americans don’t have adequate access to mental health resources.

"Historically, there’s been such a need because there’s not been very many professionals who live in this area," Burchfield said. "For them to commute out of the city and into the country, it’s been difficult."

Burchfield would know — she was born in Eustis and raised in Tavares. After college, she started working as a case manager at the Florida Department of Children and Families.

It was there she saw a greater need in her community.

“A lot of kids with trauma were not getting mental help," she said. "I was getting frustrated and irritated, but getting that burning desire of, 'We need more here,' especially because this was my hometown."

So she became that needed change. She went back to grad school and became a family and marriage counselor. 

“I’ve seen this skyrocket of the need here," Burchfield said. "We now carry a wait list that’s probably 3 months long."

“The people who desire the mental health treatment, who desire the support, they can only wait so long before the issues become a crisis," she continued. "If we don’t get the help sooner than later, then those smaller issues become complex issues that turn into a crisis, which now can affect the whole community through suicide and homicide."

She hopes more counseling practices open in Lake County, and that they make it affordable for residents to receive the help they need.

If you or a loved one needs helps, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s free helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.