County government is continuing its drive to boost the community’s mental health infrastructure with a new program that will provide on-site counseling and case management services at middle schools in all nine Ulster County school districts. The $1 million effort will begin in the 2022-23 school year.

The Ulster County Mental Health in Schools initiative, endorsed by County Executive Pat Ryan and approved unanimously by county lawmakers on Tuesday, would allocate $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act and opioid settlement funding. The money will fund a contract with a nonprofit organization to place teams consisting of a licensed social worker or mental health counselor and a care manager in schools. The teams will support existing school-based counseling programs which, Ulster County BOCES Superintendent Charles Khoury said, have been stretched to the limit and beyond by a pandemic-related surge in mental health issues in youth.

“The past two years have taken a toll on all of us, perhaps no group more than the almost 24,000 students who attend school every day in Ulster County and their families,” said Khoury in a statement announcing the program on Wednesday. “There has been a significant uptick in the number of students and families who need mental health, social and emotional support.”

The Mental Health in Schools program will offer a range of services, including face-to-face counseling sessions with students, either alone or with their parents or caregivers. The mental health teams will also coordinate their efforts with school staff and connect students and families with outside social services and other programs. The program will be voluntary; youth and their caregivers must give their consent to participate.

The school-based initiative is the latest effort by the local officials to address a pandemic-related mental health crisis in the face of dwindling local resources. Earlier this year Ryan, with backing from the legislature, re-established the county Department of Mental Health a decade after it was merged into the county health department as a cost-cutting measure. County lawmakers have also approved a plan to establish a crisis intervention center at a building of former medical offices adjacent to HealthAlliance Hospital’s Broadway campus. The center will serve as a 24/7 resource for people and families experiencing mental health or substance abuse-related crises.

In Kingston, the Common Council has approved a plan by Mayor Steve Noble to establish a mobile mental health crisis response team to provide a non-police alternative for dealing with mentally ill subjects in situations that do not involve serious crime or a threat to public safety.