KINGSTON – The Ulster County budget provides for $900,000 to expand the mobile mental health team.
That now includes a full-time social worker at the county 911 center to provide counseling directly to people who may call in with issues, said County Executive Patrick Ryan.
“So that folks calling with mental health crises can, right in the same room, to speak to someone who is a trained expert in that and make sure that we are responding mental health crisis with the right response and we are also training all of our 911 operators to be more adept at answering those calls,” he said.
The 911 center has become the work location for the mobile team dispatcher, who has begun triaging telephone calls made to the team from residents seeking assistance. She has been providing telephone counseling to callers in acute need, as well as tracking the location of the mobile mental health teams to coordinate in-person, community responses to callers.
