Innovative Ulster County Program Nets State Mental Health Recognition

By Joe Mahoney
Contributing Writer

KINGSTON -- Connecting children dealing with emotional and behavioral needs to services that would benefit them is one of the primary objectives of Ulster County's Child System of Care Committee.

The program, which works closely with schools throughout Ulster County, is now being championed by the state Office of Mental Health. The agency presented it with a "What's Great in Our State" System of Care Award at events held during Mental Health Awareness Month, celebrated in May.

The system of care approach in Ulster County includes a range of stakeholders from county government and local schools. It has been built brick by brick over the years, continuing through state funding losses, and is now supported fully by the county government, officials noted in a recent interview.

"It's really taken off with our schools," stressed Tara McDonald, the Commissioner of the Ulster County Department of Mental Health.

The state award, McDonald observed, is a positive development on all fronts, especially if it results in more local entities seeking to join the system of care.  "There are still people not at our table we would like to see at our table," she pointed out.

State officials praised Ulster County for creating a ground-breaking program with Lasalle School in Albany to provide every middle school in Ulster County with service slots staffed by a therapist and care manager. Care is provided at no cost and barriers related to insurance, transportation, and stigma have all been reduced. In 2025, the state Office of Mental Health reported, the program operated at 95 percent capacity, with 87 percent of participants successfully connected to longer-term support and 82 percent achieving at least half of their treatment goals.

“Ulster County’s Child System of Care Committee brings together providers to collaborate on innovative strategies aimed at closing gaps and more effectively delivering care to our families,” Ann Sullivan, commissioner of the state agency said.

Working on issues related to children and families, the System of Care Committee is a component of Integrated Ulster, a partnership of organizations dedicated to addressing the complex needs of individuals. The committee embraces a universal approach for service providers that is billed as "welcoming, accessible and capable of providing person- and family-centered care that is recovery-oriented, trauma-informed and culturally responsive."

"Collaboration is the bread and butter of everything we do," said Katrina Williams, the Deputy Commissioner of the county Mental Health agency. "It's all about relationships. It's about how we can leverage our resources to make things better for everybody."

The system of care framework, she said, has been the cornerstone of the county's agency approach to its mission since 2018.

In the partnership with Lasalle School, teams of mental health clinicians and case managers work directly in all of the county middle schools to provide direct support to young people and their families.

Playing an important role with Ulster County's System of Care is Erica Petosa, who is the coordinator of the children's Single Point of Access (SPOA) program, which provides guidance to parents and children needing support services for their families. Petosa has also facilitated admissions into programs for youth in need of significant mental health services.

She said she has seen the emotional impact on youths whose schooling was interrupted by the COVID epidemic, as well as the stress and other emotional impacts that frequent involvement with social media and violent video games have had on some children.

Oftentimes, families can have their questions efficiently resolved simply by calling the SPOA office.

"On the SPOA end," Petosa said, "I can take a call from a parent who's really struggling and needs some just surface-level advice on where to go for help before going through the whole process of SPOA. We're here to help, and we're here to connect Ulster residents to what they need."

Meanwhile, Ulster County is on the road to strengthening its behavioral health system, using the data from a recently completed needs assessment that drew on input from more than 200 community members, including individuals who were experienced in navigating mental health and substance abuse services.

The county government leader thanked Commissioner McDonald and her team for working to improve the lives of local residents.

Said McDonald,“By listening to residents and grounding our work in data, we are identifying practical, forward-looking steps to strengthen access, improve coordination, and ensure services are equitable across Ulster County.”