Mental health got a standing ovation at the General Assembly's opening session Wednesday, when Governor Lamont turned the two words into a brief chant. Senators and representatives were applauding because they agree that an urgent, pandemic-related mental health crisis is still proliferating and is particularly visible in schools.

Legislative committees met ahead of opening day to continue work begun in the last session. They were collecting evidence and hearing testimony to help write laws to address the lousy, rotten effects of Covid-related insecurities among young people and adults.

I hate it that so many kids are having such a rough time dealing with dislocation caused by the pandemic. Do the math on what fraction of a 12-year-old's life has now been spent under the stress of Covid, and the number is just so saddening. Twenty-four out of 144 months comes to one-sixth of a young lifetime.

Fortunately, there is consensus on both sides of the aisle and from the governor's office that emotional and behavioral health issues among children and adolescents must be a top priority. The administration's budet proposal includes millions for resources that were needed well before Covid, such as a new 12-bed psychiatric unit at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford and options so pediatricians can avoid sending kids in crisis to a local hospital Emergency Department.

That's a start for the most acute cases, but many more school-age children and adolescents are living with persistent mental health malaise that is affecting how they learn, concentrate, eat, sleep, play and get along with others. Superintendents and principals continue to report unmet needs for individual counseling, just as they did when schools first reopened. The effects also add up; one child's unhappiness can make it hard for a whole classroom to learn.

On the eve of this year's session, members of the southeastern Connecticut delegation told The Day that mental health, particularly resources for children, was either their top priority or close to it. After release of the budget proposal Wednesday, they were glad to see more than $53 million dedicated to minors' mental health needs. Some worried, however, about the lack of funding for social services non-profits, which have been pleading for years for adequate funding. Clinics and counseling services provide staffing for many schools. Agencies continue to be underfunded for the costs of delivering services, despite increased need, inflation, and loss of staff due to overwork and poor pay.

In their budget deliberations, lawmakers should identify ways and means for supporting social service programs and providers. Federal funding that has been used to increase counseling in schools only has one more year to go, and the indications are that some students will need all of that or longer to recover their equilibrium.

Having services available in school gives many families access they would not otherwise have. For students who need more intensive mental health care, legislators need to work on adding eligibility in family insurance plans. The governor's proposed health care program, released Thursday, expands access but not necessarily coverage.

As troubling as it is to know that children and teenagers need help and not be able to provide it immediately, there is one obstacle we can be glad these students don't have to face. In recent years, mental health issues have been progressively losing secrecy they once carried. The Greatest Generation, as truly great as they were, kept their anxieties and traumas to themselves, sparing others their own angst but sending a message that strong people did not need help.

That message suited the times, but each generation needs to adapt to changing challenges. Now, counseling is understood for what it can do. When sorrow strikes a school community, we have grown to expect that counselors will be available for any child or adult who wants to talk.

That's healthy, and students now are in a parallel situation. Covid is a sorrow, the pandemic a painful episode that lingers. Where is the light at the end of this tunnel? Kids need to know.

Lisa McGinley is a member of The Day Editorial Board.