MIDDLEBORO — In his new position as Middleboro’s mental health director, Josh Porter plans to combine a listening ear and a clinician’s experience to reach out those who are facing challenges.

And no one is immune from them, Porter said of mental health-related struggles that can include cover a variety of issues, including homelessness, addiction, anxiety and depression.

“This isn’t an issue that just affects one population, one sector,’’ Porter said. “It affects everyone.’’

Porter is reaching out to the community so residents know he is available to talk to people in crisis and to provide resources to those who are struggling.

In his new job, which started July 1, Porter also hopes to continue to offer “mental health first aid training,’’ which he is certified to teach. He likens this training to CPR, in that participants learn how to help people in immediate crisis until trained responders arrive.

The key to this training, he said, is that people “recognize the signs and symptoms’’ of a person in crisis and the “steps you can take until the rescuers get there.’’

A major portion of his work involves offering support to members of the police department, who can reach out to him when they are dealing with police calls involving an individual who is struggling.

Mental health-related calls have increased “exponentially’’ in recent years, Police Chief Joseph Perkins said.

Early in his career, Perkins said, police had little option with someone who, for example, broke a window while in a mental health crisis. Arresting that person was “the only way out.’’  But, he said, “that’s not the answer’’ for a person who needs help.

Although the department has had a jail diversion clinician for several years in an attempt to those police encountered who needed support, the post was shared with other communities.

Having someone who can deal with this in “real time’’ can make a major difference, Perkins said.

Porter is also one of about a dozen town employees who meet monthly as members of a Mental Health Task Force to review methods to help the “at-risk members of our community.’’

The new town position, Town Manager James McGrail said, is funded by the town’s proceeds from the state’s 2021 resolution with opioid distributors and manufacturers on charges the public was misled about the addictive qualities of opioids.

Part of the settlement include more than $500 million to cities and towns to fund programs to prevent and treat addictions.

Porter’s position was recently transferred from the school department to under the town’s oversight, where McGrail said, the post was “better suited,’’ although Porter said he will remain available to the schools.

Porter acknowledged that not everyone will respond immediately to the available help. But he hopes to “plant a seed’’ so people know what services can be accessed “when they are ready to get help.’’

“I’m not going to solve it all,’’ he noted. But people deserve and need to be “seen, to be heard,’’ he said. “My goal is to be a resource.’’

Porter can be reached at MH@middleboroughma.gov.