McLennan County will begin partnering with the Baylor Psychology Clinic to offer psychological assessments and counseling services to local indigent health care clients.

It’s the first time the county’s Indigent Health Care program and the clinic, established in 2005, have partnered to offer the services to residents.

State law mandates that counties offer residents, who don’t qualify for other state or federal health care assistance programs, health care services through the county Indigent Health Care program.

Dr. John Klocek, Baylor Psychology Clinic director, said the office at 801 Washington Ave. is a community-based clinic serving the population of the area unable to get services elsewhere.

“Mental health services are just simply limited, especially if you don’t have the resources and insurance,” he said.

The clinic’s therapists and assessment clinicians are doctoral candidates in clinical psychology and licensed psychologists from Baylor University’s Department of Psychology and Neuroscience.

County Judge Scott Felton said having early detection of mental health-related issues by offering these screening processes to clients is a preventative measure for the county.

“They do an evaluation which could lead to further recommendations from that group for type(s) of medications or further evaluations at a mental hospital,” Felton said. “We struggle with the fact that we’re really not recognizing the mental health issue to the extent of how it affects us in the total community, financially and any other ways.”

Eva Cruz, the county’s health services director, said the assessments will help allow those with physical or mental disabilities to get approved for Medicaid or Social Security disability.

“We’ve seen a lot of clients lately that have mental health issues,” she said.

The county, with a population in excess of 241,000, has 402 eligible clients, she said. To be a part of the county-funded program to receive basic health care, clients must first meet state requirements for residency, income and resources, Cruz said.

An individual’s income must not exceed 21 percent of the federal poverty limit and the person must not own more than $3,000 worth of resources, including bank assets, vehicles or property. Once an individual’s eligibility is cleared, the county issues them a “Blue Card” that the resident can present at their regular physician or at the Family Health Center, where most are directed, she said.

The taxpayer-funded program provides basic health services, including three prescriptions a month, inpatient and outpatient hospital services, office visits, lab and X-rays, she said. Cruz said they saw a decline in people requiring the services after the Affordable Care Act became law because many of the clients became eligible for the regular Medicaid program.

Partnering with the clinic will help both parties, she said.

Filling out a Social Security disability application becomes much easier if there’s documented evidence of an individuals’s disability, which is an asset the clinic can provide, she said.

“We’d really like to be able to fill some of that need in the community,” Klocek said.

The clinic, like the county’s program, also works closely with the Family Health Center, making it a natural partnership, he said.