Hays County Health Department sets eyes on expansion

HAYS COUNTY — Since moving into a new building last year, the Hays County Health Department has been working to expand the resources and services it provides to the community.

At its Jan. 30 meeting, the Hays County Commissioners Court approved the creation of a behavioral health coordinator position within the health department. This is the first position created by the county to address mental health and substance abuse outside of the criminal justice system.

The Hays County Behavioral Advisory Team (BAT), which commissioners Debbie Ingalsbe and Walt Smith serve on, prioritized establishing a program or office that would be responsible for identifying and coordinating mental health resources available in the county. In the 2023 budget cycle, commissioners Michelle Cohen and Lon Shell shared their interest in the development of a county position that would address mental health. The end of the budget process kicked off work toward finding the funding that would create and define this position.

“This particular new position is going to be the center for trying to find different resources for the county, going through the [cities] and nonprofit organizations that will start collectively bringing these resources together in one place,” Cohen said, addressing the court at the Jan. 30 meeting. “If you’re an individual looking for mental health resources and your first thought is to go to the county, well if you’ve ever tried to navigate the website, there is nothing that will point you in that direction. The hope is that this position will do all that research and data gathering of what services are out there in our county that we can partner with and kind of bring together in one area.”

Commissioner Ingalsbe said that there are resources in the community, but people may be unaware of them all.

“We do have to have that opportunity to bring those resources together, so we can allow individuals and families to go to one place and not be looking all over to find those resources that are desperately needed,” she said.

Matthew Gonzales, manager of the Hays County Health Department, said that there have been several discussions surrounding the position prior to its creation — this includes ensuring that the title’s position encompasses multiple aspects of health.

“Behavioral health encompasses a lot of things that impact our mental health condition. There’s so many little things that go into an individual's own mental health that we really felt like it was important,” Gonzales explained. “There are different levels of mental health issues. You [could] have an individual dealing with, maybe on the easier scale, just daily anxiety. Whereas, you have some mental illnesses that can impact an individual where they can not perform in society, such as going to school [or it is] a repeat criminal offender and they're not getting the help that they need. Then, you also have people in crisis. So, I'm really excited to see that this position is going to be able to help all those three different pools of individuals.”

This position will help identify resources that will help a specific individual for whatever they may be going through. Gonzales said that oftentimes, when people think of mental health, they may automatically think that mental health treatment is the solution — but that’s not always the case.

“There's so many things that can go into an individual's mental health. Whenever we look at those social determinants — where they work, where they play and where they live — there are policies that can go into place at those places that make it a better environment for the individual,” Gonzales said. “For instance, maybe we figure out that individuals just don't have access to a park, where people can get daily exercise and feel comfortable and safe. That impacts an individual’s mental health, whether people understand it through direct correlation or not. I think that this position is so great because it's not just looking at the treatment of an individual, it's looking at all these different aspects of how environments and individuals contribute to their own mental health.”

The commissioners also approved a data program specialist position, which, according to Gonzales, will be able to help look at health trends across the county from a larger perspective.

The Hays County Health Department expanded to a new building, moving from 401 Broadway Street to 101 Thermon Drive in San Marcos, in 2023. Initially, Gonzales believed that it was going to take some time to fill all of the spaces in the building, but he was pleasantly surprised that it’s been the opposite.

“We're quickly filling this building up, which is great, because that means that we are actually getting funded, which is really important for public health and for our community. It means that we'll be more resilient in times of emergency. Things are shaping up, we're identifying our brand and we're creating this new sense of community within Hays County,” he said. “We’ve hired a new nurse, disease intervention specialist and a new event coordinator … We’re really trying to figure out, ‘We have sustainable funding and now that we have these positions, what other work can be done? In terms of the essential public health services, what are we missing?’ Behavioral health was one of those components and [sexually transmitted infections] were one of those components. So, we're slowly getting positions that will lay down the foundation to address those things.”

To learn more about the Hays County Health Department, visit www.hayscountytx.com/departments/local-health-department or follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HaysCountyLocalHealthDepartment.