UCSF ALLIANCE HEALTH PROJECT

Our mission is to support the mental health and wellness of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and HIV-affected communities in constructing healthy and meaningful lives.The UCSF Alliance Health Project (AHP) combines the real-world knowledge of a community-based organization with the academic, research, and support strengths of a leading health sciences university.

• AHP is a pioneer in the creation of innovative HIV prevention and care programs
• AHP is the premier HIV-related and LGBTQ mental health service provider in San Francisco
• AHP is affiliated with the UCSF’s AIDS Program, the top-ranked AIDS program in the nation. (While affiliated with UCSF, AHP receives no program funding from the university. Your support is truly appreciated.)

To make a donation and learn more about ways you can help, please call 415-502-7276 or visit www.ucsf-ahp.org.

HIV Counseling and Testing (HCAT)

AHP has been providing HIV Counseling and Testing in San Francisco since 1985. We offer HIV Testing at our 1930 Market Street Services Center as well as at various mobile sites throughout the city. AHP’s HIV Testing phone line (415-502-TEST) serves as an entrance point for HIV/STD screening services citywide and serves more than 5,000 callers annually. AHP offers confidential drop-in testing, testing by appointment, rapid testing, RNA viral testing, and STD screening. Testing is offered during the day, in the evening, late night and on weekends.

LGBTQ Focused Mental Health Services

In 2011, AHP expanded its services to meet the mental health needs of the broader LGBTQ community by providing individual and group counseling to LGBTQ identified individuals living with serious mental illness. In addition to weekly and bi-weekly individual psychotherapy, we provide crisis and psychiatry services, substance abuse counseling and weekly support groups including groups for trans persons and queer women living with a physical disability. Our graduate-level training program has expanded to provide culturally competent training in the provision of mental health services to LGBTQ individuals.

HIV-Positive Support Groups

AHP’s Psychosocial Support and Prevention Services team offers over 20 support groups each week, providing more than 400 HIV-positive clients each year with a safe place to get the psychological and emotional support necessary to cope with HIV. Trained volunteers or AHP staff clinicians facilitate drop-in, time-limited and ongoing groups.

Counseling for People with HIV

Psychosocial Support and Prevention Services has integrated several innovative approaches into its individual counseling programs for people with HIV. Among these innovations are: brief psychotherapy and a groundbreaking model for training therapists to offer this approach, couples counseling and through our Considering Work Program individual counseling to support persons living with disabling HIV/AIDS in returning to work or other gainful activity.

Mental Health Crisis and Triage Services

Psychiatry, Assessment, Crisis and Triage Services is the only HIV-related mental health crisis program in San Francisco. The program also delivers psychiatric care to those with HIV and consultation to medical and social service providers and agencies working with HIV.

Substance Use Counseling

The ASAP team offers a range of substance use counseling services for LGBTQ individuals and those living with HIV/AIDS or struggling to avoid infection. With funding from two federal grants, ASAP addresses the impact of substance use on HIV risk among African American and Latino men who have sex with men. Both programs were developed to include mental health and HIV prevention services in the provision of substance use counseling and case management. ASAP provides case management services for patients at SFGH Ward 86 and facilitates two support groups. Both groups address the importance of a Harm Reduction approach to service access.

Training Program

For more than 25 years, AHP’s Training Program has drawn lessons from the experience of AHP’s pioneering front-line client services and transformed them into resources for HIV mental health, medical, and test counseling providers nationwide. AHP’s more than two dozen face-to-face and online trainings are interactive, process-oriented, and practical. They challenge participants to explore the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and cultural competence they need to counsel clients about issues such as sexual practice, risk-related behavior, and substance use. The Training Program is a key resource for the California Office of AIDS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research Program

AHP conducts a broad Research Program, collaborating with other investigators at UCSF and at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has designated an AHP-developed counseling intervention as an “evidence-based intervention” effective at reducing risky sex among gay and bisexual men at risk for acquiring HIV. AHP is exploring ways that our research can encompass the needs of the broader LGBTQ community, as well as ways to improve the dissemination of the interventions we have already developed.

Publications Program

Since 1985, AHP’s Publications Program has produced 20 books and newsletters on a wide range of psychosocial and counseling issues for mental health and medical providers. Many are considered standards in the field. The program published its well-regarded newsletter, FOCUS: A Guide to AIDS Research and Counseling from 1985 to 2011 and seminal books on counseling such as Face to Face: A Guide to AIDS Counseling, The UCSF AIDS Health Project Guide to Counseling, and the five-volume UCSF AIDS Health Project Monograph Series. It continues to publish HIV Counselor PERSPECTIVES, the first national newsletter for HIV test counselors.