Introduction to Kind Clinic Services
Mission
Kind Clinic offers free sexual health services in a safe and supportive environment regardless of race, creed, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or ability to pay. Founded in 2015 by community activists and volunteers, Kind Clinic is a national leader in innovative sexual health care that offers patients access to HIV prevention medication known as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis), HIV testing and care, STI testing and treatment, and gender-affirming care in Austin and San Antonio.
Kind Clinic is a program of Texas Health Action, a 501(c)(3) community informed non-profit organization dedicated to providing access to culturally affirming, quality health services in a safe and supportive environment with an expertise in serving LGBTQIA+ people and people impacted by HIV.
Locations
Services
PrEP & PEP Access
Gender Affirming Care
STI Testing & Treatment
HIV Testing & Care
Mobile HIV/STI testing
Virtual Appointments
Vaccines
Psychiatry
Insurance Navigation Assistance
Legal Assistance
General Wellness Exams
Safer Sex Supplies
All services are provided at no cost!
PrEP Care
What is PrEP?
PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is a once daily pill people who are HIV negative can take to continue to remain HIV negative.
Are there different types of PrEP?
There are two medications approved for use as PrEP:
Truvada and Descovy
Truvada is for all people at risk through sex or injection drug use.
Descovy is for people at risk through sex, except for people assigned female at birth who are at risk of getting HIV from vaginal sex.
Is PrEP safe?
PrEP is safe but some people experience mild side effects like diarrhea, nausea, headache, or fatigue. These side effects usually go away quickly.
PrEP Care
How effective is PrEP?
PrEP reduces the chance of transmission of HIV from sex up to 99.7% when taken as prescribed.
Although there is less information about how effective PrEP is among people who inject drugs, we do know that PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV by at least 74% when taken as prescribed.
How long do I have to take PrEP before it is highly effective?
PrEP reaches maximum protection from HIV for receptive anal sex (bottoming) at about 7 days of daily use.
For receptive vaginal sex and injection drug use, PrEP reaches maximum protection at about 21 days of daily use.
No data are available for insertive anal sex (topping) or insertive vaginal sex.
PrEP Care
At first visit, patients do lab work and meet with a clinician and Patient Advocate.
Prescriptions can be sent same day.
Help with signing up for medication assistance is available.
Patients are encouraged, but not required, to use one of our 340B partner pharmacies.
Patients come back every 3 months after initial appointment.
PEP Care
If you think you have been exposed to HIV, it is important that you start taking PEP as soon as possible. PEP is only effective within 72 hours of possible HIV exposure, so seeking professional help quickly after exposure is crucial.
PEP is an oral medication that helps the immune system fight off the HIV virus. By stopping the virus from replicating any infected cells in the body, any infected cells will eventually die off and the HIV virus is stopped.
Can be seen same day Monday-Friday
Our partnership with Walgreens or Avita allows patients to pick up medications same-day
Patient Advocates will sign the patient up for medication assistance - $0 Copay
On days that our clinics are closed, we've partnered with Ally Medical Emergency Room - Central Austin and Ally Medical ER South Austin to provide PEP services, as needed. To get your PEP prescription at no cost, mention you were referred for PEP via Kind Clinic and follow up with us for the remainder of your prescription upon our re-opening.
HIV Testing & Care
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. If HIV is not treated, it can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
How do I know if I have HIV?
The only way to know for sure whether you have HIV is to get tested. Knowing your HIV status helps you make healthy decisions to prevent getting or transmitting HIV.
Are there symptoms?
Some people have flu-like symptoms within 2 to 4 weeks after infection (called acute HIV infection). These symptoms may last for a few days or several weeks.
Possible symptoms include: Fever, Chills, Rash, Night sweats, Muscle aches, Sore throat, Fatigue, and/ or Swollen lymph nodes.
But some people may not feel sick during acute HIV infection. These symptoms don’t mean you have HIV. Other illnesses can cause these same symptoms.
HIV Testing & Care
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. If HIV is not treated, it can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
How do I know if I have HIV?
The only way to know for sure whether you have HIV is to get tested. Knowing your HIV status helps you make healthy decisions to prevent getting or transmitting HIV.
HIV is transmitted through the following bodily fluids:
Blood, breastmilk, vaginal fluid, and semen.
HIV Testing & Care
When taken as prescribed, HIV medications can decrease the amount of HIV present in a person's blood, or "HIV viral load", to be too low to measure. This is called being undetectable. Being undetectable prevents HIV from progressing and allows people to live long and healthy lives. It also protects the health of their sex partners.
People cannot pass HIV through sex when they have undetectable levels of HIV. This prevention method is estimated to be 100% effective as long as the person living with HIV takes their medication as prescribed and gets and stays undetectable. This concept known as Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U).
HIV Testing & Care
How it works
Become undetectable. This can take up to 6 months after starting HIV medication. Your health care provider will perform blood tests and let you know when you’re undetectable.
Stay undetectable. Get a second undetectable test result at least 6 months after the first. Continue to take your HIV medications daily and visit your health care provider regularly. They will monitor your blood tests to make sure you’re still undetectable.
HIV Testing & Care
We offer the most recent HIV testing technology and medication to our PrEP / PEP patients during initial and follow up appointments at no cost.
If you’ve been diagnosed with HIV, Kind Clinic can help. We want to walk with you through this journey, doing all that we can to make sure you are supported in your healthcare.
Thanks to advancements in medicine, we see great results in early treatment and adherence to medication. In some cases, the virus never touches the immune system.
Thankfully, treatments available today have less side effects and are more effective at fighting HIV than ever before.
The medication prescribed by your Kind Clinic provider can keep you healthy and greatly reduce your chances of transmitting HIV to future partners.
Once this treatment has begun, you will routinely visit our providers for check-ups so they can monitor your progress.
STI Testing & Treatment
We offer STI testing, diagnosis, and treatment to all of our patients and their sexual and needle-sharing partners at no cost.
We provide testing for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and hepatitis A, B, and C.
For testing, you will provide a urine sample, blood sample and/or swab from the genital area.
We also offer mobile testing services in the community at events and health fairs.
Additionally, we also offer walk in testing at our North Austin location Monday-Friday from 1-6pm.
Gender Care
We use an informed consent model. We give you the most current information we have about hormone replacement therapy, so you can make an informed choice about what to do with your own body.
Through our partnership with Out Youth we are happy to offer Transgender Wellness as an optional mental health service.
Through our partnership with Austin Medical-Legal Partnership we can also assist you with legal matters or requests like name and gender marker change.
At first visit - patients meet with a Patient Advocate, a Provider, and do lab work.
Same day prescription
We provide financial assistance for hormones.
Transgender Wellness Program
Transgender Wellness is a program of Out Youth that operates through the KIND Clinic to provide a full range of clinical and social support services to trans and non-binary adults. All current patients of KIND (and those on the wait list) are eligible for free counseling, a clinical process group, mentorship and Progress Support, which includes support with name and gender marker changes, looking for housing and employment, or other life challenges.
Additionally, all adult members of the trans and non-binary community are welcome at our weekly support groups and social events, and to use our Central Texas Trans Resource Guide.
Appointments
Visit our website: www.kindclinic.org to schedule an appointment online
OR
Call our Patient Support Center to schedule an appointment:
1-833-WE-R-KIND
(1-833-937-5463)
Services
TeleKind is a virtual resource for your at-home sexual healthcare and gender-affirming services.
We provide free quality HIV care, PrEP, and Gender Affirming care from anywhere in Texas through virtual visits with a clinician and a personal Care Navigator.
Test kits are mailed to you in discreet packaging via the US Postal Service (USPS) with prepaid postage for its return to the lab, or you can choose to do your labs in person at one of our partner labs.
We offer the convenience of receiving your medications by mail. We can also work with you if you prefer to pick up your prescriptions at a nearby pharmacy.
To get started visit my mytelekind.org/sign-up/ or call us at
1-833-GET-MYTK (1-833-438-6985)
Services
Waterloo offers high quality, affordable mental health counseling to the entire community and has an expertise in serving:
Services:
Fees are based on a sliding scale for people who are uninsured. Waterloo accepts many major forms of insurance, including Medicaid and Medicare.
To make an appointment, visit:
https://www.waterloocounseling.org/new-clients
Questions?