One of the first organizations to recognize the importance of addressing
mental health needs of people living with HIV/AIDS marked 30 years
of service with a recent reception at its Market Street offices in San
Francisco.
According to its publications, the UCSF Alliance Health Project
recognized early on that the HIV/AIDS epidemic had a devastating
psychological impact on people. It was among the first organizations to
emphasize mental health and wellness and to provide emotional support
and therapy to HIV-positive and HIV-negative people, as well as their
loved ones.
Today, AHP’s services include case management, individual and
couples counseling, and psychiatry. It also provides education and
training in addition to its HIV/AIDS publications. Support groups are
available for lesbians with disabilities, people coping with trauma,
transgender folks, the newly positive, men over 50, and LGBTQ folks
coping with sex and sobriety.
AHP has an annual budget of just under $8 million, said spokeswoman
DK Haas. It serves about 6,500 unduplicated clients, and that figure
includes HIV tests and provider training that AHP is contracted to do
around California.
The agency’s longtime executive director, Dr. James Dilley, reflected on
its growth over the years at the March 21 event.
“A friend of mine asked me what it is like to be part of an organization
that has gone from those early days to today, and my answer was
gratitude,” Dilley said. “And, as Hillary Clinton famously said, ‘it takes
a village.’ That is certainly true not only in raising a child, but in raising
an organization.”
Another speaker was AHP medical director Dr. George Harrison, who
said that he couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.
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