Waterloo Counseling Center to become a program of Texas Health Action

Today, the Austin nonprofit Texas Health Action (THA), announced its new vision to provide affordable, high-quality integrated sexual and behavioral health services in 2021. Waterloo Counseling Center, a local nonprofit provider of counseling services, will become a program of Texas Health Action alongside its established program Kind Clinic, which provides sexual healthcare.

The announcement comes after affirmative votes from both boards of directors. The announcement builds upon an existing partnership that currently offers low-cost mental health counseling from Waterloo Counseling Center for Kind Clinic patients.

Texas Health Action will host virtual town halls for Waterloo Counseling Center clients, Kind Clinic patients and community members on Sept. 14 and 16. The community is invited to ask questions and offer feedback to inform the integration of services.

Local activists founded Waterloo Counseling Center in 1983 to provide mental health services for the LGBTQIA+ community, people living with HIV/AIDS and their loved ones. Services now include counseling for people experiencing trauma, depression or anxiety.

Similarly, Texas Health Action formed after a small team of passionate community members and providers combined forces to open Austin’s first clinic focusing on the HIV prevention medication known as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) for LGBTQIA+ people and their allies. That clinic, now known as Kind Clinic, offers sexual health services including access to PrEP, HIV-related care, STI testing and treatment, and gender-affirming care.

Waterloo Counseling Center will retain its name after officially becoming a program of a Texas Health Action and will continue to offer its services from their current location in North Austin or through telehealth appointments.

The exploration of this integration was made possible in part by The Austin Together Fund, which was created from the idea that nonprofit organizations in Central Texas could reach more people in need with stronger services and increased efficiency. Read more at AustinTogetherFund.org.

For more information about counseling services at Waterloo Counseling Center, visit WaterlooCounseling.org.

For more information about sexual health services at Kind Clinic, visit KindClinic.org

Media Contacts:

Kat Griffith or Laura Bowman
kgriffith@echristianpr.com, 512-797-4002
lbowman@echristianpr.com, 512-913-6624

Elizabeth Christian Public Relations

Sept. 14 at 6:00 PM

Sept. 16 at 7:30 PM

We want to hear from you. Please join us for one of two virtual town halls where you can ask questions and share your ideas for integrated mental and sexual health services. Please fill out our community survey here. In the meantime, here is a list of FAQs that may be helpful about our vision for truly integrated care, expanded access, and our new possibilities together.

About five years ago, a small team of volunteers combined forces to open Austin’s first clinic focused on PrEP. It would later become Kind Clinic, the first program of Texas Health Action. Since then, we have expanded our sexual health services to include HIV-related care, gender-affirming care, STI testing and treatment, vaccines, telehealth and more. While Kind Clinic has some partnerships with others to provide counseling services for patients, information on counseling services are the additional services our patients ask our advocates for the most.

So, it is our great pleasure to announce that Waterloo Counseling Center (WCC) will officially become a program of Texas Health Action alongside Kind Clinic in 2021 with integrated mental health and sexual wellness services. WCC will retain its name and the staff our community has come to know and trust.

For those of you who don’t know, WCC was created in 1983 to respond to the counseling and health needs of people living with HIV and AIDS in our area. So, we are humbled that they have chosen to become a program of THA.