London Friend is excited to be working in a new partnership providing community sexual health support in Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, and Hammersmith & Fulham.
The new Support and Advice on Sexual Health (SASH) service is a partnership between Metro, Naz, Marie Stopes and London Friend led by Turning Point which opened its doors on Monday 3rd April. It will promote good sexual health in West London while continuing to offer accessible and responsive services to those with specific needs. These needs include HIV, specifically through closer links with HIV treatment services and additional education and employment support.
The service will be delivered from four main hubs, located at:
- Westminster – 209a Harrow Road, Westminster
- Kensington and Chelsea – Earls Court Health Centre, 2b Hogarth Road, London, SW5 0PT
- Westminster – 31 Wardour St, London, W1D 6PT
- Hammersmith and Fulham – 30 Blacks Rd, Hammersmith
A seamless service will be provided by a range of organisations, and there will be further advice and information available online for people to access outside of opening hours.
Service users will receive tailored support including general information and advice, peer support, group work, support for family and carers and complementary therapies.
SASH will work in close partnership with community reproductive health, contraception and STI screening services will be provided by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) from a new clinic at 7a Woodfield Road in the Westbourne ward and via GP surgeries in areas where they are most needed.
London Friend’s will lead on work with LGBT communities, which will include providing support to male, trans and other LGBT-identified sex workers with two new staff members joining our team who previously worked with the Terrence Higgins Trust’s SWISH service. The previous drop-in service provided by SWISH at the Earls Court Health Centre and 56 Dean Street will continue to operate as before.
Monty Moncrieff, Chief executive at London Friend said: ‘We’re excited to be joining the SASH partnership and leading on work with lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans communities. This will allow us to take a more holistic approach to wellbeing and good sexual health alongside our existing LGBT drug and alcohol service Antidote and our work on LGBT mental health.’
Gaby Price, Head of Operations at Turning Point said: ‘We are really excited by this new opportunity to build on our already substantial substance misuse health & wellbeing services. We are looking forward to working with our subcontractors and bringing together our collective expertise to deliver sexual health services.’
Dr Greg Ussher, METRO Charity CEO said: ‘We are delighted to be extending METRO’s service offering in the City of Westminster, the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, drawing on over 30 years’ experience of delivering sexual health promotion, HIV prevention and HIV support. We believe in truly embracing difference across sexuality, gender, equality, diversity and identity to ensure the best services and support for everyone.’
A spokesperson from NAZ said: ‘NAZ is delighted to be delivering Sexual Health and Wellbeing Services as part of the SASH consortium to residents across the three boroughs. Based in Hammersmith & Fulham for over 25 years, NAZ has been serving local residents across the three boroughs for just as long. We look forward to working with our partners in SASH to deliver a rich breadth of services for local communities.’
Vix Proctor, Head of Communications and Marketing at Marie Stopes UK said: ‘We are really looking forward to being part of this innovative partnership with other leading health service providers. SASH will greatly improve access to sexual health services and information for men and women living in these three London boroughs.’
For more information, visit http://wellbeing.turning-point.co.uk/sexualhealth/
To get in contact with the service, call 020 7851 2955, or email info@SASHLondon.org.uk.