About us

Welcome to Trellis HIV & Community Care (Formerly HARS), a safe space providing stigma-free HIV/AIDS education, harm reduction, and support services across Kingston and South Eastern Ontario.

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TAKING ACTION TO REMOVE STIGMA

Our Mission

Trellis HIV & Community Care provides comprehensive services including education, prevention, and support for people living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted bloodborne infections (STBBIs), in addition to advocating for broader social change to reduce stigma and discrimination.

Our Vision

Trellis HIV & Community Care is a leader in providing service user advocacy and innovative, high quality services for people living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Our Values

Anti-Stigma

Lived Experience

Dignity

Community

Harm Reduction

Social Justice

Commitment to principles

Download 2023 Impact Report

Greater Involvement/ Meaningful Engagement of People Living with HIV/AIDS

We acknowledge that Greater involvement of people with HIV/AIDS (GIPA) is never achieved once and for all; it is a goal and commitment that must be continually renewed. GIPA is a practice, not a project, and is similar to all other accountabilities of healthy HIV organizing and service delivery. Our practices in AIDS service organizations (ASOs) must be continually re-evaluated in light of the changing realities of HIV/AIDS and of those living with it.

Source: OAN.red

Anti Racism/ Anti Oppression

Used as an umbrella term that includes activities, practices, policies, ways of thinking, and initiatives that address oppression in all its forms (e.g. racism, homophobia, classism, ableism). Key to anti-oppression is an understanding that inequality and oppression exist in the world, and that all of us participate in unequal power dynamics in a variety of ways. Anti-oppression involves reflection and making choices about how to give, share, wield, or withhold power to assist and act in solidarity with people who are marginalized.

Source: ORGWISE.ca

We understand that we will never get to a world without HIV/AIDS without addressing anti-black racism and the oppression that contributes to higher susceptibility to HIV infection.

Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action

Each of us has a role to contribute to the process of reconciliation. Public dialogue and action on reconciliation must extend beyond addressing the history and legacy of the residential schools. If Canada is to thrive in the twenty-first century, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples must also thrive. This requires healthy communities and real economic and social change. National reconciliation involves building respectful relationships at the community level.

Source: TRC.ca

The Indigenous community is over-represented in HIV infections. Many of the people we serve identify as being Indigenous. We are committed to continuing to work to challenging and dismantling the oppressive impacts of colonisation.

Our History

1988 - Kingston AIDS Project (KAP) is incorporated

In response to the growing HIV/AIDS crisis in Canada, KAP is founded by a group of community-minded advocates to provide education to the community about HIV/AIDS as well as support to the growing number of people living with HIV in the Kingston area.

The ‘Keep Six’ Needle Exchange program poster.

1992 - Mounting AIDS-related deaths and “Keep Six”

AIDS becomes leading cause of death for Americans aged 25 to 44. The trend continues to 1996, when HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) becomes available.

The ‘Keep Six’ Needle Exchange program was formed in collaboration with StreetHealth Centre, becoming one of the first Needle and Syringe programs in Ontario.

Indoor image of the HARS reception area.

1998 - KAP becomes HARS

Kingston AIDS Project (KAP) becomes HIV/AIDS Regional Services (HARS) to reflect the growing scope of service outside of the City of Kingston to the counties of Hastings & Prince Edward (HPE), Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington (KFL&A), as well as the counties of Leeds Grenville and Lanark (LGL).

The Mobile Outreach truck. In front of the truck five team members are pictured alongside a table full of pamphlets.

2018 - UrWorx Mobile Harm Reduction Outreach

Thanks to funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the UrWorx Mobile Harm Reduction Outreach program launches, bringing harm reduction supplies, education and referrals to communities with less access to these life-saving programs.

Two women standing wearing hard hats outdoors in front of a facade under construction.

2020 - Integrated Care Hub (ICH)

In August 2020, HARS, in partnership with Street Health Centre (a part of Kingston Community Health Centres KCHC) opens the Integrated Care Hub (ICH) a low-barrier harm reduction centre for people who use substances and/or are experiencing homelessness.

2022 - HARS becomes Trellis HIV & Community Care

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic evolves and the work of the agency grows to include expanded Harm Reduction services and services to the 2SLGBTQ+ community, HARS is renamed Trellis HIV & Community care to acknowledge the organization’s history of providing support, education, and of advocating for broader social change to reduce stigma and discrimination.

Board of directors

April Stevens, Director
Brian McNeilly, Director
Cam Naish, Treasurer
Carolyn Smart, Secretary
Colin Ubdegrove, Vice Chair
James McCarthy, Director
Josh Roy, Director
Michael Yue, Director
Ted Robinson, Board Chair

Staff At Main Office

Amanda Girling (she/her) - Executive Director (Interim)
Brad Dies (he/him) - M4M Sexual Health Coordinator (GMSH)
Chris Bachand Lauko - Peer Support Worker
Diane Kearnan (she/they) - Volunteer & Facilities Coordinator
Diane Smith-Merrill - Prison Support Coordinator
Derek Van Alstyne (he/him) - Regional Harm Reduction Coordinator
Jessica Vallentgoed (she/her) - Harm Reduction Outreach Worker
Jo Staples (she/her) - Regional Support Coordinator
June Blackburn (she/her)- Harm Reduction Worker
Kelli McIsaac (she/her)- City Support Coordinator
Marika Swainson (she/her) - Harm Reduction Worker
Ruth Messier (she/her) - Financial Assistant
Shuying Chen (she/her)- Women and HIV Coordinator (WHAI)

Staff At Integrated Care Hub

Eliana Orrego (she/her) - Human Resources Coordinator
Jaycie Robinson (she/her) - Team Development Facilitator
Parker Robb (they/them) - Program Coordinator
Stephanie Bate (she/her) - Program Coordinator

Program partners

African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO)

The African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO) is a provincial organization that provides strategic leadership in response to HIV/AIDS in African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) communities in Ontario. ACCHO came into existence as a result of the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS within ACB communities due to anti-Black racism and other social and economic determinants of health. We are committed to facilitating systemic change that will amplify the voices and better the lives of ACB people living with, affected by, or at risk of HIV/AIDS. We respond to HIV/AIDS within ACB communities using an intersectional approach to our work, including the meaningful involvement and engagement of ACB people living with HIV/AIDS, a continually-evolving analysis of anti-Black racism and other overlapping systems of oppression.

Visit ACCHOs Website
Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance of Ontario (GMSH)

The Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance (GMSH) is a network of HIV/AIDS service organizations, whose mission is to support its members in building their own capacity, and the capacity among other service providers in their communities, to offer sexual health, HIV, and other services that meet the needs of cis- and trans-gender gay, bisexual, queer, two spirit and other men who have sex with men in Ontario. GMSH focuses its work around the following themes: - Sexual Health - Sexual Pleasure - Harm Reduction - Mental Health - Capacity building to better serve communities of guys who like guys.

Visit GMSHs Website
Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy (OAHAS)

The Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy was created by a steering committee composed of government representatives, researchers, community representatives and people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. The goal of the strategy is to provide culturally respectful and sensitive programs and strategies to respond to the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic among Aboriginal Peoples in Ontario, through promotion, prevention, long-term care, treatment and support initiatives consistent with harm reduction principles. The strategy is a provincially mandated AIDS service organization that provides outreach and support services, through regional outreach workers, to off-reserve Aboriginal Peoples who are living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Visit OAHASs Website
Women & HIV/AIDS Initiative (WHAI)

WHAI is a community-based response to HIV and AIDS among Cis and Trans women in Ontario. We take into account the structural and societal factors that increase women's risk factors for HIV. This initiative is located in 16 AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) throughout Ontario. WHAI focuses its work around the following themes: Stigma and Discrimination, Gender-based violence, Harm Reduction, Community and Emotional Wellness, Economic Insecurity, Women-centered Healthcare

Visit WHAIs Website