axess Sexual Health is celebrating the re-launch of ‘Butterfly’ – a sexual health clinic specifically for Trans and non-binary folk.
The free sexual health clinic opened its doors in both The Royal Liverpool University Hospital and The Arch at Knowsley on Monday 1st November. Passionate about delivering equity for the Trans community, axess have ensured that a comprehensive, confidential sexual health service for Transgender people has been at the forefront of their plans and they eventually hope to expand Butterfly across all of their regional services.
Butterfly will offer everything from testing (including 20 minute rapid HIV testing), treatment, contraception and sexual health advice and information for its patients. As well as this, patients can access vaccinations and HIV prevention treatment (PEP and PrEP) from both the Knowsley and Liverpool locations.
A patient of Butterfly pre-Covid, explains how the service has helped them: “Before coming to the Butterfly clinic I’d never really felt that comfortable discussing my sexual health or the type of sex I was having. Butterfly has given me more confidence to be myself and have also been able to refer me to other support services who have helped me with my transition.
“I no longer feel embarrassed to discuss my sexual health needs in a clinical environment and the staff are all reassuring, non-judgmental and friendly. The efforts made by the Butterfly Clinic are very much appreciated by the Trans community and, for myself, have been life changing.”
Speaking about the launch of Butterfly, clinic leader Hayley Holloway said: “As the lead for the Butterfly clinic I am really excited to finally get the clinic up and running again, and this time it’s going to be bigger and better. I have loved engaging with the community for the last two years and look forward to continuing to work in collaboration with them to improve their access to sexual health services”.
Butterfly is set up as an appointment only service, in order to make patient flow through the clinic more comfortable. Locations and opening times, plus further information about what the clinic offers can be found at www.axess.clinic and via the service’s social media channels on Twitter and Instagram (both @axess_sh)
