A New Partnership: Untold and Kijabe Hospital Expand Client Care
HIV/AIDS affects the lives of Untold clients in countless ways. Often, field staff engage with clients who would benefit greatly from expert psychological care and medical interventions beyond what is available within our centers. Untold’s newest partnership with AIC Kijabe Hospital, based in Nairobi, Kenya, is the bridge that will connect clients in need to that specialized care while also providing ongoing training for Untold staff. This life-changing service strengthens our program and invests in the very people that make our work possible.
Kijabe shares our belief of accessible care for all and will come alongside our local Untold centers to provide exemplary medical support to both staff and clients. Our team is incredibly motivated by Kijabe’s mission to provide holistic care that fosters hope, and we are grateful for the ways God is working to provide for Untold centers through this partnership.
Untold’s 2025-2027 Beyond Measure Campaign aims to create even more pathways to flourishing for every client we serve, as well as their families and communities. As part of this campaign, we are looking to expand the physical and mental health care provided to clients. Each Untold center has a fund set aside to address the physical needs of clients, which include hospital visits, surgeries, and medications. In this next season, Untold will expand this initiative to include referral services for psychiatric care, as well as preventative screenings for HIV-related cancers and other common co-occurring infections.
A strategic partnership with AIC Kijabe Hospital, which began in September 2025, will provide several of these services. Kijabe is a world-class mission hospital located on the outskirts of Nairobi, providing compassionate healthcare and top-tier medical training. Untold’s partnership with Kijabe Hospital is the end result of a deeply intentional relationship built on a joint mission to support the people of East Africa in their physical and emotional health. Kijabe’s specialization in HIV care makes them uniquely suited to partner with Untold’s mission.
Kijabe will serve alongside Untold on two levels — providing medical services to Untold clients, and continuing medical education to Untold center staff.
Referrals
While Untold center staff excel at supporting our clients emotionally and medically, we recognize that certain psychiatric concerns need professional intervention. Untold strives for each client to have access to the life changing support they deserve, and Kijabe Hospital is uniquely equipped to provide necessary psychiatric medical services within the context of clients’ cultural backgrounds.
“With our new curriculum, we were very aware it would be more likely for psychiatric needs to pop up naturally and we wanted to make sure we had a way to meet those needs if and when that happened,” said Director of Programs Chelsea Walker.
Kijabe has agreed to take complicated case referrals at a highly reduced cost. Center staff across East Africa can now refer and cover the cost of care for clients who need acute physical and mental health interventions in cases that may include substance abuse, extreme anxiety, or suicidal ideation. The range of psychological support services Kijabe provides to Untold include on-site therapy, teletherapy, and psychiatrist reviews.
Access to these services can be truly life changing for Untold clients. We know that medical challenges, such as HIV/AIDS, affect every aspect of a person’s life, including their emotional health. Therapy and psychiatric services from licensed professionals will equip the men and women we serve to flourish mentally and emotionally, leading to strengthened relationships and a healthier sense of self.
Staff Training
A pillar of Untold’s ministry is to invest in upskilling and continuing the education of our staff, in order to maximize each individual’s ability to support clients holistically. The Kijabe partnership will support Untold’s internal team in doing this work.
Alongside medical care, Kijabe Hospital provides medical training programs to produce highly skilled medical professionals in East Africa. In 2024, the U.S. and African Untold leadership teams met with Kijabe’s clinical team that runs these programs. They agreed that these continuing medical education (CME) sessions would profoundly enhance the abilities of Untold’s center staff to care for clients. CME topics teach staff basic counseling skills and how to recognize common mental health disorders, including major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The partnership agreement will make Kijabe clinicians available as mentors and clinical supervisors to small groups of Untold field staff. Additionally, the Kijabe team will conduct annual training with our field teams to ensure we have access to the latest best practices and resources for servicing men and women living with HIV.
Training from licensed medical professionals will give our center staff greater confidence in their abilities to respond well to the range of emotional and psychological experiences that come up in one-on-one therapy sessions with clients. As Untold staff continue to serve and honor the dignity of each client and their stories, we believe that Kijabe’s CMEs will strengthen the trust in every client–staff relationship.
Partnership is the root of so much of Untold’s work, and our formal partnerships provide our center staff with greater capacity to support each client physically, spiritually, emotionally, and financially. We are so grateful for the work our partners do to embrace and equip our clients alongside our staff, and are thrilled to continue building this fruitful relationship with Kijabe Hospital.