Counselling was one of the first identified needs of the community, as more and more gay men were beginning to come out and seek others with whom they could speak about their fears, doubts, and pressures.

One of the initial ventures was a voice mail help line, through which individuals could dial 9726912 and leave messages for the HST street counsellors. Yellow cards were printed with this number and distributed at various gay sites in Mumbai. A team of street counselors were set up in two groups in two different rounds of street counselling, the first had Ramesh, Rakesh and Prakash on it and the second had Sohail, Vivek and Prakash. The street counsellor essentially performed the job of providing first aid relief to the counselee. If the counselee needed any professional help he would be referred to Dr. Chitra Subramaniam for consultation at nominal fees.

This voice mail help line service continued till the year 2001 when a telephone help line and in house face- to-face counselling started.


Present Day Services

The HST has a three tier system of information dissemination/counselling MSM on social, legal and health issues.


'First-aid' community counselling

The community counsellor trained under a professional form the first tier of the system and is playing the role of first aid providers that was once handled by street counselors. However if the first aid is not working effectively the community counsellor refers the client to professional counsellor for a face to face counselling session at the HST centre counselling room. The professional counsellor at the HST has an in-depth dealing with the client and studies the problems being faced by the client.


HIV/AIDS pre test & post test counselling

Apart from community counselling HST offers pre-test and post- test counselling at its various VCTC's in Mumbai Metro. The counselling unit also includes professionals working on Nutrition, and the Mental Health of Positive as well Non Positive MSM clients.


Telephonic Counselling

The telephonic counselling deals with a spectrum of issues like sexual practices, health issues, information about Humsafar Trust, social issues such as gay marriages, marriage pressures from families, community support, harassment at workplace, problems with hustlers and cheaters and also with police personnel.