By Olivia, AFM’s Client Services Manager
One of our internal goals for 2026 has been to strengthen our relationships with clinic partners so we can improve communication, deepen collaboration, and ultimately provide more seamless support to clients.
Strong clinic partnerships help ensure that we understand the experiences and needs of the people we serve, while also making it easier for clinic staff to connect clients with us when they need logistical or funding assistance.
To support this goal, the Client Services team has been making time to connect with clinic partners both virtually and in person. So far, we have toured Femi-Care, Potomac Family Planning, and Gynemed clinics in person and have held virtual meetings with ROXY Clinic and CARE Clinic. Every other month, we also have the opportunity to meet with office managers from Planned Parenthood of Maryland locations across the state, creating an ongoing space to share updates and address questions. These visits have offered our team insights that are difficult to gain from a phone call or email alone.
At Potomac Family Planning, for example, we saw how the physical environment can contribute to a client’s experience. Comfortable seating, gender neutral artwork throughout the space, and dimmer lighting help create a calm and welcoming environment. Potomac features all of this, in addition to thoughtful places where clients and their loved ones can wait for appointments and recover afterwards.
Strong clinic partnerships help ensure that we understand the experiences and needs of the people we serve, while also making it easier for clinic staff to connect clients with us when they need logistical or funding assistance.
Our virtual meeting with ROXY Clinic gave the team a better understanding of an important option within Maryland’s reproductive healthcare landscape. ROXY provides clients with the option to access abortion pills by mail in an entirely virtual setting and ships the medication directly to the client for a low(er) price of $145. This makes the clinic a valuable resource for people seeking abortion earlier in pregnancy who may benefit from accessing care in a more discreet manner or without having to travel to a clinic.
These conversations have already made a meaningful difference for our team. Kenique, our Client Services Coordinator whose primary focus is providing funding support, shared: “Meeting with Roxy Clinic has given me such great insight into mailed abortion medication. Clients feel more secure knowing we have a strong partnership with them, and that other clients have gone through the medication process. It has been shown to provide more ease and clarity for clients.”
Our bilingual Client Services Coordinator, Dana, also reflected on the value of these connections: “The recent clinic visits and meetings have been immensely helpful in understanding what the process our clients go through is like. Visiting Gynemed provided context on what their clinic practices were and what our clients can expect when they have an appointment with them. Connecting with CARE on their practices around logistical support has not only clarified things for me when I set up these supports for clients, but I also believe it has strengthened our relationship with them.”
Ultimately, these partnerships are about more than simply exchanging information: they are about building relationships rooted in trust, communication, and a shared commitment to supporting clients throughout their abortion care journey.
From learning how different clinics structure their spaces to understanding the range of care options available to clients, these visits have helped bring the client experience into greater focus for our team.
We have several more clinic visits and meetings to complete in the second half of this year, and are grateful to our clinic partners for welcoming us. As we continue these conversations, we hope to strengthen referral pathways, increase awareness of the support we can provide, and make it easier for clients to access the funding and logistical resources they need.