An amazing weekend of positivity.

Living with HIV can sometimes feel like you are the only one, over the weekend I have had the opportunity to not only attend the national conference for people living with HIV organised by Positively UK , but start my journey as a Forum Ambassador with Terrence Higgins Trust .

So what does this mean and why is it so important for people living with HIV to have these opportunities.

Lets start with the conference, a place where a 190 people living with HIV gathered in one place from the whole of the UK.

The aim of the conference was to collate one voice from everyone’s experiences or to use the tag line #OneVoiceMultipleExperiences.

The conference allowed people to access workshops on a number of topics, from medication updates, activism and inequalities, mental health, young people with HIV, peer support within clinics, and a number of other topics.

Attending the peer support and HIV care in the morning and the Activism and Inequalities in the afternoon, not only opened my eyes to the challenges that individuals face accessing care from different cultural backgrounds, gender identity, and many other factors, but also as Garry Brough from Fasttrack cities pointed out that coming from a position of privilege (CIS Gender Male) it is important to know when to stand back and allow others to take on the baton of activism based on their lived experience, but to stand ready to support.

The recurring theme from 2022 and this year is that there is still very much a geographical lottery of available services for those of living with HIV across the country, and how lucky those of us in Kent are to have the Talking Together group for those of us under the care of Kent Community Health Trust.

My thoughts following the conference are how powerful it is to meet so many strong individuals who have come together in one place to learn and support each other to bring One voice to our experiences, it may have been mentally tiring, but so rewarding to spend the day, and to be humbled by the journeys so many others have been on.

After a fantastic day on Saturday, I was soon off to the hotel in preparation for the start of my journey as a forum ambassador for Terrence Higgins Trust.

The forum is soon to go on an amazing journey which we hope will bring a more support and the feeling of community to all of us living with HIV in the UK now and in the future.

Whilst areas of High prevalence such as London generally have better support other areas around the UK, can often have little or even no support for those living with HIV, the community forum is a safe online space for people living with HIV to access a community and the experiences of others living with HIV, as well as Live chat with peer support being available at set times.

The Sunday was spent introducing us to the next iteration of the community and to help define the vision, I am excited to see the journey ahead and how important and powerful the THT Community forum is now and in the future.

For me the community has always been exactly that a place where I can go and just chat when I want to chat with people in the same position as me, and to get advice on anything from changing medication to finding a way to reenergise myself and get back to me.?? The members, peer support team, and moderators are all in the same position, and the advice offered is often based on the lived experience of that individual or some deeply thought out research by one of the team, it has really helped me out in some difficult times, which is why I am keen to support the forum and give something back, and it is one of the places as a peer mentor in Kent I refer people to.

If you are living with HIV and would like to join the community, you can find out more and register here.

For me I am looking forward to seeing how positively UK takes those many experiences and makes them one voice and am super excited to support the community forum and to be part of the amazing journey.