South Australian Targeted HIV and STI Prevention Program
Newsletter (5) September 2015
It’s been an exciting month for SAMESH with us finding a new home, rolling out new STI and HIV campaigns and recruiting SAMESH volunteers.
QUICK NEWS
- The lease has been signed and the SAMESH team have a new home! SAMESH will be found in the city at 57 Hyde Street, Adelaide. We’ve set a move date for 2 November, so stay tuned for SAMESH’s official launch at our new site.
- SAMESH has a new website: www.samesh.org.au/. Also you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter
- SAMESH wishes to thank Jan Fisher for her generous donation of 600 books to SAMESH. We have made a commitment to Jan Fisher that the books will be made available to community members. SAMESH will establish a library committee in January 2016 and recruit community volunteers to ensure the new SAMESH Library grows and is accessible to the LGBTIQ community.
- SAMESH has sponsored Feast, and our commitment has been recognised by Feast naming SAMESH the Official Health Partner for 2015 -2016. SAMESH looks forward to working with Adelaide’s leading LGBTIQ Arts Festival throughout the year. Look out for our Drama Down Under Spring campaign throughout the festival.
- The inaugural South Australian HIV and STI Collaborative Action Group (CAG) had its first meeting, and the HIV sector of South Australia will work collaboratively throughout 2015 -2016 to implement the SA HIV Implementation and Evaluation Plan.
- SAMESH wishes to thank Ian Purcell, Tim Reeves and Will Sergeant for inviting SAMESH to attend numerous commemorative events for the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Gay Law Reform in South Australia. SAMESH’s Team Leader, Wills Logue, looks forward to participating in the State of LGBTI Rights community forum run by the Gay and Lesbian Health Alliance on Saturday 17 October, at the Wheatsheaf Hotel.
COUNSELLING
SAMESH Counselling Service has begun at SHine SA with our peer counsellor Rob Willoughby. A new online counselling service will commence when SAMESH moves to the city location. For an appointment with Rob (Tuesday – Thursday) call Shine SA reception on 1300 794 584.
SAMESH will establish a peer volunteer counselling service in the near future. If you’re a qualified counsellor and a gay man and/or person living with HIV, please contact our volunteer coordinator Daniel Jefferies via email: daniel.jeffries@shinesa.org.au
VOLUNTEERS
SAMESH’s Volunteer program is up and running. We have recruited community members to pack our ‘Safe Packs’ for distribution across Adelaide gay venues, social groups and sexual health Clinics.
We’re looking to recruit volunteers to help with SAMESH outreach during Pride March, Feast, Picnic and World AIDS Day. If you want more information contact Daniel, details below.
SAMESH volunteer co-ordinator delivered his first sauna outreach sessions last Friday and we’re looking to recruit and train community members to provide sexual health information to sauna users. If you use the sauna and are keen to become a safer sex SAMESH ambassador contact Daniel: email daniel.jeffries@shinesa.org.au
GetPEP
The GetPEP campaign has been launched, with posters being distributed to Pulteney 431, Mars Bar & various pub/club locations around Adelaide over the next month. Look out for SAMESH PEP coasters, condoms and business cards at numerous queer and non queer venues across Adelaide.
Blaze readers can see our PEP advert in the September issue. For further information check out our updated PEP info page: http://www.samesh.org.au/been-exposed-(pep).html
POSITIVE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT – By Steve Moran
A highlight for me has been attending the Positive Leadership Development Institute™ (PLDI™) “Who am I as a Leader” workshop. The workshop was held in the stunning Dandenong Ranges from 4 – 6 September, and to say the workshop was motivational and inspirational would be an understatement!
The Positive Leadership Development (PLDI™) offers people living with HIV across Australia and New Zealand the opportunity to develop skills for leadership and resilience. PLDI™ is about identifying and building the personal sense of agency and capacity that translates into resilient leadership practices and strengthened community outcomes.
The workshop was attended by 12 amazingly diverse people living with HIV (PLHIV) from across Australia and New Zealand. The diversity of our experiences as PLHIV across age, gender, sexuality and time since diagnosis allowed us to bond and discuss the issues that impact our communities and how we can work together to create a rich web of connection and community. The workshop activities were at times personally challenging but intensely rewarding. As a community of people living with HIV we learnt a lot by stepping outside of our own realms of knowledge and connecting with others such as taking more with positive women, younger people living with HIV and people living with HIV from different cultural backgrounds. The people I shared the intense experience with will stay with me forever and since the workshop we have been frantically keeping in touch to build on the sense of urgency, energy and excitement we experienced.
Over the coming months you will be hearing more about the Positive Leadership Development Institute™ and how SAMESH will be supporting other PLHIV in the community to attend future workshops around the country.
If you would like to know more about the Positive Leadership Development Institute please feel free to call me Mon – Fri 08 8300 5371 or email steve.moran@shinesa.org.au.