36 YEARS OF HIV SUPPORT AND SMASHING STIGMA

It's been 36 years since six gay HIV activists founded Manchester AIDs-line, which later became George House Trust. Made up of members of the LGBT+ community and allies, the AIDSline offered support and advice to people affected by AIDS.

It was one of only a handful of services across the entire country that provided much-needed support, advice, and solidarity at a time where it wasn’t available anywhere else. More recently, the transcriptions from AIDSline phone calls were used in our patron Russell T. Davies' hit TV show 'It's A Sin". 

Since that day, 7th July 1985, HIV has changed. Living with HIV has changed.

Effective medication now means people living with HIV cannot pass HIV on to sexual partners - known as Undetectable = Untransmissable or U=U. There have been revolutionary medical developments like PeP and PrEP which prevent HIV. 

Join us in commemorating these milestones and acheivements, whilst helping us to provide services, to newly diagnosed people as well as people who've been living with HIV for some time - and support them to live with HIV healthily and confidently:

Support us here or text MANCAIDS to 70085 to donate £3.

Whilst much about HIV has changed for the better, one major challenge still exists and that’s the impact of stigma and discrimination which hasn’t kept pace with the medical advances.

We firmly believe that HIV stigma is fuelled by the fear of HIV transmission and the U=U campaign is potentially one of the most powerful ways in which HIV stigma will be defeated.

Support us here or text MANCAIDS to 70085 to donate £3.

If you are living with HIV, you can find out more about our services and support here.

On this anniversary, we would like to thank everyone who made a difference and who continues to make a difference to the lives of people living with HIV. All of our progress is down to the heroic efforts of many people and we’re grateful to every one of you, past, present and future.

Texts cost £3 plus one standard rate message and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and SMS. If you’d like to give £3 but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text MANCAIDSNOINFO to 70085.

LONELINESS AWARENESS WEEK 2021

BY MELISSA, VOLUNTEER TELEPHONE BUDDY

I don’t think people who haven’t experienced shielding can fully understand the all-encompassing nature of the isolation.

Overnight, your life is halted; cut-short. Your existence takes place in a series of rooms, where once you had the world. A world of people to communicate with, a friendly chat with the stranger who takes your coffee order or a trip to the gym, now you have this stripped-down place wherein the coffee is substandard, and the gym iscluttering your office space. At one point, a friend called to ask, “Is this happening?” We had read about pandemics throughout history, with a feeling of sorrow and an inevitable emotional detachment.

There are moments I recall vividly - moments of connection.

Over a year of shielding, I was fortunate to volunteer with George House Trust.

It gave me a link to the outside world when I often felt I could not grasp it; loneliness and isolation are insidious, and shielding offered little respite. There is a window in my living room, and I would often watch people pass and feel disconnected. Outside became like another sphere that I could not inhabit because I feared the virus. For people with disabilities or long-term health conditions, that initial period was overwhelming and inscribable.

We were told that the virus had the potential to do irrevocable damage, to wreck our immune systems, to damage us and our organs beyond repair. We were told not to interact with others. We lived with that fear for so long that it felt like living in a mental and physical fortress.      

I hoped to alleviate that feeling for Vengai when I became a Telephone Buddy and we developed a connection when everything felt unbound.

As time wore on, having conversations allowed us to learn a great deal; I had never faced such uncertainty, and the connections which were formed were all the more valuable; one question I always asked, “is there anything else I can help you with?” I asked because I didn’t know what else to say. It was effective as it gave us a feeling of continuity and reassurance.

It helped me to regain a sense of normality in the most abnormal of circumstances. 

LONELINESS AWARENESS WEEK 2021

George House Trust is committed to supporting people to live confidently and healthily with HIV. We believe that social connection, a sense of community and the confidence to make decisions free from the fear of stigma are central to this.

This Loneliness Awareness Week, we’re encouraging people to see loneliness as an experience. Just like HIV, it doesn't define you - it exists, and we need to remove the stigma and shame surrounding it. So, let's talk about loneliness and HIV…..

HIV, the stigma associated with it, mental health issues, loneliness and isolation are linked in a number of ways:

• The 2017 Positive Voices Survey found that mental health problems are reported by half of people living with HIV, twice the rate of the general public.

• One in 5 people living with HIV said that they needed help dealing with isolation and loneliness, of which 75% reported that this need was unmet.

• Internalised stigma, which many people living with HIV report experiencing, can manifest as a mental health issue and occurs when someone, as a result of repetitive external messages about HIV, develops negative core beliefs about themselves. This can lead to depression, low mood, isolation, and feelings of shame.

• Another factor is that lots of people who are living with HIV say they find it difficult to talk about their status with friends, family and colleagues which makes them feel more isolated. Many people we speak to at George House Trust have not told anyone about their HIV status due to actual and perceived (internalised) HIV stigma.

• Read our Services Director Colin's blog on loneliness and HIV.

• Check out Melissa's and Vengai's experiences of phone buddying during Covid and how it helped them feel more socially connected. 

Recently, many of George House Trust’s service users reported that they are experiencing loneliness even more due to lockdown and, after over a year of social distancing and restrictions, people accessing our services want to feel more socially connected.

So, if you’re living with HIV and want to meet new people and feel more socially connected, George House Trust has a range of services and activities for you:

Age+

If you're living with HIV and are aged 55 years or older, we will be shortly launching a project just for you! Age+ will build you confidence, skills, reduce loneliness and tackle the stigma and discrimination that still exists for people living with HIV. Contact Anna Hughes on anna@ght.org.uk or 0161 546 3540 for more information on how to get involved.

Calabash

If you’re an African man living with HIV, join our Calabash project! Monthly sessions will be held where African men will benefit from different kinds of support, including HIV-related, interpersonal (physical and psychosocial), economic, learning, and answers to deep-seated questions and burning issues. You can register for our Calabash launch event on June 29th 2021 here or email Jeff Ukiri, project co-ordinator, for more information. 

A previous Calabash participant told us, "It was quite an experience. Everyone was free to talk about their life with HIV. I really enjoyed it. I was surprised at how much I trusted the other men and felt able to talk about personal issues.”

Events

Check out our events page for our range of group activities and courses.  

Life Coaching

Want to change things but don’t know how to do it? Do you have a dream or aspiration and want some help to fulfil it? We’re working in partnership with Result CIC to offer free life coaching.

You’ll be paired with an accredited life coach and together you’ll look at your aims and develop a plan to achieve them. We can offer up to 12 sessions.

Email Josh or call 07581 011 064 for more information.

Peer Mentoring

Our Peer Mentoring project matches you with a mentor to provide support tailored to you and your needs:

A mentee told us, “In all honesty, this has helped me to stay alive. My mentor has been there for me when it felt I had nobody else to speak to - it's helped me to know that I have someone I can trust. Having someone to talk to regularly and knowing someone will respond to me - it's felt like a lifeline at times. I can't thank George House Trust enough.”

Phone Buddies

Our telephone befriending service is between a volunteer and a George House Trust service user who is self-isolating because of Coronavirus. 

“My phone buddy helped me a lot to cope up with challenges of shielding during lockdown. I was struggling…but with the help of a phone buddy I felt I was not alone during these most difficult times."

Or, you can call us 0161 274 4499 or email talk@ght.org.uk for a friendly chat about how we can help build up your social connections.

TRANS VISIBILITY IN THE LOCKDOWN ERA

A blog by Jane

I’ve written many blogs for Transgender Day of Visibility, penned when obstacles to visibility were personal fears. This year, obstacles are Covid-related. I’m writing in an era of sweat pants or PJs all day; not bothering with make-up; no social gatherings; a time of home and office involuntarily coalescing.

Is there visibility in a time of lockdown? Being out and proud with gender identity seems impossible when the official directive is ‘Stay at Home’. Suddenly there’s no choice, we are all ‘invisible,’ locked down before screens at home whether we like it or not.

I have polled others in the Trans community about their experiences. Many are gloomy and depressed. Those struggling to come out have suddenly found lifelines cut. The support groups and gatherings offering safety in their target gender, have gone. Those stuck at home in abusive relationships face pressure; conforming to someone else’s idea of who they ‘should be’. Those needing hormones and surgery face indefinite waits while health staff focus on the pandemic. Hope disappears and, one by one, the lights that gave hope, go out. I have comforted friends expressing suicidal thoughts and wondered about the seeming cruelty of it all.

Into all of this came Channel 4’s ‘It’s a Sin’, with its exploration of AIDS in 1980’s Britain. For me, it came like a stone pitched into a pool, each episode setting off ripples of painful memories. I was a gender-queer 20 something in 1980’s Newcastle-upon-Tyne; out on the scene but very vulnerable.  Exploring my gender presentation and sexuality meant intimate involvement with others, yet my relationship was deeply conventional. My then-partner knew nothing about the secret life I led. As the poorly understood means of transmission got clearer, I suspected I might be HIV+ but didn’t dare get tested. Many trans and non-binary people refused because testing meant revealing secret gender identities. Being outed as gay looked bad enough; being outed trans meant losing my job, my home; maybe living on the street.  As the scenes of ‘It’s a Sin’ rolled on screen, I felt a deep shame.  My previous actions seemed so selfish and at times I didn’t want to see any more.

I completed my transition many years ago. My current birth certificate records my birth as female. I’m someone’s wife. I had the longed for big, white wedding. I became a mum with two kids and later two step children. I had the awful shock of understanding I was heterosexual. These days I work and volunteer for George House Trust and before I had Gender Confirmation Surgery (GCS) I got tested and found out my status. Now, I consider it my responsibility. Others tell me I pass well (something I still find hard to believe). Ironically, ‘passing’ hands you the option of invisibility: in the Trans community, we call it ‘going stealth’.

In the end I chose NOT to go stealth.  How could I? Winning the trans genetic lottery and having a winning smile doesn’t entitle you to turn your back on sisters and brothers. By the same token, knowing your HIV status doesn’t take away the responsibility of managing relationships. I had the option to hide my past and to fit into normative cisgender society. It was tempting. In an earlier, less affluent time, like many transsexual women, I worked the sex industry to pay transition related bills. I could feel shame and hide but who would that help?

Visibility is not just about physical presence, it is about being counted when it comes to trans-activism and upholding the rights of all trans and non-binary people.

You can do that whether you are trans, gender-queer or a cis-gender ally. It’s about joining the debate, whether you are stuck ‘invisible’ at home or not. It is also about getting tested and encouraging trans friends to do the same; despite their fears.

Visibility is not just for you, it’s for all of us.

Read more of Jane’s writing here.

Photo credit: Tina Williams Village Photography