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Two major services have been provided. Until
now these were purchased in part by the South West London
Purchasing Consortium for Voluntary Sector Services. Kingston
& Richmond Health is a full member of this Consortium.
Telephone Helpline
This service is available
24-hours a day and 7 days a week with answerphone backup.
It is dependant only on volunteer availability and we aim
to provide a volunteer to staff this line 70% of the time.
At other times there is an answer-phone which gives information,
re-directs callers and takes messages. Messages are collected
two to three times a day and calls are returned within 24
hours.
People who call this service
are individuals who:
- have been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS who
want to book for the weekly support groups and/or counselling
- request a personal meeting
- require detailed information regarding their
treatment regime
- require information about available health
& social services
- define themselves as heterosexual but have
not been able to find help or support elsewhere
Calls are also taken from
other HIV/AIDS voluntary and statutory sector agencies and
the media. This is the only dedicated helpline in Kingston
and Richmond and takes over 2,500 calls per year.
Support Groups
The Groups offer a safe,
secure and non-judgemental space in which all the issues raised
in receiving an HIV or AIDS diagnosis can be addressed and
resolved. The process used is peer support underpinned by
the latest research findings appropriate to the issues raised.
At present the Group running on Tuesdays has 16 participants
and is over subscribed. A second group is being piloted which
has 12 participants. However, because this second group is
not funded it runs on a week to week basis depending on the
availability of affordable accommodation. Some weeks it does
not run.
There is now a waiting list
for both groups. Given the sporadic nature of the second group
we do not feel able to admit more people but we do have enough
interest to fill both this second group and a third one.
The users of these services are:
- gay and bisexual men
- Men who have sex with other men but do not
defined as gay/bisexual
- People who are HIV or AIDS diagnosed
- People who are HIV negative or untested
- Partners, significant others
- Parents
- Children
- Carers
- Professional health care workers
The services will be provided
in Richmond and/or Kingston, Surrey. However, people will
not be excluded if they come from outside these Boroughs.
Positively Healthy will encourage users to make use of services
local to their home. So far Positively Healthy has provided
services to 240 people resident in South West London of whom
192 (80%) gave a London Borough of Richmond or Kingston as
their residence. No direct charge is made to clients for using
any of these services.
The outcome for users of
these services is that their health becomes stabilised and
then a greater degree of recovery can begin. Whereas Positively
Healthy does not expect or imply a cure we believe that people's
live can be significantly changed for the better when they
have access to information, emotional support and skills training
- which are the components of empowerment.
Positively Healthy is an
organisation that is run, managed, operated and directed by
its services users. Whereas not every service user is fully
involved in this running all the people who take part in the
running of Positively Healthy are service users themselves.
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