What’s your group called?
The group is called PozYouth and is part of the Children & Families Project.

Who is your group aimed at?
The group is aimed at young people of any age who are aware of their HIV diagnosis.

We also work with parents who are at the stage of telling their child that they are HIV positive. This means that we can build a strong relationship of trust with both the parents and the child to enable us to support the child going forward.

Within another of our Children & Families groups we support children who are not yet aware of their status.

What good does your project/group aim to do?
The group aims to bring together the small number of young people spread across Scotland who are living with HIV and are aware of their diagnosis. (Currently 50). HIV is a highly stigmatised long-term condition and, because of the small number of young people infected, it can be very isolating for them. Many of them have never met another young person living with HIV, they may have lost one or both of their parents to HIV or they may have moved from outside the UK and are struggling to fit in.

Sometimes having a parent who is also living with HIV makes it harder for the young person to talk about it, they don’t want to cause added worry. By giving them the chance to speak to others their own age who are dealing with the same issues, we aim to help them realise that they are living with a long term, chronic condition but that it’s not something they should have to feel ashamed about.

Through one-to-one support from staff and the chance to gain support and inspiration from peers, the group aims to help young people live their lives to their full potential.

How does it achieve this?
The project has to be extremely flexible both with time and geographically. Group members meet up once a month and staff offer one-to-one support to members when needed.

The group also has regular residential meetings which are crucial as they give young people time away from home, beneficial for both them and their family. Residentials take the form of a long weekend or even a week away and allow the young people to take part in organised activities and spend time with other young people. Residentials play an important part in building trust within the group, allowing them to share their stories and build confidence. It gives the younger kids a chance to spend time with the older children in the group and opens their eyes to what they can achieve.

Most of the young people in the PozYouth group have been with the project since it began and continue to make time to come to meetings well into their teenage years.

Why should we care?
These are young people like any other. They have the same hopes, dreams and aspirations as any other young person. They have the same fears, worries and concerns and they are also living with a long-term health condition that is highly stigmatised by society.

To manage their condition they may have to take as many as 13 pills twice a day every day and they can’t talk to their friends about it.

It would be so easy for them to give up but why shouldn’t they have the same chances and opportunities that any child deserves?

The PozYouth group helps these young people come to terms with their HIV and gives them the self-confidence and self-respect to take control of their lives and just live it to the full, as they should.

What makes your project unique?
This is the only project that provides this sort of support in Scotland.

It’s the only way that young people living with HIV can come together and meet others their own age in a caring and safe environment.

As well as being socially and geographically isolated, many of the young people are financially isolated. They may not always get to take part in some of the things their friends are doing so the group outings are a real lifeline for them.

Give us an example of the difference it makes?
A couple of years ago a young person joined the group. She’d just found out that she and her mum were HIV positive. She wasn’t dealing with this well at all and was refusing to take her medication which was really affecting her health. Her doctors were forced to serve a protection order and send a nurse to the house twice daily to witness her taking her medication. Both the child and her mother were struggling with this. With a residential coming up we were sure it would help her to come away with the group but it was difficult persuading her doctors. In the end she was allowed to come.

It was hard work but the residential gave her the opportunity to speak to other young people and to see them taking their medication as a normal occurrence. This was definitely the first step for her and, with continued attendance at the group, she was completely adhering to her medication 6 months later.

Now, just over a year after that first residential, she has a certificate from the hospital to say that the level of HIV in her blood is undetectable. Her general health is vastly improved. She’s taken responsibility for herself and is aiming to eat properly and look after herself so that she can grow stronger and not have to take as many tablets every day.

How does it make you feel when someone’s life changes because of your project?
It’s hard to put into words. It’s a huge part of my life and really gives me perspective. I feel so lucky to be part of these young people’s lives and part of this project.

In fact someone recently asked me what my ideal job would be and I said, “I’m in it!”

To be able to watch as everything falls into place for one of the young people – I’m like Hannibal from the A-team, I love it when a plan comes together!

What would you like to see this project achieve in the next 2 years?
We’re currently in the process of applying for funding to expand some of our existing Edinburgh based work to Glasgow and I’m looking forward to being able to do more work over there with young people who are ‘affected’ by HIV as well as those that are themselves infected.

I’m also looking forward to continuing to support the teenagers I work with now into young adulthood and continuing what I’m doing as its pretty cool!

For the last 2 years I’ve been part of the UK Family Project and we’ve produced some brilliant resources to help professionals and parents across the UK talk to young people about HIV. These resources have just been released and I’m really excited to see how they’ll be used by people and see the difference they could make to young people throughout the UK.

If I were to give you £500k to spend on this project what would you do?
I’d spend it on expanding my work in Glasgow and then with any change I’d take the PozYouth group on a mammoth residential to America so they could see the Grand Canyon, it’d blow their minds!!

“I’d like to see the project grow and spread wider in Scotland with perhaps another member of staff, it’s just me at the moment and I can only be in one place at a time.”

Since then, we’re happy to say that thanks to funding from LTCAS, Paula is well on her way to achieving that goal after being joined on the project by new worker Amy. We spoke to Amy to find out why she’s so excited about the work they will be doing in the coming year:

“As a new worker in Waverley Care, it is a pleasure to be working alongside Paula on the Self Management Programme. Paula has done fantastic work on the project to date and has successfully piloted programmes across Scotland.

“I’ve met with some of the people that have used the programme and heard what a difference it’s made to them in terms of managing their condition as well as achieving greater control over their lives and personal relationships. They said that they’ve felt an increase in their confidence and general well being as well as feeling a greater ability to exert control back over their life.

“This is an exciting time to be involved with the self management programme. So far Paula has worked with over 70 people and 2012 will see the programme being rolled out across a number of new settings.

“Hepatitis C is very prevalent in the South Asian Community and in April 2012 we will be piloting our first programme in this community where we will be working with a group of South Asian women who are living with the condition.

“Later on in the year we will be working in partnership with the prison service to deliver our Self Management programme within a number of prisons across Scotland.

“I am delighted to be joining Paula on developing this project. Life coaching and personal development are areas that I feel very passionate about and I have been working in this field for over three years now. I have seen the empowering effect that it can have on people. It acknowledges that you are the expert in your own life and therefore you have the knowledge to move yourself forward with some guidance and support along the way.

“I am really looking forward to using my previous experience and training to help market and develop the programme alongside Paula and the team at Waverley Care.”

Apple Pharmacy, Artisan Roast, Barony Bar, Blue Moon Cafe, Boombarbers, Broughton Deli, Broughton Street Book Shop, CC Blooms, Chequers Too, Concrete Wardrobe, Crollas, Crombies, Curiouser and Curiouser, Dragonfly, Essential Therapy, Frenchies, GHQ, Cafe Habana, Cafe Nom De Plume, Drama, Joey D, L’Escargot Bleu, Mathers, Narcissus, New Town Bar, Phoenix, Planet, Priscillas, Q Store, Real Foods, Regent Bar, Salon LA, Siam Thani, Smoke Stack, Something Fishy, The Street, The Village, ThriftChic Boutique, Villeneuve Wines, Vino Wines.

Added to all this we had our regular community gathering at St John’s Church in Edinburgh, our joint gathering in St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow with THT and Gay Men’s Health and our first ever World AIDS Day gathering in Inverness where more than 70 people joined us for choir music, poetry and live music by singer songwriter Emma Mitchell.

This year also saw an evening of music and reflection by Firrhill High School and Braidburn School hosted by Colinton Church. We had a bucket shake at Edinburgh Gay Men’s Chorus winter concert, Mistletoe and Musicals which raised a cracking £400.

With support from the team at the Edinburgh Playhouse the cast and crew of We Will Rock You have been shaking buckets for us and raised a fantastic total of £8,323.58!

Last but not least some of the students of the Royal High School have been out and about around town spreading the festive spirit with some carol singing while collecting donations for Waverley Care.

We’re bowled over by the amount of support we’ve seen around World AIDS Day this year and would like to say a massive thank you and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of those who have given their time, enthusiasm and support to help those living in Scotland with HIV.

Photo credit: Colin Hattersley

People around the world will be marking the occasion and highlighting that HIV and AIDS is an issue for everyone in every country across the globe.

Here in Scotland we’re marking the occasion with many events, some of which are included here. We’ve also put together a short video for World AIDS Day which you can view below. Please feel free to share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter:

Today is also the launch of our annual appeal.

Every year our fundraising team raises more than £370,000 to keep our projects going.

Our appeal this year tells Donna’s story, a story of struggle and determination, a story that ultimately shows what a huge difference a little belief and help can make to one person’s life! You can read Donna’s story here or watch our video appeal here.

1st December is World AIDS Day and there are lots of things happening, so we thought we’d collate them all here in one handy list:

Waverley Care will be hosting three Community Gathering events across Scotland on Thursday 1st December to mark World AIDS Day 2011.

Everyone is invited to attend. Stories of those who are living positively with HIV will be heard and there will also be a time and space to remember those who have died of AIDS. All of the events will include music and readings and refreshments will be available.

Entry is free.

EDINBURGH – 6.30pm
St John’s Church, Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 4BJ

GLASGOW – 7.00pm
St Mary’s Cathedral, Great Western Road, Glasgow G4 9JB

INVERNESS – 7.30pm
St Andrew’s Cathedral, 15 Adross Street, Inverness IV3 5NB

Local businesses in Broughton Street, Edinburgh have joined us to raise awareness for World AIDS Day by hosting our collecting cans and tartan ribbons. The businesses involved include: Salon LA, Concrete Wardrobe, Chequers Too, Siam Thani, Mathers, The Street, Real Foods, SmokeStack, Villeneuve, Phoenix, Nom De Plume, Q Store, Broughton Deli, Blue Moon Cafe, Something Fishy, Vino Wine, Artisan Roast and more..

World AIDS Day events in Edinburgh kick off on Wednesday 30th November at The Street. Join them for a pub quiz and help raise awareness of HIV and funds for Waverley Care.

If you’re heading our to CC Blooms from Wednesday till Friday night you can make a donation at the cloakroom. The boys at CC’s will be donating all cloakroom takings to Waverley Care and any little extra you’d like to give will be gratefully received.

On World AIDS Day itself (Thursday) there’s lots of choice. So, after you’ve joined us at St John’s for the Community Gathering why not head down to New Town Bar for an Evening of Reflection with mulled wine, mince pies and an acoustic set by the fantastic band Cadence.

Or, if you’re the king, or queen, of the quiz head over to Planet for their Quiz-eoke night and perhaps pick up some Waverley Care Christmas Cards while you’re there!

If music is more your thing then you should get down to Priscillas for their “Coming Together” concert. Jamie Lee Morley will be hosting 8 amazing vocalists on Priscillas stage. You’ll also get the chance to enter the raffle for some fab prizes and get your hands on some delicious vodka jellies – all raising money for Waverley Care!

If you’d prefer a quiet night there’s no need to go home! Head to Nom De Plume or the Regent Bar where you can light a candle to remember a friend and 50p from every pint of Regent Ale sold will help us support people living with HIV in Scotland.

Last but certainly not least is the oldest gay bar in Edinburgh – Frenchies. Nip in and make your bid in the silent auction with proceeds to Waverley Care.

On Friday night it’s time to get your favourite Freddie moustache out and head down to The Village for the Freddie Tribute night. DJ MPFree will be playing Queen, pop and classic house and you can enter the Fredtastic raffle to win some amazing prizes.

Saturday night….you better stay in to recover in time for Sunday night at Habana – a fantastic night of fun and fundraising with Almost Adele and Penny Arcade!

Pheeeew…but just when you thought it was all over – next Tuesday the lovely people of Drama will be donating £5 of every VIP card sold to Waverley Care. A VIP card costs £20 and will give you free entry to Drama for a year – bargain!!

If we’ve missed anything out let us know and we’ll add it in.

***UPDATE*** For even more info on events have a look at this post on the STV Local website.

 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
Thanks for having a look and rating our cards. If you’d like to buy some cards to send to your friends this Christmas you can click here to visit our online card shop.

Pssst…we’d love it if you’d share this page with your friends. You can share on Facebook, Twitter or by email below.

In this issue we have a look at our Health Promotion Project, meet Michael & Cerin in our Supporter Profile and say goodbye to our Director of 17 years, David Johnson.

Click Positive Interest on the menu bar above to have a look.

What’s your project called?
Self Management Programme

Who is your project aimed at?
People living with or affected by HIV or Hepatitis C. The project is open to people of any age, gender, race or orientation. Many of the people who come to the project have used other services previously to no effect, they’ve hit rock bottom and feel that society has given up on them as much as they have given up on themselves.

What good does your project aim to do?
The project aims to put people in control of their lives, to give them the belief that they are more than their condition and to give them the tools they need to make positive changes in their lives.

How does it achieve this?
I achieve this through listening to the needs of the people I work with and being flexible enough to meet these needs. There is a mixture of one-to-one support and peer support through group work as well as life coaching. I focus on finding practical solutions that will work for the individual by concentrating on their strengths and showing them the tools and techniques that will help them move forward and change their behaviour patterns.

Trust is fundamental to the success of this project, I have to create an environment where someone can come in and be at ease with me and trust that I want to help them achieve what’s best for them, not what I perceive to be best for them. It’s not prescriptive, it’s like dancing and I dance the dance with them.

Why should we care?
Many of the people that I’ve worked with have carried their problems with them for a long time, most from childhood. Terrible things have happened to them, many were abused as children and they’ve developed “safety” behaviours to allow them to cope but for the most part these behaviours have ruined their lives. Society sees them as having no value and they see themselves as having no value. We’re all just one step away from a potential disaster, you lose your job, your house, your family…nobody wants to end up like that but it happens and it’s hard to turn it around.

I believe that everyone has the potential to change, given the right tools. Most of the people I work with have hit rock bottom and this project gives them the self-confidence to take control of their life again, to believe that they can add value to society. From a more fiscal viewpoint it’s the basis for getting people off of benefits and into the workplace.

What makes your project unique?
Flexibility makes this project unique. The service is tailored to fit people’s individual needs and works at their pace for as long as it takes. It’s about creating independence but recognises that we are all different and what works for one person may not work for another.

Give us an example of the difference it makes?
One person I worked with had just moved to the area, was HIV and HepC positive but couldn’t stick with the HepC treatment, was in a really bad place and had turned to drugs and prostitution. We started with one-to-one support and then they joined a peer support group and eventually trained to become a peer support mentor. They did some volunteer work and are now back in full-time employment. There’s so many stories like this! Of the people I’ve worked with in the last 18 months 15 are now applying to college or working towards it, 6 are in full-time work, 12 are volunteering, 2 women have regained custody of their children, 6 are abstaining from drugs and 3 from alcohol and 6 have started Hep C treatment.

How does it make you feel when someone’s life changes because of your project?
It’s beyond words! It’s what makes me get up in the morning (at 5.30am I might add!!) When someone first comes to the project I can always see through to their potential and to be able to make the journey with them to the point where they have the confidence to harness that potential is really amazing.

What would you like to see this project achieve in the next 2 years?
I’d like to see the project grow and spread wider in Scotland with perhaps another member of staff, it’s just me at the moment and I can only be in one place at a time. I’d also like to see more people that have been through the course become peer mentors (3 people have so far) and be trained as facilitators of peer support groups.

If I were to give you £500k to spend on this project what would you do?
I’d spend it on training more facilitators so that we could spread throughout Britain. I’d also train frontline NHS staff on the model.

The Self Management Programme is funded by the Long Term Conditions Alliance Scotland (LTCAS) and has just been granted funding for the next year.

This has been our 20th year working with the Pleasance and our bucket shaking coordinators Adrian, Angela, James and Sophie have been working hard with all our volunteers to collect over £28,000 in donations over the three and a half weeks of the Fringe! This year our hard-working core of volunteers (too many to mention but you know who you are) have been joined by groups from Virgin Money and Edinburgh University MedRAG. We’ve also been fortunate enough to have teams from Lloyds Banking Group helping us as part of their “day to make a difference”. Add to this another successful Tartan Ribbon Comedy Benefit and our fundraising at the Pleasance will total over £35,000. Even though the weather was not the best..ok it was diabolical, thanks to the hard work of our volunteers, great support from Pleasance staff and the goodwill and support of performers and audiences at the Pleasance we have surpassed what we raised last year!

Our Comedy Gala at the Festival Theatre which is organised by Off The Kerb and televised as “Edinburgh ComedyFest Live” on BBC3 was sold out long before the Fringe started and was a roaring success yet again. (you can catch the first half on iplayer until 11 September) If you love the idea of the Edinburgh Fringe but lack the time or the finances to spend a month hitting the shows this is the one for you. 3 hours of amazing comedy talent showcasing all the top performers from the Fringe and beyond and all in aid of Waverley Care! We’re so thankful to Addison, Verity and the team and of course all the performers for donating their time and talents.

The Edinburgh Festivals are not just about comedy though, and we were also to be found shaking our buckets at Edinburgh Music Theatre‘s production “Pop Goes The Musical”, this was the culmination of our time as EMT’s Charity of Year, which began with their production of ‘Rent’ in April and has seen us raise over £4100 via bucket shaking and a benefit performance of ‘Rent’. We also got our buckets out for Grassroots production “Africa, Heart & Soul”. Grassroots spent some time at our respite unit Milestone where they gave a couple of special performances including one before the start of the festival when the weather was lovely! We had 25 service users and staff out in the gardens listening to African singing, drums and stories – apparently there was a lot of clapping whistling and even some bootie shaking!! Grassroots followed this up with another performance at the end of August.

We’ve also been lucky enough to have the team at the New Town Bar supporting us with their Sunday Fundraisers again this year, in fact they were so successful they had to expand them to a couple of Fridays as well! Scott Agnew and Bob Downe were the gracious hosts for the events with a multitude of Fringe stars heading down to take to the stage including a performance from Margaret Cho. Jimmy, Stephen, Will and the staff all worked so hard to make these events a success and raised a staggering £2250 to support our services.

Add to all this a wonderfully successful Come & Sing day on 13th August with John Rutter conducting a massed choir of 400 singers in his Requiem to a sold out audience of over 200. Everyone involved had a great day and we raised £7500 from the event! Huge thanks go to John Rutter for supporting us with this event and to our volunteers who helped make the day run smoothly for everyone.

Last but not least thanks to those who got involved with our #laffoffstigma campaign which ran throughout the month of August. We had over 60 entries in our joke competition and some famous faces popped up on our YouTube channel including comedy award nominee Josie Long. The winning joke was picked by Ryan Taylor, Comedy Programmer at the Pleasance, and won £100 in Amazon vouchers. Tom Walton submitted the winner – “Tried to book an Elvis impersonator once. Got put through to a call centre. Had to press 1 for the money, 2 for the show..” – Brilliant!!

An early arrival at the airfield, (7.30am – that really is commitment for you!) ensured the boys first place in the queue of eager skydivers. After an introduction and training they donned their jumpsuits and rather fetching hats and were ready to go. As they were set to do a tandem skydive (you are strapped onto an instructor) they didn’t have to worry about pulling the ripcord but had plenty to remember to ensure that they exited the plane in the right position! Nerves were certainly kicking in!

A short bus trip with their instructors round to the runway and they were off.

As the plane climbed slowly to the jump altitude of 10,000 feet the waiting skydivers and spectators watched as the clouds cleared away to leave bright blue sky (not seen in these parts for some time) and excellent jump conditions. Mark, Thomas and their instructors made perfect exits from the plane and, after 30 seconds of exhilarating freefall, enjoyed a leisurely “float” down to the ground with a few twirls thrown in for good measure.

Congratulations to the boys for completing another daring stunt for Waverley Care and raising more than £2000! Special congratulations to Thomas who, unlike during the abseil, managed to keep his eyes open the whole way down this time!

You can look at more pictures on our Flickr page or watch the video on our YouTube channel.

If you would like to skydive to raise funds to support our work you can find out more here, or contact Jane in the fundraising team on 0131 556 9710.