June 2008

'Facts For Life'

Throughout June Healthy Gay Life are holding a series of information sessions focusing on current issues affecting gay and bisexual men. Click here for details

September 2007

Date: Friday 30 November 2007
Venue: Austin Court, 80 Cambridge Street, Birmingham B1 2NP. www.austincourt.co.uk

Healthy Gay Life's Young Men's Worker is currently organising a conference called “Mind the Gap” about young LGBT people taking place at the Austin Court in Birmingham from 9.00am to 4.30pm on Friday 30 November 2007.

This conference is specifically for organisations and professionals (e.g. education, health, social services etc) who work with young people in general in Birmingham to hear about the good practice that is already being delivered by LGBT or LGBT friendly services to young LGBT people in Birmingham. More importantly, it is also about looking at what the gaps are and how we can proactively engage and address them.

Clare Short has offered her services to chair a session and Birmingham City Councillor Steve Bedser has offered to make a presentation/speech to either open or close the event.

June 2007 marks the launch of the Goods & Services Act 2006 in England and at no other time has it been that imperative the needs of young LGBT people are to be heard and met.

There will be an Awards Ceremony for the most innovative service intervention to meet the needs of young LGBT people (sponsored by Midlands Zone); and also for the most responsive organisation (e.g. a school) will take place on Friday 30 November 2007 where successful nominees will receive their awards at a special Awards presentation. The conference organising committee will allocate these awards. It is our opportunity to recognise and celebrate the good work that is being done in the LGBT community!

There is nominal charge of 25.00 pounds to attend the Conference.

We are expecting a lot of people to attend this Conference and I would therefore ask that you RSVP to Healthy Gay life without delay in order to guarantee your place. Each representative must complete and return the attached booking form (one per person) by post or fax on 0121 446 1070

If you have any questions in relation to the “Mind the Gap” Conference, please do not hesitate to contact the HGL team on 0121 440 6161 or email to info@hgl.nhs.uk

May 2007

Understanding Sexuality and Diversity

This is a free 1 day course for all Statutory and Voluntary organisations, LGBT Community Support Services, and 'not for profit' businesses in Birmingham.
After completion of this day you will:

• Understand how education about sexuality and diversity affects young people and shapes their views of individuals different from themselves.
• Have a background knowledge about the effects unfair treatment has
  on individuals and communities.
• Have an awareness of anti discrimination legislation and the process of supporting someone reporting Hate Crime to the authorities.
• Be more effective in challenging homophobic behaviour
• Better equipped to work in a way which promotes equalities, diversity
  and human rights

For more detailed information about our Equality and Diversity training programme, please visit www.LifeandEqualitiestraining.com

Please call 0121 440 6161 during office hours for further details and a booking form.

Wednesdays

Group work and Courses for Gay and Bisexual Men

There are three courses that are planned for over the summer of 2007, with bookings now being taken.

Feeling Sexual - In and Out of Bed

Wednesdays – 6-9pm 4th July, 11th July and 18th July

Venue: Centre 146, Bromsgrove St., Birmingham

Do you sometimes feel you have lost control over sexual decision-making and found it difficult to say 'no' to unwanted sex? Or not always had sex that was as safe as you would like it to be?

In a supportive and safe, non judgmental environment, this course will offer gay and bisexual men that have lots of sexual partners the opportunity to discuss sexual practices and attitudes to sexuality, and discover some skills and knowledge that could help you in your sexual decision making.

Relationships and Me

Part 1 – Mondays – 7.30 – 9.30pm
9 th, 16th and 23 rd July

Part 2 – Wednesdays 6-9pm :10 th Oct, 24th Oct and 7th Nov

Venue: Centre 146, Bromsgrove St., Bham

This training offers two courses that look at the issue of relationships between men. The first one looks at what relationships are, and how to go about securing one. The second one focuses on how to make an existing relationship last

Assert Yourself

Wednesdays, 6 – 9pm : 1st Aug, 15th Aug, 29th Aug and 26th September

Venue: Centre 146, Bromsgrove St., Birmingham

It may feel scary thinking about how you can become assertive, and you may feel that it won’t work for you. There are hundreds of men who thought the same or similar thoughts before. Check out the assert yourself page on our website and read past participants personal stories and feelings about taking part in this course, or request a copy of the Sigma Research evaluation paper.

Positively Assertive

For men who have been diagnosed HIV positive.

Saturday 10 – 4pm : 21st July and 28th July

at Centre 146, Bromsgrove St., Birmingham

December 2006

We need the communities help in locating the offenders and we would appreciate anybody with information to contact West Midlands Police or Crimestoppers, any information will be treated with the strictest of confidence and can be provided anonymously.

If you do meet we would advise you to meet in a public place with CCTV and tell someone where you are going and even if possible meet with a friend so you know you are safe. The descriptions of the males are:

1) Asian Male, 5'5, skinny build, 18-21 years.

2) Asian male, 6'0 tall, slim build, 19-20 years, with black hair.

They are using a grey three door Ford Fiesta.

Finally if you are not comfortable just walk away and if in doubt report the incident."

from the West Midlands Police

June 2006

The Information and Access Point service run by HGL in collaboration with Connexions has changed its spot in the HGL timetable. It’s moving from its normal place on Tuesday afternoons to Thursday evenings from 4.00 to 7.30 pm. Young Men & Social Inclusion Worker, Paul Ricketts said,

“We had been giving the change in time consideration for a while and decided that an early evening slot would make it easier for young people to use the service. The afternoon session was fine for older students who had more flexible timetables but we felt that the younger ones were missing out on this valuable targeted service. By having the after school slot younger students can come along on their way home”

The HGL - Connexions session is aimed at young people aged 19 years or under and provides support and advice on education, training, sexuality and sexual health. The sessions are staffed by a Connexions Personal Adviser and a member of the HGL team.

Personal Development

July sees four individual one off sessions of Feeling Sexual – In & Out of Bed. This four hour session is aimed at men who have lots of sex with lots of men. The session will explore why men have lots of sex with different people and what it means to them. It will also offer practical tips and negotiation skills. Email us or call 0121 440 6161 to book your place.

Dates 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th July 2006 6.30. – 9.30 p.m.

Know Your Fluids

Healthy Gay Life and three Birmingham HIV charities (THT Birmingham, AB+ and Freshwinds) have launched a high-profile HIV fluids campaign reminding gay and bisexual men that HIV is carried in bodily fluids including blood, semen, pre-cum and anal mucus.

The campaign includes posters, leaflets and a variety of postcard media, accompanied by features and articles in the local press. This campaign is so important to us in raising HIV awareness we’re also using banner ads on Gaydar to ensure maximum exposure which will carry on into July.

Nigel Burbidge, Healthy Gay Life Manager, said:

“Current research indicates that there has been a general drop in HIV awareness in the community, so it’s the ideal time to remind men of the risks associated with the four main fluids that gay and bisexual men may encounter during sex.

Our campaign explains why each bodily fluid represents a risk and why the same person may have different levels of HIV in each of their fluids. This campaign matches the latest research with an eye-catching design to deliver a really important message to gay and bisexual men.”

To see the webpage for this campaign click here

Birmingham Pride, this event took place over the last Bank Holiday in May and as usual the HGL team and loads of our volunteer associates turned out over the weekend. The Project was well represented in the procession which had the theme of shopping. HGL took this one stage further with our own sub-theme “shopping for health”. Needless to say we had lots of goodies to give away in the form of lollies and sweets as well as the condoms, lubricant and information leaflets.

Everyone worked really hard making sure that both the stall in Cannon Hill Park and all the venues in the gay village were stocked with safer sex supplies and despite the long hours a good time was had by all.

April 2006

Click to view flyer

Gaydar!!!!, that got your attention, didn’t it? For that very reason HGL have started advertising our services on Gaydar in the Birmingham and West Midlands rooms. Starting off with our counselling service and the condoms by post scheme we’re now seeing a huge upswing in our enquires. Based on this success we’re planning to use Gaydar for advertising many of training courses and health in the forthcoming months.

This event attracts workers from across the UK and also from Europe and Scandinavia. It’s not just health promoters who attend though, there is always a smattering of sexual health/HIV doctors and nurses as well as a variety of other professionals and volunteers.

CHAPS provides a very useful forum in which projects can present particular items of work from the previous years and be updated on the latest information from experts in their fields. Staff attended from HGL and normal services continued to be provided back in Birmingham for the two days of the conference.

February 2006

Schools Work - Update

Working with young people in school around homophobia highlights the serious issue of bullying. Homophobic bullying affects all young people whether they are lesbian or gay or not. Recent research undertaken by Stonewall found that African Caribbean boys who were not gay or questioning their sexuality, were so desperate not to be labeled as ‘queer’, it affected their learning while at school and added to the other issues faced by this group. Repeated homophobic bullying has a long-term affect on young people who are lesbian, gay or questioning their sexuality, as by the time they leave school some of them will have low self-esteem, lack confidence or have mental health issues. This is a crucial work area to develop, to enable young people to learn life skills that will assist them in the rest of life and especially for young gay men to maintain their sexual health.

Satisfaction Survey

Every year Healthy Gay Life undertakes a satisfaction survey of people who have used our services. This snap shot provides valuable information as to what people think about our services and the changes we need to make to improve them. This years survey provided some useful information around venues that ran out of condom packs and highlighted the need for more HIV and sexual health information available on the gay scene. If you would like to view the satisfaction survey please click HERE.

January 2006

3-Year Plan

January has been a frantic month for Healthy Gay Life, finalizing the first draft of our next 3-year plan (2006-2009). Our work programme covers targeted interventions that focus specifically on sub-populations of gay and bisexual men living in Birmingham - e.g. men with HIV, African Caribbean men, young gay men, etc. There will be consultations with gay and bisexual men as well as other HIV service providers, as by March 2006 we would hope to have an updated and completed plan for the following 3 years. This is an exciting time for the service, as it will see the development of clinical services plus some innovative interventions with men who believe they are sexual compulsives.

To see our 3-year plan in its first draft stage, please click HERE. We would be very grateful for your comments. Please send your suggestion/s to info@hgl.nhs.uk, or post them to:

Healthy Gay Life Manager
HOB tPCT
Freepost
BM21 81
Birmingham
B12 0BR

January 2006

Service Campaigns

In December HGL launched two campaigns, both aimed to increase access to condoms and lube and to the Sexual Health Counselling Service. Posters, postcards, advertising in Midlands Zone magazine and website banner advertising were developed. These were distributed on the gay scene and to gay-friendly organisations. The website banners were placed on key dating/sex websites, and these were the most successful in getting the message across about both services. The condom mail order service saw an increase of 300% (from 109 to 398) in year-on-year orders. The sexual health counselling service saw a 40% increase in enquires.

Click on a poster to download full sized version.

Centre 146 – 146 Bromsgrove Street

HGL’s drop-in “Centre 146” was refurbished in December 2005 to prepare for the provision of clinical services. It is expected that STI screening will take place once a week in the new financial year 2006-07. This is an important development for the service and will be targeted at gay and bisexual men in Birmingham. To enhance confidentiality, blinds have been replaced to ensure that people who overlook the venue cannot see in.

Information about this new service will be available soon – watch this space!

November 2005

Free Condoms and Lube for Gay and Bisexual Men in Sandwell

Healthy Gay Life has been funded to provide a condom and lube on-line and telephone ordering service for gay and bisexual men living in the Sandwell area. The areas that are included are Sandwell, Smethwick, Oldbury, Rowley Regis, West Bromwich, Blackheath, Tipton and Wednesbury. Men will be able to order regular, extra strong and large condoms and lubricant post free to their home address. All orders will be sent out in discreet packaging maintaining confidentiality and privacy. To order online go to the http://www.hgl.nhs.uk/condomsby_post.htm and place your order. You can also order by telephoning the HGL office on 0121 440 6161.

This means that Healthy Gay Life's condoms and lube by post service is now available across Birmingham and Sandwell.

To support this service there will be advertising banners on gaydar.co.uk in the Birmingham and Midlands areas. Adverts will also appear in Midland Zone magazine – the Midland's largest distribution lesbian, gay and bisexual people's magazine.

Year of the Volunteer Awards

Tony Spiteri and Steve Jones with their awards

Steve Jones and Tony Spiteri volunteers for Healthy Gay Life were each presented with “Year of the Volunteer” awards for Commitment and Innovation respectively. “Year of the Volunteer” is part of the national programme that recognizes the contribution people have made by volunteering in a wide range of agencies across England. The West Midlands awards event was held at the Birmingham Council House on Monday, 14 th November, where Steve and Tony received their awards from the Queen's representative, the Deputy Lieutenant for the West Midlands, Roger Dickins.

Steve's award was in recognition of his commitment to packing and distributing orders for condoms and lubricants. Over the last year Steve has help distribute over 250, 000 condom packs on the gay scene in Birmingham and packed over 1000 orders for condoms and lube that come from the Healthy Gay Life website, enabling gay and bisexual men to maintain their sexual health.

October 2005 Volunteer Associate Training

Healthy Gay Life could not run all of its services without the support of its volunteers. In October 12 new volunteers started on a 8-part training course giving them in-depth knowledge and understanding of HIV, STI's and the health needs of gay and bisexual men living in Birmingham. Current areas for volunteering are condom packing/distribution, scene based outreach, office administration, leaflet distribution and placement counsellors (only open to second year counselling diploma students). All volunteers need to undertake the course to become an HGL Associate. For an overview of the course please click HERE . If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for HGL please click HERE .

Sexuality and Diversity Training

Training for professionals plays an important part in improving access to services for gay and bisexual men in Birmingham. In October 43 participants accessed Healthy Gay Life's sexuality and diversity training. This explores individual's knowledge and understanding of discrimination against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people. It also increases their knowledge and understanding of the reasons behind gay men's sexual risk taking. The training helps support people in providing services to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people in line with European legislation on human rights and discrimination in the workplace. If you would further information on our training please click HERE .