In this final episode we close our first season of Positively Past, Positively Present hearing from two individuals who grew up in Positively Women warm embrace/in PW’s atmosphere//grew up alongside PW: Malika Cholway and Chiesa Musonda. Malika, better known as Hamzaa, and Chiesa share with us their experiences growing up around the phenomenal women at Postively Women, with specific shout outs to their extraordinary mothers: Angelina Namiba and Rebecca Mbewe. Listen out for Hamzaa’s new EP ‘Rush’ on Apple Music or Spotify.
Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan is a Consultant in HIV Medicine at Barts Health NHS Trust, and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. Rageshri is Chair of the Steering Group of the 4M Network. Dr Shema Tariq is a Clinical Academic at UCL's Institute for Global Health and Honorary Consultant HIV Physician at Mortimer Market Centre. She is Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees at Positively UK and Trustee of Tommy's, the UK's leading charity funding research into pregnancy loss and preterm birth. In this episode, we speak with Shema and Rageshri about HIV medicine and health inequalities in sexual and reproductive health care and support.
Professor Jane Anderson is a Consultant Physician in HIV Medicine at Homerton University Hospital in Hackney, East London. Jane established and is the director of the Centre for the Study of Sexual Health and HIV at Homerton. In this episode, Jane discusses the history of HIV treatment in terms of how it effected and affected women at the start of the pandemic, the importance of considering mother’s wellness alongside their child’s health, and makes a case for the vitality of including women living with HIV in HIV research.
Sue O’Sullivan is a prolific writer, editor and publisher and champion of women’s rights, particularly their health rights. In this episode we explore feminist publishing and the genesis of the edited book, Positively Women: Living with AIDS (1992). Sue has previously worked with Red Rag, ICW News (International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS), Spare Rib, before moving to Sheba Feminist Publishing. Today Sue is part of the HOWL (History of Women’s Liberation) project, a website that collects the memories and stories of feminists involved in any of the many layers of the UK Women’s Liberation Movement.
In this episode, we are joined by Daisy Puller and Harun Tulunay to discuss the impact of awareness of HIV in the LGBTQIA+ community. Harun is the Training and Volunteering Manager at Positively UK, an NHS Patient and Public Voice Partner, and a member of the UK-CAB Steering Committee. Daisy is a volunteer peer-mentor for Positively UK and a Fast Track Cities ‘HIV Confident’ Ambassador. By day Dan is a fashion product developer, and by night she is Daisy Puller - a fabulous drag queen with big blonde hair and even bigger heels. You can find out more about both these wonderful souls here:
Harun: Twitter Instagram
Daisy: Instagram
Chris O’Hanlon is Positively UK’s Gay Men’s Project Coordinator and Caseworker.
This episode examines how Positively UK evolved to provide services for Gay men, the development of the Gay Men’s Group which is a support group for gay and bisexual men or those who have yet to decide, living with HIV, and the ongoing work Chris and his colleagues offer. Alongside his background in HIV campaigning and activism, Chris is also a qualified Coach, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Sports Injury Therapist. You can find out more about Chris via his website: https://chrisohanlon.com/ and how to listen to his gorgeous podcast ‘And Then There Were Humans’.
This podcast series is part of the archival research project Positively Past, Positively Present. In this episode, Positively UK’s CEO, Silvia Petretti, and Women Project Co-ordinator, Neo Moepi with Co-Researcher and Project Manager, Maryam Shaharuddin discuss why the project is taking place and our ways of working.
Janine McGregor Read currently works at Homerton Hospital in the multiple disciplinary team with pregnant women and is also a peer navigator and the East London coordinator at Positively UK. In this podcast, Janine shares her experience of being pregnant as well as becoming a mother living with HIV.
Alice is the founding director of the Salamander Trust and works as an activist, researcher and participatory trainer in the field of HIV. In this episode, Alice discusses the role that gender plays in women's health outcomes, with specific references to HIV. Here are links to some of the studies Alice mentions: Violence against women, What will it take to achieve the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women living with HIV?, Enhancing Social Norms Programs: An Invitation to Rethink “Scaling Up” from a Feminist Perspective, 20 years of Shamefully Scarce Funding for Feminists and Women’s Rights Movements | AWID and specifically the chart Alice mentions.
In this episode, Garry Brough, a pioneer in our sector, shares insights on representation, peer support, and identity. Eli Fidgerald shares his inspiring journey from Bristol to Youth Project Coordinator at Positively UK.
Together, Garry and Eli also discuss the importance of peer support, relieving the burden of openness about HIV, and diversifying representation. Hear about visibility, hyper-visibility, and power representation.
Silvia joined Positively UK in 1999 as a volunteer and was appointed Positively UK’s CEO in February 2019. In this episode, Silvia speaks about female leadership and mentorship. She has represented people with HIV on the British HIV Association (BHIVA) Board, chaired the UK-CAB and represented the Global Network of People Living with HIV at the United Nation. She currently sits on the World Health Organisation advisory board on women and HIV.
Beatrice Osoro firstly started working with Positively Women as a volunteer. Now, she is our Clinical Outreach and Statutory Contract Lead. In this episode, Beatrice shares her experience of servcies for African women in the HIV sector and how she found a safe space at Positively Women.
Jo Manchester was a co-founder of the International Community of Women living with HIV (ICW). You may remember Rebecca Mbewe from Episode 2, she is one of the directors for 4M Mentor Mothers Network and also works on the GROWS project at Positively UK which looks at issues that affect women and ageing. In today’s episode, in honour of International Women’s Day, Jo and Rebecca speak about their experience with Gender and HIV as women. You can find out more information about the ICW's 12 Statements here.
Carolyn Williams was the first peer volunteer at Positively Women and Fiona Pettitt is currently a peer volunteer at Positively UK and is a former Trustee at the ICW. They talk about how they felt supported and held at a time where it had been difficult to access groups specific to women living with HIV.
Cinzia Milesi was one of the first Prison Workers at Positively Women and an instrumental advocate for women in prison and women who use drugs. Sophie Strachan is the CEO of the Sophia Forum and currently sits on the BASHH special interest group for prisons developing quality standards for sexual health in prisons. In this episode, they both share their personal experiences with HIV and Prison and discuss the support they received and still advocate for.
Julie Reynolds was one of the founders and former editors of Positively Women’s magazine. She currently works in Family Support Management but still is a Peer Mentor with Positively UK and also works with the Bearded&Flushed project. Here, she talks about the reasons why she started the magazine and what it was like for women living with HIV in the early 1990’s.
Rebecca Mbewe is a peer mentor, speaker and trainer with long standing experience of working within the HIV sector with various organisations. Angelina Namiba has over 24 years’ experience of working in the HIV sector. Among many things, they are co-directors of the 4M Mentor Mothers which is a peer-led programme that trains women living with HIV across the UK as Mentor Mothers. Together, they share their experiences navigating through their careers and raising their children whilst living with HIV.
In this weeks podcast we discuss accessing HIV services during the pandemic and thereafter. Following on from our online discussion, we brought your questions to the panel to find out more on the issues that affect people living with HIV. As services adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic, many services changed to telephone and online appointments. You can find a full list of resources and support organisations in our show notes below.
We hope you enjoy the show.
Dr Stuart Flanagan is a Consultant in GU/HIV & Blood Borne Virus (BBV) Medicine at CNWL Trust’s Mortimer Market Centre in Central London and Honorary Consultant at University College London Hospital. He is the Viral Hepatitis Lead for CNWL Trust. Stuart was an NIHR Clinical Research Fellow in Hepatology on the HepFREE study (testing for HBV and HCV in Primary care), which was published in Jan 2019 in the Lancet Gastro & Hep. He is chair of the BASHH HIV/BBV Special interest Group and the organising committee for the annual BASHH HIV Masterclass conference. Stuart has been a medical broadcaster for the BBC (BBC Radio 1 Surgery, CBBC’s Newsround, BBC Breakfast). He wrote and presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary on antimicrobial resistance The Path Of Least Resistance, available to listen to via BBC iPlayer.
Dr Richard Ma is a GP principal in London and NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow at Imperial College London. He has a research interest in delivery of sexual and reproductive health in primary care. His current research focuses on equity and impact of contraceptive provision in general practice. He has held positions including: member of RCGP’s Sex Drugs and Blood Borne Virus Group, National Chlamydia Screening Advisory Group, expert member on NICE Guidelines on Preventing Sexually Transmitted Infections and under-18 conceptions and more recently expert member for NICE Quality Standards Advisory Committee on Contraception and NICE Scholar. He frequently writes and lectures on all matters related to sexual health/HIV and campaigns for better experience for LGBTQ+ patients in general practice. Most recently, he has been one of the founding members of #PrideRCGP programme, set up to improve experiences and well-being of LGBTQ+ community of peers and patients.
Shaun Watson has worked in and around HIV since 1989 initially as an HIV link nurse in Hull (ensuring that healthcare professionals were educated and people living with HIV received appropriate care) and a volunteer counsellor at AIDS Action. Since 2005 I have worked as a community HIV clinical nurse specialist in central London and Chair of the National HIV Nurses Association for the past 4 years.
Dr Nicola Mackie is a Consultant Physician and Clinical Director for HIV at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Her research was in the field of HIV-1 drug resistance and she runs the weekly Virtual Clinic. Although her main interest is clinical work, she is involved with writing national guidelines; examining for dipHIV and teaching for BASHH and EACS. She is a Trustee of the British HIV Association and a member of SWIFT (Supporting Women with HIV Information Network).
Resources & support organisations
The Mortimer Market Centre - https://www.shl.uk/clinic/mortimer-market-centre
Jefferiss Wing Sexual Health - https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/our-services/sexual-health-and-hiv
Positively UK podcasts https://positivelyuk.org/lgbt-podcast/
Dean Street Sexual Health https://dean.st/
In this weeks episode we discuss Managing Isolation & Wellbeing Strategies.
The Covid Pandemic and Lockdown has been a difficult time for everyone. Managing our mental health and wellbeing has been a challenge that many have had to adapt to, especially for those who struggle with anxiety and depression.
Joining our podcast today is Clinical Psychologist Dr. Felicity Saunders, Prepster’s and The Love Tank Strategic Lead Phil Samba and Wellbeing Coach Mina Kakaiya, who are at the forefront of support and guidance for people living with HIV. You can find a full list of resources and support organisations in our show notes below.
We hope you enjoy the show.
Dr. Felicity Saunders is a Clinical Psychologist who works within the NHS at The Mortimer Market Centre. She completed her doctorate at University College London (UCL). She has a keen interest in how compassion focussed therapy can support those with sexual wellbeing difficulties and those living with HIV. She has previously experience working within trauma services and uses these skills within her current role, supporting those who have been sexually assaulted or experience stigma in relation to their sexuality or diagnosis of HIV.
Phil Samba is the strategic lead for #PrEP4QueerMenOfColour at Prepster, (The Love Tank) an organisation that educates and agitates for PrEP in England and beyond. He is a social activist, a writer and a researcher with a focus on health inequalities of people of colour. His work primarily focuses on improving the sexual health of queer men of colour, he strives for equality within the intersection of race and sexuality and provides an honest representation of black queer men.
Mina Kakaiya is an author and Transformational Wellbeing Coach, Hypnotherapist and Mindfulness Practitioner. As well as being a HIV Activist, Mina has been involved in a number of HIV campaigns and teaches Emotional-Resilience, Mindfulness and sexual wellbeing.
Resources & Support Organisations
Stonewall - https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/how-covid-19-affecting-lgbt-communities
LGBT foundation - https://lgbt.foundation/coronavirus/why-lgbt-people-are-disproportionately-impacted-by-coronavirus
Self Compassion: https://youtu.be/-kfUE41-JFw
How to be a friend to yourself: https://youtu.be/wFUxiIjp-Nk-
Connect with other LGBT people through forums and online chat e.g. www.trevorspace.org. Organisations such as LGBT Foundation, Terrence Higgins Trust and Galop are holding number of workshops, events and support sessions via Zoom so you can stay connected
Sexual health
Sexual Health London https://www.shl.uk/
Prepster https://prepster.info/covid/
Dean Street https://dean.st/chemsex/chemsex-support-during-covid-19-outbreak/
Antidote https://londonfriend.org.uk/antidote-drugs-alcohol/
Change Grow Live https://www.changegrowlive.org/advice-info/alcohol-drugs/chemsex-drugs
LBGTQI+ community
GALOP https://www.galop.org.uk/community-links/
London Friend https://londonfriend.org.uk/
Terrance Higgins Trust https://www.tht.org.uk/
LGBT Foundation http://lgbt.foundation/
LGBT Tribe https://support.therapytribe.com/lgbt-support-group/
Outlife https://www.outlife.org.uk/forums
Black Out UK https://blkoutuk.com/
+Pals https://metrocharity.org.uk/hiv/plus-pals-hiv-support-group
Trans Network London http://transnetworklondon.org.uk/
Connect Well https://www.livingwellcic.com/portfolio-item/connect-well/
Positively UK podcasts https://positivelyuk.org/lgbt-podcast/
