Spring 2011
News
WOMEN OF
ACTION
MESSAGE FROM HAZELLE PALMER E
ver since the AIDS crisis first hit Toronto, women and men have worked arm in arm to confront it. In the early 1980s, when gay men started to become sick with a mysterious illness and governments were slow to act, women and gay men worked together to found a community response in our city. Drawing on lessons from the women’s health movement, early AIDS activists changed the way we think about health care and people living with illness. Instead of being passive recipients of the medical system, feminists taught us that we all deserve to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to our own bodies and our own health. “Nothing about us without us” still lives on today in the HIV/AIDS movement, through principles such as the Meaningful Involvement of People Living With HIV/AIDS. Today, HIV affects many more communities than those early days. Although gay men remain the community most affected in Toronto – still making up the majority of new infections – one out of every five people newly infected with HIV in Toronto today is a woman. We are also seeing patterns in which women are most at risk. Almost half of women living with HIV in Toronto are from countries with high rates of HIV infection in Africa or the Caribbean; communities that already face discrimination and barriers to health care in Canada. ACT has responded to these changing trends by expanding our programming to reach these women. We are pioneering new ways of doing outreach and delivering services by involving women from the communities that are most affected by HIV.
As we face the challenge of meeting these increasingly diverse needs, financial resources for our work are shrinking – due to shifts in government priorities, a decrease in charitable giving, and a perception that HIV is no longer an issue locally. Despite this, we are committed to adapting to the changing reality of HIV. Our new Strategic Plan – Resilience: Together We Are Stronger – outlines three priority populations in which we will focus our efforts over the next four years: gay men, women, and youth. We want to keep you updated on how we are putting this plan into action, starting with our new and ongoing women’s programming in this issue. I believe it is possible for our programming to meet the diverse needs of all of the communities most affected by HIV in our city, but we need your support to make it happen. Please see the back of this newsletter for information on how you can become a Partner in ACTion, or even make a one-time gift to help us reach more people living with, affected by, and at risk for HIV. Gay men, women and youth in Toronto are depending on us for information and support. By working together, we can make a real difference in their lives and make our communities stronger. Sincerely,
Hazelle Palmer Executive Director AIDS Committee of Toronto
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WOMEN AND ACT: A BRIEF HISTORY 1983: ACT is founded in response to a mysterious illness primarily affecting gay men in the city.
1998: ACT works with other agencies to offer annual wellness retreats for women living with HIV.
1986: Joan Anderson becomes the first woman to chair the ACT Board of Directors.
2000: ACT collaborates with other agencies to offer a monthly Community Kitchen for African, Caribbean and Black women living with HIV.
1988: ACT launches the Women and AIDS project. The goal of the project is to provide education and training on HIV and women to service providers and communities. 1992: ACT launches its “A Little Less Latex” campaign to let lesbians know that oral sex is low-risk for HIV. At the time, such messaging was controversial. 1992: ACT launches a support group dedicated to women living with HIV.
2005: Women’s Coffee Nights – a monthly social support discussion group for women living with HIV – start at ACT. 2010: Thanks to a grant from the M•A•C AIDS Fund, ACT leads the Positive Work for Positive Women pilot project to address the employment needs of African, Caribbean and Black women living with HIV.
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2010: As part of the Government of Ontario’s Women and HIV/AIDS Initiative, ACT is awarded funding to hire staff to provide HIV-related information, resources and training to service providers who work with women. Late 2010: After the closure of Voices of Positive Women in June 2010, the Public Health Agency of Canada puts out a targeted call for agencies to apply to take on the work that they had funded. ACT applies and is successful. These additional funds enable ACT to enhance support programs for women living with HIV, and to expand the annual wellness retreats to women living with HIV from across Ontario.
WOMEN'S COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT T
he idea behind ACT’s new Women’s Community Development program is to create a network of services that can effectively support women living with, and at increased risk for HIV across Toronto. A big part of that work involves training on HIV-related issues with staff who work in agencies that serve women.
making an effort to go into these communities and build a network of resources women can rely on, wherever they are.”
The program is part of a network of similar positions strategically located across Ontario that form the basis for the Women and HIV/AIDS Initiative (WHAI). WHAI grew out of provincial research and consultations that indicated that the best ways in which to educate women at risk for HIV infection, and to increase access to support for women living with HIV, was to increase understanding about HIV and women within organizations where women are already accessing services. “We can’t expect all women living with HIV across Toronto, or those at increased risk for HIV infection to come into ACT,” Ana Mateus, Women’s Community Development Educator explains. “We are
Ana is excited about the program’s possibilities. Through her experience as an ACT case manager and HIV educator in the Portuguese-speaking community, she has seen first-hand the barriers facing women living with and at risk for HIV. “Many women living with HIV tell us stories about having doors closed on them by service providers,” Ana says. “So going into an agency to conduct an HIV workshop can have a huge impact on the lives of HIV-positive women who access services there, as well as women who may be at risk for HIV infection.” With statistics showing that almost half of women living with HIV in Toronto have immigrated to Canada from countries with high rates of HIV infections in Africa and the Caribbean, the program identified settlement agencies as a key sector in which to focus outreach and
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ANA education in the first year. “My work is about building bridges,” Ana says. “Through community outreach, networking, training and workshops – my goal is to educate and inform service providers so they can provide better services and referrals to their clients, who may be HIV-positive women, or women at risk of infection.” After the first year of the program, Ana will shift focus to women’s shelters and other organizations that work in the violence against women sector. “If a woman is being abused, she is obviously not at her highest comfort level for discussing and negotiating safer sex or getting tested for HIV,” Ana explains. “There’s a need to reach these women, whether they are HIV-positive or at risk of infection, to make sure they have access to woman-centred and woman-focused HIV information and support.” To help agencies in all of these sectors better support women living with or at risk of HIV, the Women’s Community Development program will also create and update resources for them to use in their work. With so much information being accessed online these days, a big component of the program will be the creation of a website for service providers where they can access information about HIV and women. The added bonus will be that the website will also be relevant and accessible to women at risk of, and living with, HIV.
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FOR POSITIVE WOMEN
POSITIVE WORK
“Keep the public focused on HIV/AIDS as a critical issue. Continue to keep the issue of HIV/AIDS visible and continue to fight for the rights of HIV-positive people.”
B
efore the introduction of new medical treatments to treat people living with HIV in the 1990s, an HIV-positive diagnosis often meant taking temporary or permanent leave from regular employment in order to take care of your health. Ten years ago, AIDS service organizations in Toronto noticed an influx in service users who were living healthier and wanted to re-enter the workforce. In response, Employment ACTion was born, a program to provide skills training to people living with HIV and place them in jobs with supportive employers. The benefits of working for an income are more than just monetary. Working helps to improve self-esteem, give a sense of purpose, and reduce social isolation – all of which are factors in improving mental health. But for many people living with HIV, other income options are needed. Women – especially African, Caribbean and Black women – often face challenges integrating into the Canadian job market for a variety of reasons, including family responsibilities, language barriers, and a lack of recognition of international credentials and experience.
To address these barriers, ACT initiated a pilot project through Employment ACTion called Positive Work for Positive Women, in partnership with the Black Coalition
Nadia
“ACT needs to figure out who it can serve well, and not try to be everything to everyone.” ACT Newsletter | 6
for AIDS Prevention, Africans in Partnership Against AIDS, and Women’s Health in Women’s Hands.
What is micro-finance? Microfinance has been around for 30 years in international development. Small amounts of money are provided to people who otherwise wouldn’t qualify for loans from a traditional banking institution. The money is used to start a small business that provides additional income for their families, such as running a vegetable stall at a farmers’ market or providing services such as haircuts.
“We held a day-long forum in November that was all about building employment skills, one component of which was self-employment,” says Nadia Bello, Project Coordinator for Positive Work for Positive Women. “A lot of those women have since come forward expressing interest in starting their own business.” Thanks to a grant from the M•A•C AIDS Fund, the pilot project will provide five of these women with a small seed grant to assist in the development of their own micro-business, following four months of training and support from Business Development Consultant Yamoa Apea.
Although the concept is wellestablished in an international development context, microfinance is not widely practiced in Canada. Positive Work for Positive Women is a pilot project intended to find out if micro-finance is a viable means of income generation for people living with HIV in Ontario.
“A lot of the women in this pilot project come from cultures where microfinance is well-established, where there’s a culture of entrepreneurship, where people really do what they have to do to make ends meet,” Nadia explains. “The issue is not that these women don’t know how to be entrepreneurs. The issue is how do you do that in a Canadian context and in a Canadian market.” “We hope that the training will give them a new set of skills, build their capacity to develop a new business, and help them achieve financial independence.”
What is a micro-business? A micro-business is defined as any business founded with less than $5,000 startup capital. Most businesses in Canada are small businesses, and most of those small businesses are micro-businesses.
Yamoa
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RETREATS FOR WOMEN LIVING WITH HIV T
alking about living with HIV can be difficult at the best of times. When you’re juggling responsibilities at work and home, or living with or caring for people who don’t know your HIV status, it can become almost impossible to find a time and a safe place to do so. This is often the situation faced by women with HIV who wear different hats as partners, mothers, workers, friends, caregivers and more. This is one of the reasons ACT holds wellness retreats for women with HIV in addition to our retreats for men and youth. Retreats give people with HIV a chance to get out of the city, to focus on themselves for a weekend and connect with each other in a safe and relaxing environment. Participants are able to talk and learn about living well with HIV, but it’s also an opportunity to talk to each other about the other challenges they face in their lives.
“We offer a safe space for women to get together for the weekend, to enjoy time with each other, and to connect on lots of different levels around living with HIV,” says Kate Murzin, Group Programs Coordinator at ACT. “They talk about how it affects their families, work life, social life, dating, and financial matters – all the different aspects of their lives.” ACT Newsletter | 8
The retreat held in March 2011 was the fifth that Kate helped organize and facilitate for women living with HIV, and this year she was joined by ACT’s new Women’s Support Worker, Fikilé Mazambani. Retreats are different from meetings and conferences, because they create an environment where participants can learn from each other, not just the presenters and facilitators. “The women at the retreat gain a lot just from being around each other and sharing experiences,” Kate explains. “We really try to create a relaxed atmosphere where women can make those connections.” Although retreats have included workshops on everything from HIV treatment to the challenges of disclosing HIV status, they also include time for fun and rejuvenation, through activities like bonfires, karaoke, movie nights, art therapy, scavenger hunts, as well as manicures and massages. “Many of the women can’t afford these things, to go and pamper themselves and relax,” Fikilé adds. “It’s a good thing.”
Previously, Women’s Wellness Retreats had been offered in collaboration with Voices of Positive Women and the Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy. With the closure of the former, and the latter heading in a different direction, last year’s retreat was offered by ACT, and open to women with HIV in Toronto. After the closure of Voices of Positive Women in June 2010, the Public Health Agency of Canada put out a targeted call for agencies to apply to take on the work that they had previously funded Voices of Positive Women to do, which included funding to support a provincial retreat for women with HIV. ACT applied and was successful, and as a result held a retreat for women living with HIV/AIDS from outside of Toronto. This led to a stronger relationship with the Peterborough AIDS Resource Network and the AIDS Committee of Durham, with all three organizations merging two separately-planned events into one that would reach more women living with HIV.
“It worked out great,” Kate says. “Staff from other AIDS service organizations were able to spread the word about the retreat to service users in their own geographic area, and their presence at the retreat helped make women from their area feel more comfortable. ”For more information about upcoming retreats for people living with HIV, contact Kate at kmurzin@actoronto.org or 416-340-8484 ext. 283. To find out about programs and services for women at ACT, contact Fikilé at fmazambani@actoronto.org or 416-340-8484 ext. 239.
KATE FIKILE
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Evaluating Ourselves A
CT is constantly changing its programs and services to respond to the changing needs of the people we serve.
1980s,” says Lydia Makoroka, ACT Research Coordinator. “With 18,000 people now living with HIV in our city, from so many different communities, we need accurate research telling us how to tailor our programs today.”Ф
How do we know who is being overlooked in our work, and what we could be doing better? That’s where our Research Department comes in. Through program evaluation and community-based research, the team identifies new trends affecting our service users and the communities we work with. “If you keep delivering programs the way it’s always been done, you’re going to end up leaving people behind,”Фsays Jessica Cattaneo, Manager of Evaluation and Program Development at ACT. “Toronto has changed a lot over the course of our agency’s lifespan – demographics, social services, and the reality of living with HIV. Our work needs to keep up with these changes in order to stay relevant.”Ф Right now, Jessica is working on a collaborative research project between ACT and Casey House, looking at the needs of people who have been living with HIV for a long time. Known as long-term survivors, the study will try to answer a wide range of questions, even whether the term itself is relevant to all communities and populations, such as women. “The AIDS movement pioneered the successful concept of tailoring health promotion services to the communities that need them, starting with the gay community in the
Looking at issues through a gender lens is a major component of research and program evaluation at ACT, along with race, class, sexual orientation, and other social determinants of health. With women making up an increasing proportion of people living with HIV in Toronto, the Research Department examines whether ACT services are accessible to women living with and at increased risk for HIV, and respond to their unique needs. In addition to collecting information to inform our own programming, ACT exchanges our knowledge with others who work in the field of HIV/AIDS. The annual ACT Research Day creates a platform where research generated in clinical and community-based settings can be shared with other AIDS service organizations, policy-makers, researchers and community. This year’s ACT Research Day will feature a presentation on the Ontario Women’s Study. (For more information, visit www.actoronto.org/researchday) “Research allows us to identify the assumptions we might have about the people we work with,” Jessica adds. “Engaging service users in community-based research and evaluation is essential to breaking down barriers to services.”Ф
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Jessica
Lydia
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Q&A
COUNSELLING Q&A with ACT Counsellors John Gaylord and Marsha Malbari How is counselling women with HIV different from counselling men?
What’s your favourite part about working with women?
John:
John:
“Women are traditionally caregivers. They aren’t necessarily, and of course everyone’s different, but women are more likely to be the ones providing care rather than seeking out care. And if they’re in the role of caregiver, they often just don’t have time. They may put their needs second, to the point where it can affect their mental health and physical health.”
“I find that women work really hard at their counselling goals. They mean what they say and they are kind of no-nonsense in that way. Of course that’s not true for everyone. But that’s been my experience.”
Marsha:
“What’s important for people to know, especially women, is that it’s okay to come to someone to ask for support. By asking for help, you are taking the first steps to gain control. A good analogy is this: when you’re in an airplane and those oxygen masks come down, you’re told to put it on yourself before you help to put it on others. You have to remember to take care of yourself first in order to take care of others.”
Marsha:
“Many of the gay men I see are already very open. That doesn’t happen as frequently with women. So it’s very challenging and exciting for me when I can draw a woman out, and she’s able to share her concerns with me. There’s a real sense of connection when she feels safe enough to actually tell me her story. If she can open up and tell me her story, I feel like half of my job is done, because that’s the hardest part.”
ACT counsellors are available to see everyone, regardless of their circumstances or HIV status. Whether you are newly diagnosed as HIV-positive, a long-term survivor of HIV, or if you have a friend or family member living with HIV, we’re here for you. You can call 416-340-2437 to make an appointment or to find out when a counsellor is available that day on a ‘drop-in’ basis. You can also view the drop-in counselling schedule online at www.actoronto.org/counselling
John MARSHA
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"I would say this is one of the best places to volunteer "
VOLUNTEER PROFILE andy Whitbread is one of the most familiar faces for anyone who accesses services at ACT, as one of the most frequent volunteers at the 4th floor Information Desk.
S
From there, she got more involved with ACT, going through Volunteer Core Skills Training and taking on a volunteer position at the Information Desk, the first stop for service users coming in to ACT.
“Service users and staff absolutely adore her!” is what Sergio Martinez, ACT’s Program Volunteer Resources Manager, says. “Sandy always brings a little bit of sunshine every week to our Service Access Centre.”
“I thought I would come in and I would be helping other people, but they seem to be helping me when they come in. To help someone else, or even to give someone else a smile makes me feel good.”
“It’s for the love of my daughter,” Sandy says. “You do things because you’re proud of your children, and I care an awful lot about her.”
Sandy answers telephone inquiries, welcomes people to the office, and helps people use the public computers in the newly renovated Service Access Centre.
Sandy’s daughter Jessica was diagnosed with HIV in 2001, and soon after, her family started to get involved with ACT.
“I would say this is one of the best places to volunteer. The staff are wonderful, it’s a comfortable environment to be in. It’s just an easy place to be, so I know why the clients enjoy it so much.”
“We needed an outlet,” she explains. “Our first outlet was going into the AIDS Walk. It was good for us. It really was good for everyone. To give back also helps yourself, no matter what.”
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YEARS OF SERVICE Every year, long-time staff and volunteers of ACT are recognized at our Annual General Meeting with years of service awards. This past September, ACT acknowledged the following individuals for contributing hours of service to people living with, affected by, and at risk for HIV in our community: 20 Years of Service (1990 to 2010) Duncan MacLachlan (Staff) Bill J. (Volunteer)
5 Years of Service (2005 to 2010) Daniel D. (Buddy Program) Dwayne H. (Meet and Eat Hot Lunch Program) Dennis J. (Buddy Program) Suzette M. (Practical Assistance-Furniture Bank; Buddy Program) Glenella D. (Development) Dorinda L. (Development) Jeffrey L. (Development) Michael M. (Development) Loxley P. (Development) Suki S. (Development) Andrew T. (Development) Alan W. (Development) George M. (Development) Kelly H. (Development)
15 Years of Service (1995 to 2010) Gord K. (Practical Assistance) Todd R. (Gay Men’s Outreach) Bryan A. (Development) Bob N. (Development) Annie J. (Development) 10 Years of Service (2000 to 2010) Tim O. (Finance) Mike S. (Support Group Facilitation) Julie B. (Employment Action Computer Trainer) Christine E. (Access Centre) Brian R. (Volunteer) Jonathan C. (Development) Kris K. (Development) George L. (Development)
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10 Years of Service (2000 to 2010)
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Proceeds from this year’s run will benefit the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) and the Triangle Program. A portion of this year’s proceeds will also go towards the Pride and Remembrance Foundation.
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Sunday, September 25, 2011 Don’t Just Stand There! aidswalktoronto.ca A benefit for
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The AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) delivers responsive, effective, and valued community-based HIV support services and education, prevention, outreach and fundraising programs that promote the health, well-being, worth and rights of individuals and communities living with, affected by and at risk for HIV/AIDS, and increase awareness of HIV/AIDS.
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NTITY AIDS Committee of Toronto 399 Church Street, 4th floor, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2J6 T 416-340-8484 ext. 279 F 416-340-8224 E ask@actoronto.org W actoronto.org Monday to Thursday 10 am–9 pm Friday 10 am–5 pm