|
|
|
|
|
Letters from The House
The Newsletter of The Wright House Wellness Center |
|
|
|
|
|
|
An Ounce of Prevention! This month we give you thought-provoking information, bring alive our Wright House Prevention programs and
share some exciting developments.
But first, thank you to all the donors who make programs possible, including these:
|
|
|
|
 | | 512-467-0088 |
|
|
 |
Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) Reverend Alycia Erickson, formerly a peer counselor for The Wright House, surprised us with a call to say we had been chosen to receive a $500 MCC Cares award in support of our HIV/AIDS Support Group.
Reverend Karen Thompson, Senior Pastor, kindly invited us to visit and talk about our mission. We are grateful for the support and the opportunity
to say thank you!
|
|
|
|
Thank you for a wonderful collaboration that brings support to the entire community.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why Prevention Programs Are Still Needed
|
Help Stop the Clock on HIV in Central Texas |
|
|
|
CTR
HIV Counseling, Testing and Referral
Activities to increase client knowledge about their HIV status and encourage/support risk reduction. Referrals for medical, social, prevention, and partner services.
People Who Test:
- are less likely to engage in risky behaviors that could lead to infection,
- are more likely to get treatment
- are more likely to take steps to avoid passing the disease to their partners.
3MV
Many Men, Many Voices
Group level intervention for African American and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM).
Participants work within the Culture of Gay and Bisexual Men of Color and learn:
- STD/HIV Risk Education - Risk Assessment - Risk Reduction Options
- Intentions to Act and Capacity for Change
- Relationship Issues: Partner Selection, Communication, Role Negotiation
- Problem Solving to Maintain Change
A 2009 study showed participants reported significant behavioral changes after participating in this course designed for Black men with male sexual partners:
- Greatly reduced instances of any unprotected sex
- Significant reduction in the number of partners over time
- Increased testing
______________________________________
|
MEET JOSEPH
Mr. Joseph D. Elder, B.A.
Lead Peer Educator/Outreach Specialist
I believe my program is successful because the participants who have completed the workshop come up to me in the streets and tell me that it was useful and beneficial to their behavior change. They may not have said it that way, but they do thank me. I have done my program from anywhere to The University of Texas at Austin to Staybridge Inn. It is all about going where that population needs you to be.
I do this job because it is a passion of mine. Education is near and dear to my heart, and even though I am not in a classroom, it is still teaching. I live this life and many people close to me have been affected by STD's and HIV. I feel as it is my duty and my purpose to strengthen this endeavor to reduce the stigma and help educate anyone who will listen to a message of using condoms, getting tested, talking to your partner(s), and learning "self." MORE
|
FUN WITH CONDOMS
 | |
Casanova and friend checking their condoms
|
 | | A record 150,000 condoms are being provided to Olympic athletes |
Buenos Aires, June 10, 2006 to commemorate AIDS awareness day
|
AN OUNCE OF
PREVENTION
About what a
condom weighs
TRUVADA APPROVED
Antiretroviral used as preventative has been approved by the FDA, but carries a cost around $12,000. MORE
IN-HOME HIV TEST AVAILABLE, BUT...
there are concerns about lack of information and counseling at the time it is taken. The Wright House offers all this at no charge. MORE
|
|
|
|
RAPP
Community level intervention. African American women, working with peer volunteers, have opportunities to attend educational sessions, safer sex educational parties and to share their safer sex success stories
SISTA
Sisters Informing Sisters on Topics about AIDS
Group intervention focused on African American women aimed at reducing HIV high risk sexual behavior.
Skilled female facilitators implement small group sessions using culturally and gender appropriate materials. African American women learn:
- Verbal and nonverbal communication methods
- Condom use skills
- Risks of HIV infection
- The importance of partner's involvement in safer sex.
______________________________________
TANGIE TALKS
Ms. Tangie Tennison
SISTA Peer Educator
On what success looks like
It's a process. A lady makes that connection where she and her partner can talk about sexual experience and their relationship openly. If you can't talk about sex, you can't talk about condoms.
If I can get someone to change one aspect of their behavior, it says they are trying and that's a starting point.
The Biggest Success is getting women to realize they are important-that it's about them, not pleasing someone else or making them happy. Success is getting people to realize that their happiness and health comes first-you are happier when you are healthier.
MORE
Hear What Participants Say About SISTA
Wanda, a 22 year old college student - The more I get used to using condoms the easier it is to put them on without wasting too much time and I make it fun.
Simone - Before being separated from my husband, I started to use condoms with him because I didn't know where our relationship was going and for my own protection. I don't count on the other person to provide them, because I am older and I am a divorced mother I have to protect myself for my child, as I am all that she has in life.
Yvette - [After several bouts with STDs] 'I'm locking down. I use condoms even in a serious relationship I don't want to catch anything else. I am not going to take any more chances with my life.
Jessica - I have decided within myself whether he gives me the test results or not we are going to use condoms. I take a personal interest now, in not only using them but also providing my own.
Lady J - When we both found out we were HIV positive we went to a HIV positive support group and we learned about different strains of HIV and how we could reinfect each other so that's when I decided condoms for the rest of our lives.
|
ADVANCING PREVENTION
"Black Americans make up almost half of all new HIV infections, and blacks are less likely to get treatment and more likely to die of complications from AIDS than any other race."
"Sex is not something church people like to talk about. It's something they like to do," says a  minister who worked with others on a new manual on HIV/AIDS for churches. He was part of a group that also included Houston Pastor Timothy W. Sloan, from St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church in Humble, Texas. With others, they have crafted a six page Prevention Manual for the NAACP distribution in churches.
Concerned about the risk his predominately African-American Congregation would have a strongly negative reaction that would influence church financial security or event its very membership, he was surprised to receive a standing ovation when the Manual was announced.
|
|
|
|
|
About Us
The philosophy of The Wright House Wellness Center is to help people living with or at-risk for HIV/AIDS and/or hepatitis C make healthier life-style choices, employ complementary/holistic health therapies to delay illness, and contribute back to the community.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MEET JOSEPH continued
My program specifically targets the high risk African American/Hispanic/Latino gay or bisexual male persons ages 18-29. This is due to the large number of people in this area being infected with HIV. This program's other factors include cultural, social and religious norms, identity of African American/Hispanic/Latino MSM and their degree of connectedness to the gay communities, HIV/STI interactions, sexual relationship dynamics, and the social influences of racism and homophobia.
_____________________________________________________________
TANGIE TALKS continued
Why SISTA Works
We start with RAPP - Real AIDS Prevention Project. We recruit; we go to apartment complexes, health fairs, bus stops and businesses like beauty parlors and barber shops. We tell the guys to send their girlfriends. We build relationships in the community. We give out brochures, ask if people need condoms and provide them. Sometimes people come to SISTA after being tested in church.
In SISTA group meetings, we help women realize the need for safe sex, that a small risk is too big a risk to take. They may not feel the need if they don't sleep around. The women learn how to overcome objections, how to communicate about using condoms without feeling bad or starting an argument.
Participants get homework: to share what we talked about in class with partner and get his response. We show how to make it fun, enhance the experience.
The most exciting part-the last session. The women invite their partner or family member, someone they would talk to about this, someone who will push them to do the right thing down the line, perhaps a sister. Then we invite women in the group and guests to be tested. One of the husbands was reluctant until the group asked if he was such an old dog he couldn't learn new tricks!
"I'm a harasser." Getting someone pushy enough to make you stop and listen for a minute is important. Some people say-you have opened my eyes! The info is there; people are not sure where to get it don't feel like it pertains to them. I make that connection for them.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
