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Christie’s Place Recognized by the White House as Delivering Results

Christie’s Place, one of the organizations that the PEER Center of the Peer Education Initiative worked with to enhance an existing peer program, was recognized in the Office of National AIDS Policy’s (ONAP) December report on the progress of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). The report spotlights AIDS United’s Access to Care (A2C) work as a public-private partnership that is truly helping to advance the goals of the National Strategy.

Two PEER Center partner employees featured in POZ magazine

The June issue of POZ magazine includes an article that interviews 31 long-term survivors living with HIV.

Oral Health and HIV peer training toolkit on CD

The ECHO Project and the PEER Center worked together to create a module to train peers about the importance of oral health as part of overall health for people living with HIV and to engage clients in oral health care.

Therapist Who Started as Volunteer Peer Wins Social Work Today Award

Ken Howard, MSW, LCSW, of West Hollywood, California, a psychotherapist who specializes in serving the needs of gay men and people living with HIV/AIDS, has won one of the ten “Dedicated and Deserving Social Workers” of the year awards from Social Work Today magazine.

Howard has been living with HIV himself for over 20 years, and has been a practicing psychotherapist for over 18 years.

New Article: Black Women Living with AIDS Thrive Thanks to Peer Support

A new article by Andrea King Collier from Black AIDS Institute describes how peer support can help keep HIV-positive black women in care.

View article on TheBody.com website

People to People staff present at Illinois DPH Conference

People to People staff  presented at the 19th Annual HIV/STD Conference, “Creative Strategies for Challenging Times,” sponsored by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Simone Phillips, American Red Cross, St. Louis Area Chapter, and Alicia Downes, Kansas City Free Health Clinic,  presented “Building Blocks to Peer Success: A Toolkit for Training HIV Positive Peers,” on Wednesday, October 27, 2010 from 2:15 p.m.-3:30 p.m.

Also available was a poster session: “Peers in Action: How to Integrate Peers in HIV Services”

Gender Auditing the U.S. National HIV/AIDS Strategy

Women and gender-focused HIV advocacy organizations from around the U.S. and Canada, including WORLD, part of the Lotus Project, created a Gender Monitoring Toolkit and Report Card to evaluate and monitor the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) from a human rights and gender perspective.  The purpose of the tool is to analyze the extent to which the U.S.

Take the Test: BABES Peer Gets the Word Out

Tonya Rasberry, a peer at BABES Network-YWCA in Seattle, was featured in this Seattle Times article published in connection with HIV testing day:

View Seattle Times article

Tonya participated in the training of trainers workshop put on by the Lotus Project in Oakland, CA in September 2009.

Letter from Elton John to Ryan White

“Twenty years ago this month, you died of AIDS. I would gladly give my fame and fortune if only I could have one more conversation with you, the friend who changed my life as well as the lives of millions living with HIV. Instead, I have written you this letter. “

Read Elton John’s letter to Ryan White on the Washington Post website

Poster presentation at IAPAC Conference 2010: Interdisciplinary Medication Adherence Clinic

The Interdisciplinary Medication Adherence Clinic at the Kansas City Free Health Clinic (KCFree) included pharmacists, peer educators and providers working together to help clients who are considered at high-risk for non-adherence. KC Free staff described this program in a poster presentation entitled An Interdisciplinary Medication Adherence Clinic Utilizing Pharmacists and Peer Educators at the International Conference on HIV Treatment Adherence in Miami May 23 – 25.

View abstract

Peer Training workshop at Voices conference

At the Voices conference in May, staff from the Peer Education Training Sites presented a workshop entitled Building Blocks for Peer Success: A Toolkit for Training HIV Positive Peers.

New Journal Article: Peer Knowledge and Roles

Staff from the PEER Center and Peer Education Training Sites collaborated to create a peer-reviewed journal article that describes the knowledge and roles of working/volunteering HIV-positive peers prior to training through the PETS/REC initiative and recommends areas for further enhancements in HIV peer education. The article, entitled “Peer Knowledge and Roles in Supporting Access to Care and Treatment,” was published in the Journal of Community Health on March 19, 2010 and can be accessed through their open access program.

Lotus consultant’s article on peer supervision in The Source

The Source is a bi-annual magazine published by the AIA Resource Center, an organization dedicated to "helping professionals help families affected by drugs and HIV." The Spring 2010 issue, devoted to peer mentors, includes an article by Janie M. Riley entitled "A Supportive Approach to Supervision for Peers Living with HIV." Janie is a licensed marriage family therapist, clinical supervisor, and
consultant to WORLD and the Center for Health Training’s Lotus Project.

Partner Organization Staff Named to Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS

Several staff members from organizations collaborating with the PEER Center have been appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). The council was established in 1995 to provide policy recommendations on the U.S. Government’s response to the AIDS epidemic.

New Oral Health and HIV Module for Peer Facilitators

A new module designed to train peers to teach HIV-positive clients about the importance of oral health in their overall care has been incorporated into the Building Blocks to Peer Success toolkit. As a standalone module, the training is intended as a workshop lasting 3 hours and 15 minutes and includes information about the HIV Life Cycle, action of HIV medications, oral health hygiene practices and oral health manifestations of HIV disease.

Building Blocks to Peer Program Success Toolkit now Available

The PEER Center and the Peer Education Training Sites are announcing the release of the Building Blocks to Peer Program Success toolkit. This toolkit is a capacity building resource for organizations and communities who desire to develop or enhance peer programs. The toolkit provides a framework to successfully utilize peers to engage and retain people living with HIV/AIDS in care and treatment.

Recording for HRSA Webcast "Training Peers to Support Clients…" available

On August 5, 2009 the PEER Center and Peer Education Training Sites conducted a Webcast hosted by the HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau on August 5 entitled Training Peers to Support Clients in HIV Care and Treatment.

To access the recording of this Webcast, visit the HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau Web/Audio Conferences page and click the “Recording” button next to the listing for the August 5 Webcast.

The presentation slides are also available.

Help available for your Ryan White quality management plan

The National Quality Center /NQC (a quality improvement initiative funded through the Human Resources and Services Administration HIV/AIDS Bureau) is helping link Ryan White grantees with one another to provide expertise in integrating key quality measures into existing data systems. Here is an excerpt from the May NQC eNewsletter: