LONELINESS AWARENESS WEEK 2021

George House Trust is committed to supporting people to live confidently and healthily with HIV. We believe that social connection, a sense of community and the confidence to make decisions free from the fear of stigma are central to this.

This Loneliness Awareness Week, we’re encouraging people to see loneliness as an experience. Just like HIV, it doesn't define you - it exists, and we need to remove the stigma and shame surrounding it. So, let's talk about loneliness and HIV…..

HIV, the stigma associated with it, mental health issues, loneliness and isolation are linked in a number of ways:

• The 2017 Positive Voices Survey found that mental health problems are reported by half of people living with HIV, twice the rate of the general public.

• One in 5 people living with HIV said that they needed help dealing with isolation and loneliness, of which 75% reported that this need was unmet.

• Internalised stigma, which many people living with HIV report experiencing, can manifest as a mental health issue and occurs when someone, as a result of repetitive external messages about HIV, develops negative core beliefs about themselves. This can lead to depression, low mood, isolation, and feelings of shame.

• Another factor is that lots of people who are living with HIV say they find it difficult to talk about their status with friends, family and colleagues which makes them feel more isolated. Many people we speak to at George House Trust have not told anyone about their HIV status due to actual and perceived (internalised) HIV stigma.

• Read our Services Director Colin's blog on loneliness and HIV.

• Check out Melissa's and Vengai's experiences of phone buddying during Covid and how it helped them feel more socially connected. 

Recently, many of George House Trust’s service users reported that they are experiencing loneliness even more due to lockdown and, after over a year of social distancing and restrictions, people accessing our services want to feel more socially connected.

So, if you’re living with HIV and want to meet new people and feel more socially connected, George House Trust has a range of services and activities for you:

Age+

If you're living with HIV and are aged 55 years or older, we will be shortly launching a project just for you! Age+ will build you confidence, skills, reduce loneliness and tackle the stigma and discrimination that still exists for people living with HIV. Contact Anna Hughes on anna@ght.org.uk or 0161 546 3540 for more information on how to get involved.

Calabash

If you’re an African man living with HIV, join our Calabash project! Monthly sessions will be held where African men will benefit from different kinds of support, including HIV-related, interpersonal (physical and psychosocial), economic, learning, and answers to deep-seated questions and burning issues. You can register for our Calabash launch event on June 29th 2021 here or email Jeff Ukiri, project co-ordinator, for more information. 

A previous Calabash participant told us, "It was quite an experience. Everyone was free to talk about their life with HIV. I really enjoyed it. I was surprised at how much I trusted the other men and felt able to talk about personal issues.”

Events

Check out our events page for our range of group activities and courses.  

Life Coaching

Want to change things but don’t know how to do it? Do you have a dream or aspiration and want some help to fulfil it? We’re working in partnership with Result CIC to offer free life coaching.

You’ll be paired with an accredited life coach and together you’ll look at your aims and develop a plan to achieve them. We can offer up to 12 sessions.

Email Josh or call 07581 011 064 for more information.

Peer Mentoring

Our Peer Mentoring project matches you with a mentor to provide support tailored to you and your needs:

A mentee told us, “In all honesty, this has helped me to stay alive. My mentor has been there for me when it felt I had nobody else to speak to - it's helped me to know that I have someone I can trust. Having someone to talk to regularly and knowing someone will respond to me - it's felt like a lifeline at times. I can't thank George House Trust enough.”

Phone Buddies

Our telephone befriending service is between a volunteer and a George House Trust service user who is self-isolating because of Coronavirus. 

“My phone buddy helped me a lot to cope up with challenges of shielding during lockdown. I was struggling…but with the help of a phone buddy I felt I was not alone during these most difficult times."

Or, you can call us 0161 274 4499 or email talk@ght.org.uk for a friendly chat about how we can help build up your social connections.

TRANS VISIBILITY IN THE LOCKDOWN ERA

A blog by Jane

I’ve written many blogs for Transgender Day of Visibility, penned when obstacles to visibility were personal fears. This year, obstacles are Covid-related. I’m writing in an era of sweat pants or PJs all day; not bothering with make-up; no social gatherings; a time of home and office involuntarily coalescing.

Is there visibility in a time of lockdown? Being out and proud with gender identity seems impossible when the official directive is ‘Stay at Home’. Suddenly there’s no choice, we are all ‘invisible,’ locked down before screens at home whether we like it or not.

I have polled others in the Trans community about their experiences. Many are gloomy and depressed. Those struggling to come out have suddenly found lifelines cut. The support groups and gatherings offering safety in their target gender, have gone. Those stuck at home in abusive relationships face pressure; conforming to someone else’s idea of who they ‘should be’. Those needing hormones and surgery face indefinite waits while health staff focus on the pandemic. Hope disappears and, one by one, the lights that gave hope, go out. I have comforted friends expressing suicidal thoughts and wondered about the seeming cruelty of it all.

Into all of this came Channel 4’s ‘It’s a Sin’, with its exploration of AIDS in 1980’s Britain. For me, it came like a stone pitched into a pool, each episode setting off ripples of painful memories. I was a gender-queer 20 something in 1980’s Newcastle-upon-Tyne; out on the scene but very vulnerable.  Exploring my gender presentation and sexuality meant intimate involvement with others, yet my relationship was deeply conventional. My then-partner knew nothing about the secret life I led. As the poorly understood means of transmission got clearer, I suspected I might be HIV+ but didn’t dare get tested. Many trans and non-binary people refused because testing meant revealing secret gender identities. Being outed as gay looked bad enough; being outed trans meant losing my job, my home; maybe living on the street.  As the scenes of ‘It’s a Sin’ rolled on screen, I felt a deep shame.  My previous actions seemed so selfish and at times I didn’t want to see any more.

I completed my transition many years ago. My current birth certificate records my birth as female. I’m someone’s wife. I had the longed for big, white wedding. I became a mum with two kids and later two step children. I had the awful shock of understanding I was heterosexual. These days I work and volunteer for George House Trust and before I had Gender Confirmation Surgery (GCS) I got tested and found out my status. Now, I consider it my responsibility. Others tell me I pass well (something I still find hard to believe). Ironically, ‘passing’ hands you the option of invisibility: in the Trans community, we call it ‘going stealth’.

In the end I chose NOT to go stealth.  How could I? Winning the trans genetic lottery and having a winning smile doesn’t entitle you to turn your back on sisters and brothers. By the same token, knowing your HIV status doesn’t take away the responsibility of managing relationships. I had the option to hide my past and to fit into normative cisgender society. It was tempting. In an earlier, less affluent time, like many transsexual women, I worked the sex industry to pay transition related bills. I could feel shame and hide but who would that help?

Visibility is not just about physical presence, it is about being counted when it comes to trans-activism and upholding the rights of all trans and non-binary people.

You can do that whether you are trans, gender-queer or a cis-gender ally. It’s about joining the debate, whether you are stuck ‘invisible’ at home or not. It is also about getting tested and encouraging trans friends to do the same; despite their fears.

Visibility is not just for you, it’s for all of us.

Read more of Jane’s writing here.

Photo credit: Tina Williams Village Photography 

GEORGE HOUSE TRUST APPOINTS CEO

George House Trust is delighted to announce that its Board Of Trustees has appointed Darren Knight as Chief Executive Officer.  Darren’s appointment will commence on 28 September 2020.

 
Darren said 

"As someone who has seen the amazing work of George House Trust evolve over the years and the organisation’s excellent record in tackling stigma, providing services, support and influencing change, I’m both delighted and excited to be joining the team.  I’m totally committed to ensuring the work that George House Trust delivers continues to meet the diverse and changing needs of people living with and affected by HIV in my role as Chief Executive".

Darren has over 14 years’ experience of working in charities and joins George House Trust from Bolton CVS, where he’s been the Chief Executive for the last 5 years.

 
Darren also worked for Shelter as a Development Manager on the Inspiring Change Manchester programme and spent almost 9 years working for the Lesbian & Gay Foundation (now LGBT Foundation), where he was the Head of Policy and Engagement.

 
In his spare time, Darren is a Trustee for Lloyds Bank Foundation and Lancashire LGBT, as well as being a volunteer mentor for young people with Bolton Lads and Girls Club and a volunteer befriender for older people with Senior Solutions.  He lives in Westhoughton with his husband, Andy and their dog Fletcher.

Jo Hancock, Chair of The Trustees said

 “I'm delighted to announce the appointment of Darren as the new Chief Executive for George House Trust, and welcome him to the organisation.  Darren will be a strong and passionate leader, and his commitment to the cause will ensure that George House Trust continues to challenge stigma and provide innovative services that meet the needs of our diverse client group".

IDAHOBIT

The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia was created in 2004 to draw the attention to the violence and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexuals, transgender, intersex people and all other people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics.

The date of May 17th was specifically chosen to commemorate the World Health Organization’s decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.

The Day represents a major global annual landmark to draw the attention of decision makers, the media, the public, corporations, opinion leaders, local authorities, etc. to the alarming situation faced by people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics.

2019 Annual Report