Exciting new volunteering opportunity for African people!
posted: 29/11/2011
Building on the success of the last year, George House Trust is looking for enthusiastic, committed and reliable people from African communities who are living with HIV, to join our team of African Support Volunteers.
African Peer Support is the perfect volunteering opportunity for anyone who feels that they have wisdom to share, or if you are looking to gain voluntary experience of working in the health and social care sector. In fact, many of our previous volunteers have now gone on to paid work or vocational training as a result of their developing their experience through volunteering here at George House Trust.
You will receive full training to enable you to provide one-to-one support to other African people who are living with HIV through things like:
• sharing your own experiences to help other individuals
• providing basic information about HIV
• offering emotional support
By volunteering on this project, you could help change someone’s life for the better. That is because nobody understands what it is like to be an African person living with HIV more than you.
To apply for this role, fill in this simple application form and return it to George House Trust by Tuesday 13th December, 2011.
Successful candidates will be invited for a volunteer interview on either 17th or 18th January, 2012 and those chosen at interview will be invited to induction sessions on 30th January, 3rd February and 6th February, 2012
For further information contact Susie
Please read a copy of the volunteer role description here
You can apply online here for the role or you can download copies of the application fom
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Have Your Say - Manchester Cuts
posted: 17/05/2011
People living in Manchester are asked for their views on the future of adult social care services in the city. The council has to save £109m this year, rising to £170m next – 25% of its whole budget.
The council’s plans for making cuts in adult social care are now available and there are 24 local events in May and June where council staff can explain the proposals, answer questions and help fill in questionnaires.
There are four main things the city council is asking residents about
- Supporting people services
- Cuts and changes in voluntary and community sector
- Changes to social care services
- Charges for social care services.
The city plans to change the way it allocates money to the voluntary sector and for supporting people, by assessing the quality and cost of services, and make more use of Telecare and equipment, and change the way it allocates money.
Manchester also proposes to change its charges for social care, for example, by ending its maximum charge so people who can pay more will pay the full cost, whatever that is.
How to have your say
You can read the proposals and then answer questions online, or you can visit one of the 24 events being held over the next three weeks.
Please take part
The more people with HIV living in Manchester who take part the better.
The main proposals and consultation for people with HIV is here. The last public event where you can ask questions is on Friday 3 June and you must send any comments in on this one by Wednesday 6 July.
Some of the documents are PowerPoint presentations that show you what they propose and you will need a computer programme to see this. Here is a link to the free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer for you to download and install if you need this.
Councillor Glynn Evans, executive member for adults services at Manchester City Council said: "Manchester looks after a large number of vulnerable and elderly people who need support and care, and we remain committed to ensuring that we provide the best possible services, despite the very challenging circumstances.
"These proposals will affect people’s lives, so it is vitally important that all carers, residents and people who use our services themselves, tell us what they think and have their say.
"The council has to make significant savings to balance our smaller budget and we have seen a massive reduction in our budgets like supporting people. We believe these proposals are the fairest we could draw up in these very difficult times, but this is an open and genuine consultation process and all views and ideas will be considered."
Events across the city now
The adult social care consultation events began on 9 May and the last is on Friday 3 June.
Deadline for public comments varies with each of the consultations, two are on 14 June, another is 6 July, the last is on 8 August:
Social Care Consultations or phone the Contact Service on 0161 234 5001.
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Changes to Our Services
posted: 18/04/2011
There are some exciting changes to services at George House Trust. Some of the group spaces will happen less often, but we will have three new services for everyone. People using George House Trust services have asked us for more chances to meet with a wide mix of people living with HIV – opportunities to meet others that are not based on gender, race, or sexuality.
Saturday Space is every month and will stay the same.
Weekly Gay Men’s Space
For the time being Gay Men’s Space will stay weekly on Monday evenings. This will be reviewed over the next 5 months. For now the gay men’s space is funded by the Elton John AIDS Foundation but this funding will stop at the end of September. We have already talked about this at the space and all changes will be discussed fully with men at the space before changes are made.
African Space on 1st Tuesday of every month
The African Space will become monthly starting in May. African Space will be the first Tuesday of the month. It will be just like the African Space is now.
Coffee Morning on 2nd Tuesdays of every month
There will be a new Coffee Morning, run by volunteers on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, starting on the 10th of May. This will be from 10.30 – 12.30 and there will be a crèche. Coffee Mornings are for all people living with HIV. The Coffee Mornings will be run by volunteers and during the Coffee Morning there will be no access to staff, the reception, computers, phone nor emergency payments.
Women’s Space on 3rd Tuesday of every month
The Women’s Space will become monthly starting in May. Women’s Space will be the third Tuesday. It will be just like the Women’s Space is now.
Health Information Sessions on 4th Tuesday of every month
There will be new monthly Health Information Sessions, on the 4th Tuesday of the month. These will be from 12 noon – 2.30 and open to all people living with HIV. There is no need to book. These sessions will usually be led by George House Trust staff and each month there will be a different topic. There will be a crèche and some food.
When there are five Tuesdays in the month there will be no space or other service on the 5th Tuesday.
Monthly HIV Workshops - dates and times vary
In addition to the Tuesday services we will also be offering a monthly HIV workshop. There will not be a regular date because our training room is sometimes booked. The Monthly HIV Workshops will last about 3.5 hours. There will not be a crèche but we can help with child care costs if you ask in advance.
The next workshop will be about Disclosure, telling other people about having HIV, on Friday 27th May. We have not set the exact time yet.
You will need to book a place at these workshops in advance - please contact Nathan Perry the George House Trust Health Trainer for more details
Computers and Phone in reception
If you want to use the computers in our reception, please ring and book if you have credit on your phone. If you have not booked and just arrive you will be able to use the computer if one is free.
No appointment?
We want to strongly encourage people to always make appointments. The services team will only be able to see people without appointments if it is most urgent.
Check the website diary for more details and dates
The website diary has the dates and details of all services until the end of May, and for some services for after this. We will add all the dates and details for the rest of the year to the diary before the end of April. See our services diary
Tell us what you think
Lynda, our director of services is happy to receive feedback on all aspects of our work and services, please email her It is really important that we have your support and backing - we want to provide the services that you want and need.
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Join Our Annual User Survey
posted: 18/02/2011
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Please take part in our annual service user survey. George House Trust encourages people using our services to give us any feedback on your experiences, to help us improve and develop the support we offer.
Please take a few moments to answer this yearly survey about our services.
We most want to hear about the services you used in the last 12 months.
One of our questions asks you to describe the difference our services have made to you. Our funders (and we) are always very interested in people’s answers to this.
TEN £20 Shopping Voucher Prizes
We have 10 £20 prizes of high street store vouchers for people who take part. Everyone who gives us a phone number or contact details will go into the prize draw. We will then ring the ten winners. You need to take part before Monday 4 April, when the survey and prize draw will close.
Confidential
Our survey is completely confidential. The survey is on a secure website with a safe ‘https’ address, like the banks use.
Survey on paper too
If you can’t do the survey on computer, please ask for a paper copy - ask Lynda Shentall, Director of Services, or call 0161 274 5652.
You can download the survey as a pdf you can print here.
Asking you about our services every year
Every year we run this service user survey to ask people what you think of the services you use at George House Trust. This survey is just one way of finding out what you think.
You can also tell us what you think by making comments through our website, using our suggestion box in reception, at the peer support service review meetings, and through the service user group, SMART (The Service Monitoring and Review Team).
Take part in our survey
Read the results from our 2010 survey
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Positive Teens to Adults
posted: 17/02/2011
Imagine being in your late teens living with HIV, having to swop the comfort and friendliness of the children’s HIV clinic for the strange unknown world of adult HIV services.
It’s tough enough being a teenager growing into adulthood, but with a stigmatised lifetime condition like HIV there are often extra challenges.
Older teenagers with HIV are learning to be pioneers and deserve our respect for that.
Health workers helping teenagers
Health professionals talk about helping teenagers with HIV make the change from teenager to adult and growing older with HIV in the 200th issue of HIVTreatment Update.
Teens talking life with HIV
Two young people making these changes talk about their lives. JD Bailey (20, female) talks about growing up with HIV, and Max, (19, male) talks about telling others about HIV.
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