Long Term Survivors Weekends
posted: 12/11/2008
The National Long Term Survivors Group has now got a 3 year grant from the Elton John AIDS Foundation to help combat social isolation in people who have been HIV positive for longer than five years and who are unable to access local support.
They are providing a series of weekends for some people living with HIV. The weekends are not free but funding can usually be found. For example they have a fund (supported by this Elton John AIDS Foundation grant) that can pay for some people, as well as for childcare and travel. If you need help with funding ask NLTSG about the help that might be available for you.
Who can go on these weekends?
You need to have been HIV positive for 5 years and be "unable to access local support". The Group will make its own decisions on who gets places but we think people living in Cumbria, and much of Lancashire and Cheshire will be able to show there is no or very limited local HIV support available for them.
Are you in one of the priority groups?
1 Firstly, people living in rural areas where existing services are either thin on the ground or non-existent. (eg we suggest this means most of Lancashire, all Cumbria, rural Cheshire)
2 The second group is the over 50’s, which is a group that can find itself excluded from contemporary society and the social ‘scene’.
3 The third group is people who have been living with HIV for over 10 years.
4 The final group is HIV positive volunteers and workers in the HIV sector who often have difficulty accessing support and services in their local area as they try to maintain a professional relationship with other service users.
If you would like to attend an NLTSG weekend, please contact bookings@nltsg.org.uk or 0208 691 8956.
Living Proof weekend dates 12 - 14 December 2008, 3 - 5 April 2009, 10 - 12 July, 18 - 20 September, 11 - 13 December
The weekends start on Fridays at 3.30pm and finish on Sundays at about 4pm.
The weekends provide a safe, relaxed place to meet other people who have also been living with HIV and AIDS for five or more years.
A programme of activities is arranged for each weekend - group workshops, one-to-one counselling, complementary therapies - but it is entirely up to each person who attends the weekends as to whether they take part or not in these activities. Many people find the company and ability to talk freely about HIV, as well as many other issues, provides the greatest benefit.
National LT Survivors Group
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