On the weekend of February 17th and 18th, the Community-Based Research Centre hosted PrEP Ed, an intensive educational training session on the topics of Sexual Health, PrEP, and other prevention strategies.
With the BC government’s announcement that PrEP is now available to gay and bisexual men (cis and trans) for free, we knew it would be up to folks in our communities to become leaders in ensuring that we all have the up-to-date information needed to access this HIV prevention tool.
We had 20 eager participants from all over BC, and from each Health Authority region in the province come attend PrEP Ed. Participants came from Vancouver, Surrey, Kamloops, Nelson, Victoria, Prince George, and even as far as Anahim Lake. Community partners such as Health Initiative for Men, Positive Living North, AIDS Vancouver Island, and Living Positive Resource Centre are to thank when considering how were able to recruit such a geographically-diverse group in British Columbia. Some participants came with knowledge and background on PrEP that they were willing to share with the group, while others experienced learning about PrEP for the first time.
PrEP Ed was only the first of two components of the PrEP Initiative. The second part, is on-going PrEP Outreach—where participants share what they’ve learned at the PrEP Ed workshops, amongst peers back in their own communities. Thus, we wanted PrEP Ed to not only equip folks with PrEP knowledge, but also the confidence to talk about sexual health with peers and health care practitioners. We knew that when doing the important work of PrEP outreach, participants would in turn be seen as something of sexual health experts, and would have to answer more questions beyond just how to access PrEP, and whether PrEP was a good fit for them.
With tremendous support from the staff at YouthCO HIV & Hep C Society, and Dr. Mark Hull, participants of PrEP Ed were trained in a range of topics including: how patients can advocate about PrEP to their doctors, how to talk about Sexual Health using inclusive and non-stigmatizing language, what needs to be considered when doing rural outreach, how to respond to PrEP pushback, and how do PrEP and other prevention strategies fit into the conversation about Harm Reduction. Participants gave the feedback that it was all very informative.
After the educational weekend, participants were already eager to get the PrEP conversations started. One participant even posted on Craigslist that he would act as a contact person for anyone who wanted to know more about PrEP. Others took to Facebook and gay dating apps to connect with folks who might want to learn more as well. Some participants have scheduled in meetings to chat with community members, other community organizations, and their doctors, regarding PrEP awareness.
While the work of PrEP Outreach is ever-ongoing, I can reflect on the successes of PrEP Ed, where a diverse group of people passionate about the health of our community, came together to learn about more about ways we can take care of ourselves, our partners, and our community.
Darren Ho, gbMSM Health Network Program Manager
Community-Based Research Centre for Gay Men’s Health