Gay Men's Health can be contacted at the above address and/or phone number. Please use the e-mail form to contact us. All enquiries are treated in strict confidence. |
|
Gay Men's Health can be contacted at the above address and/or phone number. Please use the e-mail form to contact us. All enquiries are treated in strict confidence. |
|
|
POPULAR
LINKS |
Annual Report 1999 to 2000
INTRODUCTION Another year passed. A good year. Last year at this time we were feeling a bit battered. This year things are moving ahead well. Our work is growing and changing as needs change. There are exciting new opportunities ahead. We have had the pleasure of seeing the end of section 2A, but the campaign did remind us how much gay men still have to struggle. There is still prejudice and fear. Gay men still get HIV; young gay men are still killing themselves; too many of us still find it hard to live openly, let alone proudly, as gay men in Edinburgh. Yet events like the conference Craig organised this year do make a difference. Jonathan's excellent work in West Lothian with men who are often isolated now has a chance to spread and we wish Jonathan all the best in health and work as he leaves Gay Men's Health. Thanks also go to all our workers, paid and unpaid: you do great work. Indeed thanks to all who give their support in working for the health of gay men. Particularly we thank Mike for helping us through the last couple of years, while we welcome Bruce to his new role as manager, and Paul as venue worker. Let's keep it up through the coming years! IAIN LAW Gay Men's Health is entering one of it's most exciting periods, with four new members of staff on board and the organisation starting work in new areas. In West Lothian we are piloting an internet cafe to compliment our support group, and Gay Men's Health will be setting up projects in both East Lothian and Midlothian to reach men who live in more isolated communities. For me one of the proudest moments in the past year was the National Counselling Conference -'Out of Mind' organised by Gay Men's Health. It was great to see so many professionals from all over the country coming together under the name of Gay Men's Health and sharing experiences, which will go on to benefit the gay community in ensuring a high standard of counselling at all times. We plan to repeat the conference next year and be able to inform professionals of our new developments such as support through email and our groupwork sessions. We have had a high presence on the gay scene with a minimum of six events every month. In the coming year we have very exciting plans which will further encourage men to seek vaccination against hepatitis A and B, as well as continue to offer support around sustaining safer sex. A large range of community development initiatives are planned which will see our volunteer workforce growing even larger in the coming year. These will compliment already existing work such as the Peer Education project and our community based magazine. Without volunteers, the work of Gay Men's Health would not be able to continue. The range of our activities is huge and it is thanks entirely to the tremendous and continued support of the gay community that the work and message of Gay Men's Health goes from strength to strength. BRUCE FRASER
HIV prevention is easy. Give people information and access to condoms and lube and you've got the problem solved, right? Wrong. Gay and bisexual men who have all the information and resources they require to look after their sexual health are still being infected with HIV. Why? Because information and behaviour are only a part of the picture: emotions also have to be considered. If you're in a relationship and care about your partner then you may decide to stop using condoms. Or maybe you have unprotected sex once and then it seems silly to go back to safer sex. If your partner is violent towards you then you may not have much choice in the matter. Maybe you have had unsafe sex outside your relationship and feel unable to tell your partner. If you feel depressed and don't much care whether you live or die then HIV may seem like a distant triviality. GMH believes that it is impossible to look after the sexual health of gay and bisexual men without also addressing concerns relating to their social and emotional health. As a result we have been running a counselling service for gay and bisexual men for over four years. The counselling service has never been busier and we continue to see a wide range of clients and presenting issues. We have created a specific counselling service for working with HIV+ gay and bisexual men, in collaboration with SOLAS. This year we also published a small booklet about our counselling services which has been used by other agencies in Scotland and England as an example of good practice. We have trained volunteer support workers who are able to accompany clients to HIV testing appointments, social groups and to act as a supportive link between services. The support workers have also been facilitating the Cafe Chats, which have provided valuable support to a number of men. In addition we continue to work with a wide variety of agencies to provide training and work on joint initiatives. We hope over this coming year to continue working to improve the emotional, physical, sexual and social health of gay and bisexual men. CRAIG HUTCHISON
A safe haven where gay men can be themselves and not have to worry about the often intimidating outside 'heterosexual world'. A lonely place where gay men with money are welcome and put under pressure to have the perfect body, gorgeous clothes and a tan to die for. These descriptions are of gay bars and, whilst they are contradicting each other, they are both very accurate. Gay Men's Health's work on the gay scene plays a very important role in HIV prevention. Working in gay bar/cafe settings gives us the chance to have direct contact with gay men whether it be in the form of posters, postcards, GMH volunteers, or events which involve gay men. In the past year the type of events have varied dramatically. For example; volunteers dressed as 'Safer Sex Surfers', armed with surf boards and dressed in Bermuda shorts handed out condoms. Male Box, our current major event, is a ‘venue game' which involves every single person in the bar. The game gives guys the opportunity to post safer sex postcards with their own private message to other guys in the bar. This gives guys the chance to meet new people, as well as passing on the safer sex message. Probably the most important role of our scene work is distributing condoms and lube to gay bars in Edinburgh as part of the 'bar jar' scheme. This allows gay men to have constant access to condoms suitable for anal sex, day and night.
Research shows that if only 15% of a population takes up an idea then that will diffuse throughout a community. At Gay Men's Health we aim to encourage gay men from very different walks of life, with different backgrounds and diverse skills to come together within a whole range of projects for the gay community. These men, in turn, involve more and more of their friends and the peer education process continues. Our message is that gay men should be allowed to expect a happy, healthy and safe sex life and we take a variety of approaches to facilitate this. One development in the past year has been the introduction of a more formal peer education project, with volunteers being given extensive training and then going out into bars and talking to men about GUM services, HIV testing, vaccinations and a whole range of issues brought up by the men themselves. Many men approached in this way have themselves become volunteers with Gay Men's Health. In the true spirit of community development and peer education, volunteers themselves now take on the task of new volunteer inductions and volunteer training. Volunteers are also responsible for volunteer supervision on a one to one basis. This year has seen the introduction of a new bi-monthly community based glossy magazine, gmh magazine, which is widely distributed throughout Lothian, in both gay and straight venues, shops and projects. As more and more people become involved, we can't help being excited by the fact that, before long, our Volunteer Force will represent a significant proportion of the gay community. Our continuing goal - to bring about a significant and measurable drop in HIV transmission is one which continues to encourage the development of the community and individuals within it. BRUCE FRASER
The work of Gay Men's Health in West Lothian has been going through a period of change and development lately. I believe this is a positive and essential experience for any project to go through; if it is handled well. However, it is also important to acknowledge that for some of those involved it can be a stressful, uncertain and frightening time. Part of the work of everyone responsible is to ensure that these changes happen in such a way that it causes very little disruption for group members and services. The project will continue to develop and grow, whilst maintaining a consistent number of group members and level of service provision throughout the process. One very practical way of addressing this is to remind everyone what the overall aims and objectives of the project are. By doing this we will, hopefully, maintain focus and clarity as to the purpose and direction of West Lothian work. Generally the aim is to provide a range of information, advice, and support services in West Lothian, which meets the needs of gay and bisexual men in the area. Specifically the goals are; 1 to facilitate a weekly men's group for gay/bisexual men in West Lothian
which provides access to peer support, a social network and safer sex
info/materials. INCOME AND EXPENDITURE 1999/2000 1998/1999 INCOME £211,423 £155,610 Lothian Health Board 65% 65% Grants 32% 31% Miscellaneous 3% 4% EXPENDITURE £176,413 £163,604 Staff Costs 67% 69% Office Costs 15% 13% Other staff / volunteer costs 4% 4% Educational 12% 8% Professional Fees 1% 2% Depreciation 1% 4% Surplus for the year £20,079 £7,726 BALANCE SHEET Total Net Assets £67,072 £46,993 Represented by Restricted Fund £47,972 £34,305 Unrestricted fund £19,100 £12,688
Last updated 14th July 2004 © Copyright 2001-2004 Gay Men's Health - all rights reserved. Unless otherwise stated, the images and text on these pages are copyright Gay Men's Health and may not be reproduced without prior permission. |
|
