“What the Female Condom Can Do for Your Clients”
January 23rd, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Hudson Valley Community Services, Inc.
40 Saw Mill River Road
Hawthorne, NY
Posts Tagged ‘prevention’
What the Female Condom Can Do for Your Clients
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013Project ALERT Wants You to Be "Safe in the City"
Monday, October 1st, 2012Freshly uploaded to our website: 5 short, informative, and fun videos from the “Safe in the City” HIV prevention DVD!
More Choices, Safer Sex: What the Female Condom Can Do
Friday, August 31st, 2012More Choices, Safer Sex: What the Female Condom Can Do
This one-day training will provide current data on female condom efficacy and acceptability, hands-on practice that addresses proper female condom insertion and use-related challenges, and strategies and skills to help participants provide clients with effective condom negotiation skills.
As a result of this training, participants will be able to:
• Identify values and attitudes that impact provider ability to effectively promote the female condom;
• Identify the advantages of female condom use and importance of promotion;
• Address barriers and strategies to female condom use as related to insertion difficulties and problems with use during sex;
• Provide clients with strategies for negotiating female condom use with partners; and;
• Describe ways to integrate the female condom into risk reduction counseling within the context of different client situations.
Prerequisite: None
Audience: All health and human service providers that provide risk reduction counseling.
New Video! Let's Stop HIV Together
Monday, August 13th, 2012We are excited to share information about Let’s Stop HIV Together, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new HIV awareness and anti-stigma campaign launching nationwide. The campaign gives voice to people living with HIV from all walks of life, alongside their friends and family members. As part of the campaign, these individuals share their personal stories and call on everyone to join the fight against the disease. Let’s Stop HIV Together highlights the fact that HIV touches every corner of American society and that people with the infection are part of the fabric of our families and valued members of our communities. Click here to watch the campaign video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRF5p96JD9k&feature=youtu.be. Please also visit www.ActAgainstAIDS.org to download all campaign materials, view and share the campaign videos and PSAs, and share your personal stories about how you, your friends, and your colleagues are stopping HIV together.
Let’s Stop HIV Together encourages everyone to:
- Get the facts – Learn the basics of HIV transmission and prevention.
- Get tested – CDC recommends that every adult and adolescent get tested at least once in his or her lifetime, and those at increased risk (for example, men who have sex with men, and individuals with new or multiple sexual partners) get tested at least once a year.
- Get involved – Encourage friends and loved ones to get tested and speak out against the stigma and complacency that help fuel the spread of HIV.
More than three decades after the first reported AIDS cases, HIV is still a crisis in the United States. Approximately 50,000 Americans become newly infected each year, and an estimated 1.1 million people are now living with HIV. Yet, nearly one in five of these individuals does not know that they are infected.
The new campaign will appear in national print and online ads, television and radio public service announcements (PSAs), billboards and other outdoor advertising venues, and will be the focus of a national media relations effort to generate print and broadcast news stories.
Outlined below are several ways you – as a partner in HIV prevention – can help support this important campaign. Your efforts can help CDC extend the reach of these important campaign messages through your organization’s communication channels online and in your community.
Online
Support the campaign online:
- Like the Act Against AIDS Facebook page, sharing or responding to our posts, and directing your followers to check out our page and our website.
- Here’s an example Facebook post your organization can use:
- Check out CDC’s new national HIV awareness campaign, “Let’s Stop HIV Together.” The campaign features stories of people living with HIV supported by their loved ones and friends. Share your thoughts on CDC’s Act Against AIDS Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ActAgainstAIDS.
- Share your story online about how you or your organization is working to fight HIV (www.ActAgainstAIDS.org).
- Here’s an example Facebook post your organization can use:
- Post about it. Share the news about the new campaign throughout your network via an e-mail or posting on your organization’s website.
- Download digital banner ads and badges from our campaign website to add to your organization’s website.
- Tweet about it. Spread the word about the campaign through Twitter by using the campaign hashtag #StopHIVTogether and by visiting us on the Act Against AIDS Twitter page @TalkHIV.
- Example campaign tweets:
- CDC is launching a new national #HIV campaign to raise awareness and fight stigma. http://bit.ly/aoS6eS #StopHIVTogether
- Example campaign tweets:
In your community
Support the campaign in your community:
- Use the campaign materials in your local area. Request printed posters, palm cards and brochures from CDC to distribute at community events and to provide to local venues in your city by sending an e-mail request to ActAgainstAIDS@cdc.gov.
- CDC will provide a limited quantity of already printed materials; additional items can be downloaded and printed from www.ActAgainstAIDS.org.
- Co-brand the campaign materials or advertisements with your organization’s logo. For more information about cobranding, please send an email to ActAgainstAIDS@cdc.gov.
- Incorporate Let’s Stop HIV Together messages into community events and educational presentations, underscoring the importance of fighting stigma and increasing awareness about HIV and how to prevent infection.
- Talk about Let’s Stop HIV Together and the importance of HIV prevention with your colleagues, family and friends.
Please visit www.ActAgainstAIDS.org to download all campaign materials, view and share the campaign videos and PSAs, and share your personal stories about how you, your friends, and your colleagues are stopping HIV together.
By working together, we can stop HIV. Thank you for your efforts in HIV prevention, testing and treatment, and for your continued support of CDC and Act Against AIDS
ARCS' Santo Barbagiovanni on OutCasting's World AIDS Day Broadcast
Monday, November 28th, 2011Tune in to WDFH 90.3 FM on December 1, 2011 at 6:30 pm to hear a discussion with ARCS’ CHAPS Supervisor, Santo Barbagiovanni, as part of their special World AIDS Day show. Santo joins the discussion on HIV/AIDS issues among young gay, bi, and questioning men and young men who have sex with men. You can also hear the show on Saturday, December 3rd at 1:00 pm.
Addressing Prevention with HIV-Positive Clients
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011† 6.5 OASAS credits (not approved for initial CPS credentialing)
This one-day training will prepare participants to help people living with HIV to avoid sexual and substance use behaviors that can result in 1) transmitting HIV to others and 2) negative health outcomes for themselves. Topics to be covered and specific skills to be practiced include: psychosocial issues that can make it difficult for people living with HIV to change sexual and substance using behaviors associated with HIV transmission; identify provider values and beliefs about addressing prevention issues with their HIV-positive clients; practice using a booklet that helps people living with HIV consider issues related to disclosure to sexual and needle sharing partners; practice skills associated with working one-on-one with HIV-positive clients on prevention issues; explore specific strategies for working with special populations; and examine prevention resources and be able to make referrals for prevention services.
Prerequisite: It is strongly recommended that participants have previous knowledge and training on harm reduction and basic HIV/AIDS information.
Audience: All health and human services providers, especially those who work directly with HIV-Positive clients.
Fall 2011 Dates: November 10, 2011 (9am-5pm) Hawthorne
VOICES/VOCES with Paul Warren of NDRI
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011This two-day training provides participants with the information and materials needed to implement the VOICES/VOCES intervention.
As a result of this training, participants will be able to:
– Identify the Core Elements of VOICES/VOCES intervention;
– Conduct the single-sessiong, Video-based group level intervention;
– Describe ways to improve condom negotiation skills among African-American and Latino adults;
– Practice facilitating gender and ethnic-specific groups of 4-8 participants and encourage discussion about condom use and barriers; and
– Utilize CDC-approved materials on HIV risk behavior and condom use in both English and Spanish.
Prerequisite: There will be an additional registration form for the VOICES/VOCES training that will be emailed to you after you register through the LMS system..
Audience: This training is intended for a team of two to three staff from an agency who is funded to delivering this intervention. Staff should have knowledge of HIV/STDs and group facilitation skills.
Note: VOICES/VOCES (Video Opportunities for Innovative Condom Education and Safer Sex) is a single-session, video-based HIV/STD intervention that is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Division of HIV and AIDS Preventions’ (CDC-DHAP) Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) Project. For more information about VOICES/VOCES visit the DEBI website.
Once you have submitted the form and if you are approved, you will receive confirmation via email. If you are not accepted, you will be unenrolled from this training.
The additional registration form will now be required for all DEBI trainings.
This training is only for agencies who are strongly committed to implementing the VOICES/VOCES intervention.
Fall 2011 Dates: November 29 & 30, 2011 (Two-day training; 9am-5pm) Hawthorne
ARCS Training Schedule Update
Friday, September 30th, 2011At this time, there are no scheduled upcoming trainings at the ARCS RTC.
Please check back in November 2011 for new training dates for the months of November 2011 through March 2012.
If you would like to be informed in advance of upcoming training dates as they are scheduled, please send your email address to dmay@arcs.org .
Thank you for your continued support and please pass the word on.
-ARCS’ Education & Prevention Department-
Deborah May – Training Superviser
Barbara Bennet – Assistant Director of Education & Prevention
National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011Adapted from www.cdc.gov:
National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is observed each year on September 27 to focus on the continuing serious and disproportionate effects of the human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV) on gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States. In 2008, an estimated 580,000 MSM were living with HIV infection.
ARCS responded to these alarming statistics by creating the CHAPS program, which focuses on young MSM of color in southern Westchester and aims to help them avoid HIV and sexually transmitted infections. Learn more about CHAPS on our website and be sure to friend them on Facebook.
Although HIV testing has been recommended at least annually for persons with ongoing risk for exposure to HIV infection, recent data suggest that MSM might benefit from being tested more frequently than once per year. MSM represent approximately 2% of the U.S. population, but in 2009 they accounted for 64% of all new HIV infections (including MSM who were also injection drug users [3% of new infections]). Based on CDC’s 2008 National Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) data, 19% of sexually active MSM were infected with HIV, but 44% of infected MSM were unaware of their infection. Of MSM with undiagnosed HIV infection, 45% had been tested within the previous 12 months, and 29% within the previous 6 months. CDC’s 2010 sexually transmitted disease treatment guidelines already recommend more frequent HIV retesting for MSM who have multiple or anonymous partners, who have sex in conjunction with illicit drug use (particularly methamphetamine use), or whose partners participate in these activities. However, among MSM in NHBS who had been tested for HIV within the past 12 months, the prevalence of undiagnosed HIV among MSM who reported these high-risk behaviors (7%) was similar to that among those who did not (8%).
Based on these findings, sexually active MSM might benefit from more frequent HIV testing (e.g., every 3 to 6 months). CDC is using the 2011 National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day as an opportunity to highlight this information for gay men and their health-care providers. Additional information is available at http:/www.cdc.gov/msmhealth.
CDC supports a range of efforts to reduce HIV infection among MSM. These include HIV prevention services that reduce the risk for acquiring and transmitting HIV, increase diagnosis of HIV infection, and support the linkage of MSM with HIV infection to treatment. Additional information about these efforts is available at http://www.cdc.gov/msmhealth. Additional information about National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is available at http://www.cdc.gov/features/ngmhaad.
Do You Work with High-Risk Pregnant Women?
Thursday, July 7th, 2011One of the greatest successes in HIV prevention in New York State has been reducing the rate of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV. However, cases of MTCT continue to occur each year. This training is for non-physician health and human services providers who work with pregnant women who may have issues with substance use, mental health, homelessness or incarceration. In many instances these women are known to providers, but there are missed opportunities for engaging them in prenatal care, HIV testing and other supportive services. This training will describe how you can play a role in reducing HIV MTCT.
As a result of this half-day training, participants will be able to: describe the epidemiological trends and factors related to mother to child transmission of HIV in New York State; list factors which have contributed to a decrease in MTCT; describe NYSDOH regulations related to reducing MTCT; discuss the impact of staff values and attitudes on delivery of services to high risk pregnant women; recall factors that may contribute to continued MTCT; list strategies to promote access to HIV testing for high risk pregnant women; and treatment adherence, access to care, and support services for HIV positive pregnant women.
Prerequisite: None.
Audience: Non-physician health and human services providers who work with HIV positive and/or at-risk women of child-bearing age including, outreach workers, case managers, social workers, drug treatment program staff, support services providers, staff who implement HIV prevention interventions and others.
Fall 2011 Dates: September 19, 2011 (1pm-4pm) Hawthorne