{"id":26300,"date":"2024-10-30T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/?p=26300"},"modified":"2024-10-28T15:57:09","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T15:57:09","slug":"julies-story-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/julies-story-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Julie’s story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cI come from a corporate background but after 15 years I decided that I didn\u2019t want to continue in that kind of environment. So I started applying for roles in the third sector, and I was delighted to land one with Terrence Higgins Trust. That was my first \u2018real\u2019 interaction that I knew of, with HIV. I recall someone I used to work with asked, \u2018are you not frightened you\u2019re going to catch it?\u2019 when I was entering into this role. And that was only 7 years ago! I couldn\u2019t believe someone in their 30s had that kind of assumption about HIV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, that view and stigma persists even now, but I\u2019m a strong, loud ally to eradicate those views – breaking stigma is a big part of our role at Terrence Higgins Trust. The reality is, people don\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know, so it\u2019s about getting the message out there and teaching people the facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of the people we support still, to this day, often face stigma in medical settings. This can have a devastating impact on them. You hear it all the time, people in hospital with their HIV status displayed at the end of the bed, \u2018double gloving\u2019 or being told they have to attend the very last dentist appointments of the day. Things like that still happen unfortunately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although those attitudes must be challenged, not everyone has the strength to do that. There\u2019s also a lot of self-stigma that comes with an HIV diagnosis, some people we support feel very anxious about disclosing their situation, but it\u2019s important for them to know that you don\u2019t need to disclose your status unless you want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Culture can also play a big role in how people feel about their diagnosis. I know a lot of people are indifferent about their status, they\u2019re not ashamed of it, and are comfortable speaking about it. But in some cultures, like black African communities for example, it\u2019s just not talked about – it\u2019s hidden and feared. In Scotland, there are roughly 6,500 people living with HIV, which is not a massive number. There are some communities of people living with HIV that aren\u2019t accessing or engaging with support or they\u2019re lost in the system. I worry about those people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hardest part about my job is not being able to fix everything for the people we work with. I can only do what I can, and although we\u2019re not mental health experts, that\u2019s definitely something we regularly support with, because HIV has just as many mental health symptoms as it does physical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peer support isn\u2019t for everyone, but there might just be one person that you meet that you can connect with, and that can make all the difference to your life. It\u2019s so good just to see people with HIV who are living full and happy lives, which can be encouraging and enabling for others. We absolutely know that getting an HIV diagnosis is terrifying for most people, especially when you don\u2019t have the support of your family or friends, being able to speak to people who know what you\u2019re going through can make a big difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is my favourite part about my job – seeing people develop themselves, learn new skills, thrive and benefit from support of their peers. Getting people involved creates a ripple effect. If you get someone involved and they tell someone else about the work you\u2019re doing, then they tell someone else, who tells someone else, and that\u2019s what we need, to grow the knowledge around HIV. It\u2019s empowering. The more we make it normal to talk about, the more normal it becomes for people to accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I consider myself very fortunate to be working for Terrence Higgins Trust, particularly on the Peer Support Scotland project. I love my job! Being able to support people living with HIV either one-to-one or in groups is really important. We might be supporting them to access other services including recovery groups, welfare rights or just simply offering a listening ear, which often helps someone the most. Terrence Higgins Trust has a huge amount of help and support to offer anyone living with or affected by HIV or Hep C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it\u2019s amazing to see how far we\u2019ve come from the dark days of the 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s, we know HIV is no longer a death sentence, people can live well, U=U, excellent treatment and care, PReP and PeP, there is still a negative side of that, where some people think it\u2019s gone away, and it hasn\u2019t. It\u2019s about striking that balance, educating and challenging misinformation, our recent anti-stigma campaign has done that. It\u2019s opened up opportunities to have good conversations, for people to seek out more information about the virus, get tested and bring it to the forefront again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m fortunate I get to be on here, on this journey making a difference where I can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Julie’s story is part of the H is for Human series, in collaboration with the Terrence Higgins Trust, sharing stories of strength, courage and hope from four decades of HIV in Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \n <\/svg><\/span>

H is for Human – Stories of strength, courage and hope. 40 years of HIV in Scotland<\/strong> Download the latest Humans of Scotland book<\/p>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For more information on Terrence Higgins Trust and to learn about the work they do, follow this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI come from a corporate background but after 15 years I decided that I didn\u2019t want to continue in that kind of environment. So I started applying for roles in the third sector, and I was delighted to land one with Terrence Higgins Trust. That was my first \u2018real\u2019 interaction that I knew of, with … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":26301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"26170,26155,26124,25192,24164,19444","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"hos-category":[839],"humans_tags":[828],"area_of_work":[776],"strategic_priority":[],"class_list":["post-26300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","hos-category-h-is-for-human-stories-of-strength-courage-and-hope","humans_tags-services-and-support","area_of_work-humans-of-scotland"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJulie's story - Humans of Scotland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/julies-story-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Julie's story - Humans of Scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cI come from a corporate background but after 15 years I decided that I didn\u2019t want to continue in that kind of environment. 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