I want to say thanks — thanks in general because the guy I’d like to thank I don’t see around any more.
When I first started coming out and finally gathering up courage to set foot inside a sex venue, this guy took me under his wing and told me the dos and don’ts, and especially who I should “look out for”.
This statement is a kind of concentration of lots of similar comments that have been heard over the years from prospective volunteers who have wanted to volunteer for the Outreach Project.
The Outreach Project is a bunch of ordinary guys who volunteer to chat with other same-sex attracted men both online in the Gaydar chatrooms, and in person in sex-on-premises venues (SOPVs) about HIV, other sexually transmitted infections and sexual health in general.
At any one time, there are about 30 of these men who work in these environments once or twice a month depending on their availability. If you have visited or visit these venues on a semi-regular basis, you may well have seen them, sitting in the coffee lounge in a black Outreach T-shirt with an ID tag.
Alternatively, you may have been on Gaydar in the Melbourne or Victorian country rooms and seen a tag along the lines of ‘VAC volunteer here to answer your questions on sexual health’.
Whether you ‘see’ them online or in an SOPV, please feel welcome to ask them a question about sexual health. That’s why they are there.
Getting involved is pretty easy. Simply go to the Victorian AIDS Council website at www.vicaids.asn.au and click on ‘Outreach’ under ‘Support & Services’.
There you will find more details on the work involved and a link to an interview on JOY94.9 from earlier this year where Nathan, one of the volunteers, talks about his experiences both in the training provided and what it is like to work in SOPVs, chatting with and answering the questions guys ask about sexual health.
Once you’ve looked and listened to Nathan explaining how he found the outreach training and the actual work, you can click through to email the volunteer coordinator.
You will be invited to an information session which in addition to learning more about the Outreach Project, you will learn about all the different volunteering opportunities with the Victorian AIDS Council/Gay Men’s Health Centre.
The next two-day training course for potential volunteers in outreach will be on two Saturdays in November. Interested gay and bisexual men will need to have spoken to the volunteer coordinator and done some initial training with him before being interviewed for inclusion in the outreach training.
By TEX MCKENZIE
Victorian AIDS Council/Gay Men’s Health Centre.
This is a great article. There are a lot of information available out there. However, it is not the same as receiving sexual health info from an actual person. So thank you for your dedication and hard work, all for a very good cause.