If you visit Gaydar or any of a group of sex-on-premises venues (SOPV), you have probably noticed us online or in person.
We are the Outreach Project volunteers who are there for you to answer questions about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections as well as other stuff. In the SOPVs we are usually there on Friday and Saturday nights, and on Sunday afternoons. We wear T-shirts with ‘Outreach’ and an ID around our neck.
Online we appear as ‘The Outreach Project’ with the Victorian AIDS Council’s Red Ribbon as our profile picture.
However, we don’t just grab a T-shirt and ID and plonk ourselves online or in an SOPV. There is a selection interview to screen guys for the project and later this is followed by a two-day training course on two consecutive Saturdays, to bring us up to speed on all matters relating to sexual health and the issues we get asked questions about.
During the training course there are group exercises to give us an idea of the types of guys we are likely to be chatting with, either online or in an SOPV.
There are also guest presenters who come in to chat with us about their areas of expertise. These include representatives from the South East Centre Against Sexual Assault and the Victoria Police Gay and Lesbian Liaison team.
Another presenter is an openly HIV positive gay man who can discuss what it is like to be HIV positive and to be someone cruising both online and in SOPVs, including how positive folk handle rejection and knockbacks from other gay and bisexual men.
Finally, we meet two members of the Outreach Project who work online and in SOPVs to get an understanding of what it is like to talk with other same-sex attracted men in these environments.
Every guy undertaking the training gets a manual of information and resources that covers what we have done during the training days. This is a great help especially for those who work online as we tend to do this on our own home computers.
In every venue where we work, there is a copy of the manual so we can help those guys who ask questions outside of the norm.
Before working without supervision we are mentored online and in SOPVs by guys currently in the team.
By Tex McKenzie
info: The next two-day training is on Saturday, March 12 and 19. For more info, contact Tex via [email protected]
