The New Year will bring a new format to Mazzoni Center’s long-running support group for people affected by HIV/AIDS.
Starting Jan. 3, Positive Living will be presented in a workshop structure. The weekly group, which formed more than a decade ago, has traditionally been peer-driven, without a formal topic for each Tuesday-night session.
“Folks meet and talk about that week’s happenings with regard to living with HIV,” said Rand Faulkner, manager of addiction services at Mazzoni Center, who noted that conversations often focus on dating, relationships and disclosure. Occasionally, the facilitator will incorporate a movie clip or article relevant to the group to promote discourse.
“We felt like we had run this format as far as we could,” Faulkner said.
Organizers have instead developed a 12-week workshop structure, with a dedicated topic for each meeting, such as intimacy, sex and dating; substance use; disclosure and stigma; serodiscordant couples; the evolution of HIV/AIDS in popular culture; and art therapy. Guest speakers will be incorporated throughout the program, which is free and open to the public.
Participants will be asked to submit feedback after each week’s session and then again at the end of the 12-week series.
Faulkner said organizers will use the responses to decide where the program will go next, such as if another 12-week workshop is presented or if separate groups on the most relevant topics are launched.
“We want folks to give us their thoughts on what worked, what didn’t and then, based off of that, we’ll move forward,” Faulkner said. “I hope people come and take part in it and let us know what they think.”
For more information, visit www.mazzonicenter.org or contact Kirk Parsons, CRS, at [email protected] or 215-536-0652, ext. 582.
If you go:
Positive Living
6:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesdays
Jan. 3-March 14
Mazzoni Center, 21 S. 12th St.