From Sean Wolfe, Program Manager of The Denver ELEMENT:
The Denver ELEMENT was started three
years ago to start a fresh and new conversation around HIV prevention
to Denver's gay male community. From the beginning, our main goal was
to help gay/bi men become more educated about HIV in a way that was
relevent to them and to today's social issues. And equally important,
to help gay men in our community become empowered and loving and
supportive of one another ... whether they were friends or strangers.Funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), we created two unique programs to help gay/bi men become more knowledgeable of HIV and prevention, and to strengthen our relationships with other gay/bi men. Here is an overview of our accomplishments over the past 12 months (July 2011 - June 2012).
Touch Team was our HIV Education and Outreach program. 64 community members went through a minimum of 8 hours of training to be educated on HIV and risk reduction. They assisted in outreach efforts at community venues where gay men gather, and talked with gay/bi men about empowering our community and reducing risk of HIV/STI infection. 34 of those volunteers underwent an additional 6 hours of POL training to develop skills on how to conduct conversations with their friends and social networks with target HIV prevention and risk reduction messages. Between our outreach and POL volunteers, we held 1715 sexual health and risk reduction conversations with gay/bi men in Denver. These 64 men have expressed a dramatic increase in their self-efficacy and their confidence in talking with other gay men about sexual health in our community. And after over 1700 conversations in the community, talking openly and honestly about HIV without fear or judgment is well on its way to becoming the new social norm – which has always been one of our highest priorities.
Probe Community Conversations are frank and interactive community discussions of current topics relevant to gay men’s sexual health. We held 3 Probe Conversations at Club M, with each one averaging 40 – 50 gay/bi men in attendance (with approximately 70 “unique” attendees who may have attended more than one conversation). Topics were Busting The Myths of HIV Prevention, It’s Better To Know Your Status, and What’s Safe To You (Risk Reduction Options). Feedback from participants indicated that these conversations were fresh and new … and way overdue. We focused strongly on a “menu of options” available to gay men when it comes to risk reduction – and not a condoms-only approach that has proven to be outdated and ineffective. Men of all backgrounds and experiences felt safe and comfortable discussing sexual health issues, even when they did not agree on the solutions or outcomes. The conversations were very powerful and empowering, and they set the tone for ongoing conversations in participants’ everyday lives outside of the formal setting in which they were conducted.
Boyfriend University: 34 gay/bi men attended the six-week course on building stronger relationships with other gay men. These men learned how to determine what they want and need from a relationship, communication skills, risk-reduction negotiation skills, and general empowerment factors. When they share that information with other friends and social networks, the community as a whole is engaged in stronger and more meaningful conversations around the empowerment of our community and the importance of taking care of our sexual health as part of our comprehensive and holistic well-being.
Overall, we have seen a very significant improvement in the ways in which our target population communicates with another around our sexual health and empowerment as a community. Gay/bi men are engaged in conversations about risk reduction. They see us out and about in outreach efforts and know who The Denver ELEMENT is and what we do for our community. Most importantly, though, is that we hear over and over again how The Denver ELEMENT has helped gay men find value and worth in themselves and in our community. Not that we provided it for them – but that we gave them the tools and resources to discover it in themselves. We consider that the ultimate impact on our community!
Our grant funding for Touch Team, Probe, and Boyfriend University expired on June 30. Though Touch Team and Boyfriend University are no longer funded programs for us, our work will continue!
The Denver ELEMENT is honored to have received new funding from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and continued funding from CDPHE to continue our work of HIV prevention for Denver's gay male community. Our two new programs are Positive Impact and Mpowerment. You can read more about both of those programs below. Though both of these programs are designed for specific segments of the gay/bi male community, The Denver ELEMENT continues to support and empower ALL of Denver's gay male community, and we continue to partner with other agencies to ensure that ALL of our voices are heard and all of our needs are met. WE LOVE GAY MEN!
We are very proud of the work we did with Touch Team and Boyfriend University. And we are excited to grow and to expand our work with Denver's gay male community with our Positive Impact and Mpowerment programs.
Thank you for joining us on this journey! We would not be The Denver ELEMENT without you!
