Brent Mini Pride on Saturday, Harlesden

From Terrence Higgins Trust

When: Saturday 17 September 2016, 12pm to 6pm

Where: Rucklidge Avenue and Furness Road Junction Green (opposite the Harrow Road entrance to Willesden Junction Tube)

In conjunction with Brent LGBT Forum and Terrence Higgins Trust this LGBT community event day offers members and supporters of Brent’s vibrant LGBT community the opportunity to come out and shine. We will have deck chairs, mellow sounds and an ice cream bar.

Contact Us

2nd Floor, Unit 53
The Design Works,
Park Parade
NW10 4HT
Telephone: 020 3815 5730

HIV rates are on the rise in Brent. Those most affected are men who have sex with men (MSM), people from black and minority ethnic communities and sex workers.

Give us a call on 0203 815 5730 if you live in Brent and would like to speak about HIV or sexual health.

What we do: we offer advice and a range of services for people living in Brent to ensure people with HIV live healthy lives free from prejudice, and that good sexual health is a right and reality for all.
For people living with or affected by HIV in Brent we offer group/peer/online support, free contraception, interactive workshops, HIV and sexual health advice and referrals to relevant partners dependent on your needs.
We also provide health promotion and HIV awareness training events for groups/organisations.

Soul Brothers

Questions about your sexual health?
Want somewhere to discuss issues around your sexual identity?
Need support but don’t know where to go?
Terrence Higgins Trust Soul Brothers Brent is a new service aimed at BAME (Black and Asian Minority Ethnic) MSM.
We offer a safe, free and private place for you and others to come and discuss issues you feel you would like support with.
The group meets fortnightly. It is free and confidential and open to anyone who would like to attend.
We offer support around:

• Sexual health
• HIV awareness and prevention
• Mental health
• Peer support
• Group support
• Self esteem
• Substance abuse

For more information please email mark.banfield@tht.org.uk or join our mailing list to find out more about news and events from Terrence Higgins Trust Brent.

Brent Mini Pride, Harlesden, September 17th

From Terrence Higgins Trust

The Terrence Higgins Trust with Brent are Celebrating Diversity and promoting better sexual health at Brent Mini Pride

Terrence Higgins Trust will be at Brent  Pride on Saturday 17^th September  to raise awareness of HIV and of the importance of good sexual health by promoting sexual health screening and engaging with the local community in Brent 

The UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity will be offering residents the opportunity to come out and celebrate all that is great about Brent’s culturally diverse community. We will be at Rucklidge Ave Park, Harlesden, NW10 4PS ( nearest tube station Willesden Junction) Between 12pm – 6pm.

Also at the event will be Brent Fostering Services who will be on hand to offer advice and support to those considering or wanting to foster children needing a home. There will also be an  ice cream bar, deck chairs for sun bathing ( weather permitting) and music to chill out to  and a balloon launch to mark the occasion along with members from our specialist team on hand to over advice and support along with free give a ways. 

Mark Banfield Project Manager  at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: 

Brent is a fantastic place to be and work in now, with a such a diverse depth of cultures living together Brent truly  demonstrates and encompasses the values of tolerance, community and unity; it in these values that we are united in and our acceptance of others and is something we should all feel proud to be a part of. ‘Pride is a huge celebration for the Brent and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to shine.  We want everyone to enjoy a safe and happy Pride, so we would encourage people to drop by our Terrence Higgins Trust stalls to get the resources they need – whether it’s condoms, information about local testing services, or just to ask a question about HIV or sexual health.”

Terrence Higgins Trust provides support, information and advice services for those living with HIV and affected by HIV or poor sexual health. We provide sexual health advise and referrals to sexual health services including testing along with a range of support services for those living with or affected by HIV . We are based at 2^nd Floor, Unit 53, The Design Works, Park Parade, London, NW10 4HT 

More information about Brent Pride can be found here http://www.tht.org.uk/our-charity/Our-work/Our-centres/Brent

Terrence Higgins Trust condemns government decision on Sex and Relationships Education

Already two months later than expected, having promised to comment by the end of last year, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has ignored countless reports, evidence and calls - most notably from the Education Select Committee - to make personal, social and health education (PSHE) and sex and relationships education (SRE) statutory.

Instead, the government has announced it will work with a group of leading head teachers and practitioners to improve PSHE, but this will not include statutory status, and is hardly likely to have the breadth or scope to tackle Ofsted’s finding that 40 per cent of PSHE teaching is not of sufficient quality.

Shaun Griffin, Executive Director External Affairs, Terrence Higgins Trust said:

The government missed its own deadline in reply to the Education Select Committee on PSHE, and now reveals itself to have completely  ignored that report, and the recommendation of no less than four chairs of parliamentary committees. Quite incredible.

Confusingly, in its letter the government expresses concern around the variable quality of PSHE provision, yet rejects the obvious solution. If  PSHE and SRE is made compulsory in all schools, it will be treated as other subjects, with teachers getting the training they need, and enough time being allocated in timetables for quality lessons.

Countless reports have shown the value of statutory PSHE including a strong link to good academic performance. It is quite astonishing that the government should disregard the advice of its own committee and mounting external evidence that the current system doesn’t work. We have failed young people in our country with inadequate and unrealistic SRE, and we now look set to fail many more.

Contrary to the government’s current assertion, that the vast majority of schools already make provision for PSHE and SRE, this is only obligatory in the 40 per cent of secondary schools which are maintained. This excludes the growing number of academies and free schools, let alone primary schools.

As part of the Sex Education Forum , Terrence Higgins Trust, is campaigning for universal statutory status for SRE in all schools.

London Councils act to improve HIV prevention services

Source: Health Protection Agency

 Press release from London Councils

Leaders of London’s councils yesterday agreed to take decisive action together to improve HIV prevention services in the capital.

As they prepare to take on new public health responsibilities from 1 April, London boroughs have recognised that the HIV prevention activity they are inheriting is not meeting the needs of Londoners.  They have today initiated joint work to improve future commissioning of such services.

In the meantime, Leaders have agreed that some of the contracts from the current Pan London HIV Prevention Programme due to terminate on 31 March should be extended subject to more robust programme management – initially for six months and, subject to performance, potentially a further six months to ensure provision continues.  Final details will be resolved in the next few weeks.

London Councils Executive Member for Health, Councillor Teresa O’Neill, said:

A new approach to HIV prevention is needed to make sure that Londoners are educated about HIV before it is too late.  An estimated 50 per cent of Londoners with HIV are diagnosed at a point where their immune system is damaged and treatment is needed.

Frankly, Londoners have not been well served by the approach to HIV prevention in the capital in recent years.  The transfer of responsibilities around HIV prevention to local authorities gives us an opportunity to look at the way services have been provided in the past and change them so they are more effective, better value for money and targeted in the right way.

Nearly half of people with HIV in the UK live in London and more than a third of new diagnoses take place in the capital.  Terrence Higgins Trust, the charity which campaigns on issues around HIV and AIDS, points to an over-use of specialist clinics and an under-developed approach to community-based testing, care and support. Directors of Public Health will lead joint work, involving stakeholders and experts, to develop a robust needs assessment to inform future commissioning of HIV prevention services.  This will also form the basis for decisions on the whether boroughs want to join together to commissioning some of these services on a pan-London basis in future