HIV training and Speakers
Hear directly from people living with HIV by booking a lived experience speaker.
Our trained speakers educate audiences about HIV and good sexual health through sharing their own experiences of the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV.
HIV can affect anyone, and in Wales, there is a 10% increase every year in people living with HIV. Knowledge of HIV is often based on the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s rather than the realities of living with HIV in the 21st century. Outdated information means people living with HIV can face prejudice and discrimination at work, in school, when accessing healthcare and from family and friends.
Help tackle HIV stigma and discrimination today by booking a talk with our amazing speakers.
‘We've been working on reducing the stigma around HIV, but hearing the message directly from people living with HIV creates a huge impact. Staff came up to us after the event to say how great the speakers were.’
Our programmes
We have two programmes in Wales centred on HIV education through lived experience, you can book a session with either of these.
Positive Voices launched in 2005 with just six speakers sharing their stories in Brighton. Twenty years later, we have over 35 speakers who work across the UK and have delivered talks to audiences in almost every sector.
HIV Health Equity and Justice setup in 2023 and is a partnership between Terrence Higgins Trust, National AIDS Trust, Sophia Forum and CI2 Bureau that aims to tackle HIV stigma within the criminal justice system through education, peer support and policy change. Our speakers are living with HIV, have first-hand experience of the criminal justice sector and have worked with prisons, probation services and policing teams
Fees
The fees outlined below are for a standard talk, which typically lasts 60-90 minutes with 1-2 speakers delivering an educational session combined with their personal stories.
Our speakers also have experience attending interviews, debates, panel discussion, podcasts, fundraisers and media appearances. If you would like to discuss any of these please reach out to the team directly via [email protected].
Schools
We offer heavily subsidised fees for talks in schools. To make this sustainable we ask you maximise the number of attendees per talk (e.g. booking for a whole year group/assembly in the same session, rather than for individual classes).
Our sessions in schools are shorter than our standard talks and can be adapted to last between 40-60 minutes.
We are currently only able to offer online schools talks in Wales.
Online | |
Half day (Up to 3 talks / 3.5 hours) | £200 + VAT |
Full day (Up to 6 talks / 7 hours) | £400 + VAT |
Other education and third sector (public and charity)
For organisations in the health, social care, education (inc. colleges and universities), public and charity sector as well as community groups and religious organisations, we offer a discounted rate for talks.
Online talk: £300 + VAT
In person/hybrid talk: £495 + VAT + speaker travel expenses
Corporate and private sector
Our fees for corporate workplace talks (including prisons) cover our costs.
We rely on donations to support our other work, particularly in schools. Any additional contributions are very much appreciated.
Online talk: £755 + VAT
In person talk: £995 + VAT + speaker travel expenses
Cancelling or rescheduling talks
We understand that things change and sometimes you need to reschedule. We will always try to accommodate requests, however, last minute changes still incur costs for our programme. Talks cancelled or re-booked with less than 7 days’ notice will still incur 50% of the fee; if the talk is rescheduled this is reduced to 25%.
Becoming a speaker
‘Being a Positive Voices speaker has allowed me to use my story to help people to understand the devastating impact HIV stigma can have when it goes unchallenged. Being an Ambassador for the programme allows me to use my story to help change the culture in organisations in the health and care sector, and beyond.’ Pank Sethi, Positive Voices Speaker and London HIV Ambassador
We are not currently recruiting new speakers, however you are welcome to reach out to the team for an informal chat about what’s involved, or to register your interest for future rounds of recruitment, on [email protected]. You can also hear directly from one of our speakers about what it’s like to share your story.
