A Girl Like Me LIVE

The fourth session of Leadership Exchange LIVE (BEEEBAH Edition) features Ciarra “Ci Ci” Covin (The Well Project) and Lealah Pollock, MD, MS (University of California, San Francisco). Join this powerful discussion as they discuss recent updates to the Perinatal HIV Clinical Guidelines.

Updates to the section Infant Feeding for Individuals with HIV in the United States now assert the need for shared decision-making between providers and parents living with HIV and increased support from providers for parents' infant-feeding choices. This is big news!

Join this discussion to learn about these updates; hear Ci Ci relate her own experiences and describe what these changes can mean for women and other birthing people living with HIV; and listen as Lealah shares what this means more broadly for the landscape of breast/chestfeeding and HIV.

The Well Project's Leadership Exchange LIVE (BEEEBAH Editions) is a series of exchanges with thoughtleaders on breast/chestfeeding and HIV, a program that has been essential to our efforts to raise awareness, inspire action, and ensure that women living with HIV can experience their fundamental right to make informed, uncoerced infant-feeding decisions.

Historically, women across the gender spectrum have been insufficiently included and involved in HIV research. Such exclusion has resulted in limited knowledge about important aspects of women’s experiences of HIV that would inform their active participation in decision-making about their health and well-being. Join us for a special A Girl Like Me LIVE where Ci Ci is joined by Women’s Research Initiative on HIV/AIDS member Tonia Poteat, PhD, MPH, PA-C to discuss the importance of including all women in HIV research.

This interactive discussion explores what contributes to the little knowledge about women’s experiences of living with HIV, how women can get involved in clinical trials or research development, and the importance of community engagement in advancing the meaningful inclusion of all women in HIV research, and more! This episode will be one that you don’t want to miss!

While the reasons are unclear, studies have shown that, in the general population, women are two times more likely to experience depression than men. Women living with HIV across the gender spectrum are even more likely than women in the general population to experience mental health challenges. The holiday season can be a tough time for many individuals, for many reasons, and having a community of support may prove to help cope with feelings of loneliness, isolation, and sadness. On Thursday December 15, 2022 The Well Project streamed its 25th episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE co-hosted by Ci Ci Covin and community advisory board members Heather O'Connor and Masonia Traylor as they explored ways to cope with mental health around the holidays. You're not going to want to miss this amazing discussion with these amazing women!

Talking with adolescents and teens about sex and HIV can be anxiety provoking, but these conversations are so important as we seek to ensure that they are equipped with accurate and up-to-date information about HIV prevention and awareness. It may not be the easiest conversation to have, but there are ways that you can educate yourself and resources to help you!

On October 26th at 12:00 pm ET, Ci Ci was joined by Kimberly Canady and Ieshia Scott, two long-time community advisory board members, for the 24th episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE. You're not going to want to miss the chance to learn from these advocates about how they have initiated the conversation about HIV prevention and awareness with youth in their communities, tips for when to begin talking with children, and what you can do to create a supportive and loving environment in which adolescents and teens will feel comfortable asking questions and empowered to make healthy life choices.

This episode is sponsored by Theratechnologies.

Visit https://cdn.fs.pathlms.com/4oiXe0vRdGQpqWg8RqwQ to view their Screening Guide for Lifestyle Diseases

September is recognized as Healthy Aging Month.

Join for a special A Girl Like Me LIVE in honor of National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day (#NHAAD). In the US, the first cases of HIV emerged among young men, but today we know that the epidemic affects both women and men of all ages, including older women. Despite the tremendous improvements in HIV drugs that now enable many people to live long and healthy lives with HIV, there are ways that living and aging with HIV is different from aging while HIV-negative.

In the 23rd episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, Ciarra “Ci Ci” Covin was joined by The Well Project founder Dawn Averitt for a powerful discussion about aging and HIV. Dawn, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, shared her experience as a woman who is aging while living HIV/AIDS, the importance of taking care of oneself, the need for research in women who are aging with HIV, and much more!

This episode is sponsored by Theratechnologies.

Visit https://cdn.fs.pathlms.com/4oiXe0vRdGQpqWg8RqwQ to view their Screening Guide for Lifestyle Diseases

The patient-provider relationship is established when a provider attends to the medical needs of a patient. Depending on a number of factors, this dynamic can have both positive and negative effects on the person receiving care. Strong patient-provider relationships established on trust, shared-decision making, and effective communication can have a positive impact on people living with HIV and these relationships often prove to have an impact on their overall health outcomes. On Wednesday August 31, 2022, 12pm EST, Ciarra “Ci Ci” Covin was joined by The Well Project Medical Editor, Theresa Mack, MD, MPH as they had an insightful conversation on the importance of patient-provider relationships for women living with HIV, share suggestions for overcoming barriers that may exist in this context, and much, much more!

This episode is sponsored by Theratechnologies.

Visit https://cdn.fs.pathlms.com/4oiXe0vRdGQpqWg8RqwQ to view their Screening Guide for Lifestyle Diseases

Health disparities are differences in health that are linked to unjust social conditions (income inequality, racism, gender bias, and many more). A health disparity can be a higher rate of a disease among certain groups than others – even, in many cases, despite ongoing prevention efforts. HIV is just one example of an epidemic that is made worse by health disparities. In the 21st episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, Ci Ci was be joined by author, community advocate, and transformational speaker Connie L. Johnson. Connie and Ci Ci discussed health inequities and health disparities faced by Black women and others who are living with HIV. Come take part in this interactive discussion to explore the root of these disparities and how they impact the daily lives of women living with HIV.

This episode is sponsored by Theratechnologies.

Visit https://cdn.fs.pathlms.com/4oiXe0vRdGQpqWg8RqwQ to view their Screening Guide for Lifestyle Diseases.

Women living with HIV across the gender spectrum are more likely than women in the general population to experience challenges to their mental health. Among many people, accessing mental health care can carry stigma, and can even be discouraged by some family members and friends. Additionally, women, often primary caregivers, will care for others before caring for themselves.

In the 20th episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, Ci Ci is joined by Raenisha Love, LCSW as they discuss mental health care from both the perspective of a therapist who offers non-judgmental, empathic services to individuals across the gender spectrum and a woman living with HIV who sought out mental health care.

You’re not going to want to miss this dynamic conversation between two powerful women as it relates to the importance of mental health care (in addition to HIV treatment) for overall well-being for women living with HIV. 

This episode is sponsored by Theratechnologies.

Visit https://cdn.fs.pathlms.com/4oiXe0vRdGQpqWg8RqwQ to view their Screening Guide for Lifestyle Diseases

 

Telling someone you love that you are living with HIV can be really hard. Living with HIV can often impact not just the person who received the diagnosis, but also those around them - including family, friends, and other people they are close with. During the month of May, and beyond, we celebrate the special dynamic of motherhood as it relates to HIV. In the 19th episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, Ci Ci is joined by her own mother, Carol Coleman; Lynette Trawick and her mother-in-law Karen Trawick; and mother-daughter duo Michelle and Raven Lopez in a heartfelt conversation meant to shed light on these multiple, diverse perspectives of motherhood and HIV. Tune into this enlightening, powerful discussion among women living with HIV and their mothers!

No one should be punished simply because they have a health condition. But in many areas of the world, laws and practices unfairly punish people living with HIV because of their HIV-positive status. In other words, people living with HIV can face criminal charges for engaging in acts that would not be considered criminal if a person who is not living with HIV engaged in them. This is often called HIV criminalization.

Join Ci Ci as she chats with Black feminist attorney Mandisa Moore-O'Neal about criminalization and HIV, how HIV-specific laws and policies affect the reproductive rights of Black women, and how all this connects with criminalization of Black women’s bodies, including their parenting choices, more broadly. You’re not going to want to miss this important discussion during Black Maternal Health Week 2022.