SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—The AIDS Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Inc. (AFWM) is excited to announce its fourth annual Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Conference to be held at Baystate Health’s Chestnut Building on March 14, 2015. The conference is for everyone who cares about women and girls and HIV/AIDS. Women, girls, and all others who want to learn more about prevention, treatment, and support are welcome. [pullquote]The conference is for everyone who cares about women and girls and HIV/AIDS. Women, girls, and all others who want to learn more about prevention, treatment, and support are welcome.[/pullquote]
Participants do not need to be HIV positive or at risk for HIV to attend, and no one will ask anyone to disclose their status. The conference is free for all. This is a chance for our community to continue to learn about and come together around issues of HIV/AIDS that affect us all.
Schedule for the day (subject to change):
9:00-9:30 Check-in, Continental Breakfast
9:30-9:45 Introduction and Welcome
9:45-10:45 Opening Panel: Perspectives on Hope, Updates on HIV/AIDS and Means of Support
11:00-11:45 Morning Break-out Sessions
– Barriers to Care – Karina Danvers
– Addressing the Way We Think, Feel and Act (Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Address HIV/AIDS) – Dr. Eunice Aviles, Clinical Psychologist and Licensed Mental Health Counselor
– All Oceans Are Connected: Bearing Witness to the Pandemic – Martha Lang, PhD
11:45-12:45 Lunch ‘N’ Learn – Networking, Information tables
12:45-1:45 Keynote Speaker: A Boy. A Girl. A Virus. And The Relationship That Happened Anyway.
Shawn Decker & Gwenn Barringer
2:00-2:45 Afternoon Break-out Sessions
– Radical Self Care – Katherine Golub
– Dad’s Jumbalaya: A Daughter and Advocate’s Story- Stickii Quest
– HIV and Hepatitis C Co-infection- Speaker TBA
Registration is required, so please email info@aidsfoundationwm.org or call (413) 592-5444 by March 6, 2015, so that we have an accurate count for our caterer. Breakfast and lunch are complimentary. All attendees will receive bags with mementos and information, including a copy of My Pet Virus by Shawn Decker. For more information, log on to www.aidsfoundationwm.org.
The National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Conference is sponsored in part by Baystate Health and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Additional funding is provided by a grant from The Colburn Keenan Foundation.
[From a News Release]
