Workshop takes unique approach to AIDS

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A small group of people from across the province marked AIDS Awareness Week by attending a unique training workshop offered by the Feather of Hope Aboriginal AIDS Prevention Society.

The intense four day workshop, Sharing, Caring, Honesty & Respect, has been offered by Feather of Hope since 1995. The latest workshop was held Nov. 27 to 30 in Edmonton, with about 10 people taking part.

Jo-Ann Daniels is executive director of Feather of Hope. She said those who have taken part in the workshop in the past have included people who are HIV positive, Elders, high school students, community people involved in life skills programs, students, health care workers, counsellors, teachers, social workers, doctors, nurses, community health representatives, and even a few chiefs and band councillors.

"You're looking at a program that talks to anyone who has a sincere desire to learn about HIV, to help prevent HIV in their community, and who can contribute to the process. And that process that I'm talking about is the entire process of understanding the disease, controlling it, preventing it - intervention, education, awareness, and providing services," Daniels said.

The workshop is offered in Edmonton about four times a year, Daniels said.

The balance of the workshops are held in different communities across the province, and across the country.

"I have personally been in every Metis and First Nations community that there is in this province several times over. Plus there is a lot of demand for this program outside of the province. I've been to the Arctic Circle a number of times. To Quebec and Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and to the Atlantic provinces as well. So it's a very popular program because of the perspective. I don?t think there's another program that is quite like it in Canada," Daniels said.

The workshop is broken down into four components.

The first offers an Aboriginal perspective and historical perspective on AIDS.

The second, described as AIDS 101, provides a scientific explanation of the virus, as well as information on such things as transmission, prevention and treatments.

The third component covers presentation skills, giving workshop participants the skills they need to give presentations about HIV and AIDS within their own communities.

The fourth component is the practicum, which requires participants to give an AIDs presentation within their community before receiving certification.

A maximum of 20 people can take the workshop at any one time, although because of the program's intense, four-day schedule, 10 or fewer is ideal, Daniels said. The workshop is a peer AIDS education certified training course, and is recognized by both Alberta Health and Health Canada.

For more information about the Sharing, Caring, Honesty & Respect workshop, or to find out how you can arrange to have one of the workshops offered in your community, contact Feather of Hope at 780-488-5773, or through the information crisis line at 1-800-256-0459.