SPFPP 321: 3-2-1 Happy New Year
Here’s a brief update from the herpes newsletter followed by more of what to expect for 2024. As always, I prioritize being consistent over getting it right, however, I can confidently say, I think we got things right as we head into 2024. We know what we’re doing, we’re doing it, and people are trusting us enough to pay us for it.
If you have not already, please subscribe to our herpes newsletter as this will replace the posting updates on social media, and consistently go out on a monthly basis. Don’t forget to register for the SPFPP virtual herpes stigma conference, take the HSV stigma survey.
Ya’ll I am RIGHT THERE to being able to do this full-time. Facilitating yoga therapy for people navigating herpes stigma, training sexual health service providers on stigma free care, and coaching folks through our herpes support calls on communicating about sexual health are all ways in which we serve our community. If you’re on the fence about donating or utilizing our services, please reach out and we’ll be able to choose what your donations go toward directly. Thank you all for another wonderful year of service. We’ve been able to raise $60k+ in 2023, nearly DOUBLING what came in for us in 2022.
Episode 321 Transcript
Introduction and the Vision for 2024
00:00:00 Courtney Brame: Welcome to Something Positive for Positive People. Episode 3, two, one. Happy new year. Ah um Something Positive for Positive People is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that trains people on navigating conversations around sexual health. We train people who are in the sexual health care field on how to offer stigma-free care to patients as well as teach their patients how to go on and have conversations with partners about their sexual health. We have been active since 2017 when we started as a podcast just talking to people living with herpes and who have had experience with other STI about what it's been like for them navigating stigma, dating, disclosing, having conversations with uh sexual health care providers. um all of those things that we really just don't hear about from people. When we look at sex education and STD prevention, everything is about how to not get an STI, but we see year-over-year that people are getting it. So, why not learn from this and identify what can be done from a little bit of a different angle?
00:01:51 Courtney Brame: So that's what Something Positive for Positive People has been doing over the last 7 years is just interviewing people and identifying these things. So uh heading into 2024, it is about implementing what we have discovered to be effective means of minimizing the possibility of new uh transmissions of infections. And we believe that to be a program that we call STI minimization. And as a nonprofit, what we're doing is just attempting to raise money in order to um implement this program. So, we're seeking grants. We're looking for partners who want to support this kind of uh program. Uh we'll announce what the program actually is in 2024 at our virtual conference, which is on May 23rd. It's a virtual conference. from 10:00 a.m. Central time to 4:00 p.m. Central time. And again, it's virtual. It's on a Thursday. Invite people who work in the sexual health care service providing field as well as organizations to attend this virtual conference.
Upcoming Events, the SPFPP Conference, and the Newsletter
00:03:05 Courtney Brame: I keep emphasizing virtual conferences because that's that's what this is. And I want this to be as accessible a conference as possible. Um people who are living with herpes, of course, you're more than welcome to come. Um there's something for you as well. We will be presenting the findings of the 2023 to 2024 HSV stigma survey where we talk about people's experiences with outbreaks and managing symptoms and alternative treatments as well as stigma, mental health, dating, sexual relationships with uh herpes. And uh we will learn a little bit about the audience. Um so this newsletter for the month of January which if you are not subscribed to the newsletter please just um uh you can join the newsletter. It's a monthly newsletter with updates on Something Positive for Positive People, um, podcast episodes, upcoming events, as well as, uh, just think of it as a written version of the podcast. And that this audio right now, at least in the beginning, is uh, the opening of what the newsletter is and sort of a recap before getting into the subject matter.
00:04:18 Courtney Brame: But uh yeah, you can join that monthly newsletter. Uh join our mailing lists and if announcements go out, I'll send them out that way. Um, it's been really challenging with social media to maintain contact with people and let them know what events are coming up. People have reached out to me like, "Hey, I haven't seen posts from you in a while." And the only reason that they've seen something is because I shared something irrelevant to herpes or Something Positive for Positive People. So over the last uh for the end of 2023, what's been happening is I've been putting more into the website. So spfpp.org is where you will get more of your most recent updates rather than social media. So much more of our organization um happenings are going to be accessible through the website rather than you being notified on social media. All right. So I want to thank our conference sponsors. I want to thank Wisp um and I also want to thank the American Sexual Health Association.
00:05:22 Courtney Brame: So here are two of our conference sponsors and we are seeking more uh with these sponsorship packages. You will also receive tickets to the conference for your organization uh ad mentions kind of like what you're hearing in this podcast episode. uh in the podcast um you'll see in the newsletter that there's like logos there and a little bit of a thank you uh that's there as well and um depending on the package you get we can interview you and your organization as well. So please reach out to me courtney spf.org if you are interested in potentially sponsoring our conference and would like tickets for your organization. Now, um, in January, uh, the day before Martin MLK Day, which is Sunday, January 14th at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, I will be interviewing Bise Spivey. Oh my god, I always say her name wrong. Spivey or Spivey, I'm sorry. Biz if I said it wrong. I always just called her Bise and I realize I've never had to say her name.
00:06:28 Courtney Brame: She is the STD life coach and um she's a Black woman living with herpes and she's been in this advocacy space for longer than I have and we're going to be connecting and having a very important conversation about um herpes stigma in the Black community because that does look different and we're inviting individuals uh who are Black uh people who work with Black people to attend this. Um, we just ask that you attend or visit www.spfpp.org/events for more information. And then all attendees who are subscribed to Something Positive for Positive People um will have free attendance. I said attendees, I meant members. Something Positive for Positive People members are able to access this event live for free. It's a virtual recording. You'll be able to get involved with the discussion, ask questions, and um if you are not a member, then you can just make a one-time donation and say that it's for attending this event. And again, that is January 14th at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Survey Data, 2023 Fundraising, and the Brag or Nag Directory
00:07:37 Courtney Brame: Another thing that we have, we have a few bits of data from the HSV survey, the 2023 2024 HSV data, um HSV survey. Uh at this point in time, we've had more than 1,200 people take the survey. This is amazing. Um this already beats out what we had going for 2021. Um we've got information on the age range, relationship status, and race of our demographics. This is also in the newsletter. So um you can scroll down and see that chart. Um we talk a little bit about 2023 in hindsight. So, in the year 2019, that's the first year that Something Positive for Positive People became a nonprofit. And we raised $7,232. In 2020, we raised $10,527. In 2021, we raised $14,980. And in 2022, we raised $30,800. So this year in 2023, Something Positive for Positive People has managed to raise $60,75, nearly doubling our financial support from donors, sponsors, uh partnerships, uh and and other fundraising efforts.
00:08:55 Courtney Brame: So any of these speaking opportunities that I've been getting, um, any opportunity to present or offer any trainings, that money has gone toward our efforts of continuing this advocacy, um, and being able to present our messaging in front of people who can go on to have more mindfulness at the very least of being able to offer stigma-free healthcare. And well, I'll talk more about what stigma-free means, but for those who are listening to this just for the newsletter update, I want to make sure to keep this as brief as possible. Um so looking at 2024, what we're doing is um we are again we're training uh sexual health care service providers on stigma-free communication with their patients. We also have a brag on a feature on the website which if you go to spfpp.org/directory you can contribute to the directory that we are creating that tells people “hey this is a sexual health service provider you do want to visit” or “here's who you don't want to visit”. So there's a form there that you can fill in and describe your experience, tell us who this organization is and then we can put on our website, you know, so that people can have more of a heads up about um what the um what they can expect if they need to go to that organization or for alternatives of where they can go to receive the quality of care that is Something Positive for Positive People approved as stigma-free or what the community approves.
00:10:31 Courtney Brame: Um, and we're creating a database just based off of that. So, your stories can help us expand stigma-free healthcare and help minimize STIs. Uh, if you just go to spf.org/directory um events, I mentioned I'll be interviewing BISE on um virtually. And so, if you go to spf.org/events, you can see the calendar of upcoming events. Um, we have a book that is in the process of being created just as a shortcut so that people don't have to go through and identify those 340 plus podcast episodes. Um, they don't have to go through that and find the undercurrent of messaging here. And another exciting thing is that for 2024 we are bringing back donation-based therapy by working with our network of licensed mental health professionals who have been working with people navigating herpes stigma. So um we're really excited to be able to relaunch that. It was very effective and supportive to people. Um and unfortunately we just had to suspend it for a brief period of time.
Patreon Transition, Therapy Services, and the Reality of Running a Nonprofit
00:11:41 Courtney Brame: But now that things are more in sync, things are a lot easier to navigate, we we're we're good. We got that going. Uh Patreon is we are exiting our Patreon. Transitioning over to the website exclusively. So if you visit spf.org/membership, org/membership. You will find that there are options for joining Something Positive for Positive People, being able to make monthly donations on a reoccurring basis. You can choose the option that works best for you. There are membership perks listed on that site on that web page for you to be able to identify what works best for you. And members at the $10 or more level get access to the weekly support groups. The last Monday of the month that support group is open to anyone um not just members. And so um that is something that right now we meet on Mondays at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time, 9:00 p.m. Eastern and it's roughly an hour.
00:12:44 Courtney Brame: As the support group grows, we'll expand. Um there are additional support groups in various places. There's a Facebook support group, Something Positive for Positive People. There's a fat life one um for people who are into the kink community and want to commune that way uh at Something Positive for Positive People is that community. Um I believe that's it as far as the newsletter goes. Um thank you for listening. I hope that you have continued to read the newsletter and now what I want to do is just go ahead and transition into this podcast episode uh directly from here. So, uh, as I mentioned, there's a lot coming up for the year 2024 between offering therapy again, the bra nag, and then the upcoming events. Uh, not much is changing. I was taking some time and I was thinking about, all right, Courtney, like this episode needs to be a great episode because we're going into a new year and we need to be sure that people have something to be excited about and look forward to.
00:13:49 Courtney Brame: But the thing is that over the last seven years of running the you know podcast and doing the services that we've been doing uh it's been more important to me that I remain consistent more so than exciting and new and doing things right. So that's what you can expect in 2024. You can expect consistency. You can expect more transparency as well as evolution and um you'll see much more of the business stuff that has to happen. Um as we offer these training sessions, I do intend to bring on more people in the health care field because I think I've sort of maxed out or almost tapped out on the resources that we can get from within the community. This survey has been a really great resource to support the podcast as a means of quantifying the information that we've already known from just having conversations with people living with herpes. And um the useful support tools for people directly are going to be the support groups are going to be the yoga classes as well as the sharing of information and uplifting uh people's resources that may not even have anything to do with herpes.
00:15:07 Courtney Brame: Those things have been most supportive to myself as well as other members in the community. So I want to be sure to share those uh as well. But these aren't necessarily what people might come in looking for, but it's what they'll need. And my intention is to have everything around Something Positive for Positive People that brings them here um be centered around bringing them to the website so that they can get to a place of being prepared for receiving that information as well as implementing it in their day-to-day lives. so that we can just minimize the internalized stigma within ourselves. And as I go out and speak with health care providers and people who work in the field of sex education who provide sexual health services, um it's important that they understand what it means to be stigma-free. And for what there's an ongoing evolving definition of what it means to be stigma-free. Part of it is it's inclusive to being trauma informed. But in order to be stigma-free, you need practice.
00:16:15 Courtney Brame: You can't just read and have somebody come in and tell you here's what to do, how to do it. You need practice with that. And you need to see it in action. And you need to hear from your patients. All right, let me chill cuz I'm giving away too much now. Giving away too much. Uh, attend the conference. Please attend the conference. That's where this announcement will be made. I have to be very careful about how I go about implementing or talking about these business parts. Now, because I have been hurt. I've had an idea stolen from me. um not necessarily an idea, but like I had to watch this thing be implemented and then be followed up with like, oh, hey, I'm not going to say who the company was, but it it very much hurt because I thought we had a solid relationship um to be included on a grant and, you know, proposed being part of that and then being taken away from it.
00:17:07 Courtney Brame: So, I can't just be out here free willy-nilly offering the uh consulting and things that I've done. And I've also had to deal with um if you've heard if you've listened to Something Positive for Positive People, you heard the episode recently where I had to share about the um situation where I have to screen people that I give consultations to or coaching to or offer support to. Um, and the way that I now have to do that is just if someone wants to have a direct line of communication, of course there's extreme cases where I don't do this, but um, I ask that you send proof of a donation before we have said conversation and begin to set up a call. I'm very thankful for how that's been received and that is clearly contributing to the ongoing growth of Something Positive for Positive People as an organization. So, I'm thrilled about that, but I don't like that I have to do that, especially for the reason that I have to. But, um it's been working out.
00:18:15 Courtney Brame: We've doubled the donations. I'm able to see that people are serious, people are invested, and yeah, that's very um it's very validating to me because this is a nonprofit organization that I'm running and looking at how things are going. There will come a point where this is the one thing that I'm doing without having to um put a lot of time into other work just to be able to get by. So, I've seen over the last 2 months, month and a half, what is possible as I invest more and as I've been seeking out help and support and guidance, um there's a lot of potential for Something Positive for Positive People to have a physical location and offer these services to people in real time and offer these trainings and also be able to travel and go ver go uh remote to organizations and healthcare providers who would like to have this training available and accessible to them. So, I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled for what's to come. I've got it organized and outlined.
00:19:22 Courtney Brame: I'm in the process of seeking funding and um I'm in conversations with people who want to utilize this service. So, um, 2024 is looking like a lot more handson out in the trenches rather than on social media and the internet. You know, it's more engaged and involved. And as much as I can, I will make these events so that people are able to attend them, people are able to watch, people are able to contribute outside of just monetarily. And um, yeah, we're getting back to being able to provide therapy for people. Um, and it's donation based. I need people to be invested in their healing more than I am. I can't do the thing where I paid for people to have 12 sessions of therapy. They show up to three because they got a girlfriend or boyfriend and they don't think that they need therapy anymore and it's just not a priority. I cannot do that anymore, unfortunately. It was nice to be able to say, "All right, hey, you know, here's I'm going to go ahead and dish out this money for people to get therapy, but I need to get what you have to give." So,
Growth, Community Connections, and Wrapping Up
00:20:30 Courtney Brame: That's- that's a conversation. If you're interested in working with one of our licensed mental health providers, please don't hesitate to reach out and we can get the process going there. But uh I'm I'm I'm ah I'm I'm super giddy about this conference and that's where my attention and focus are going. Um, I'm active on LinkedIn. I'm reaching out to my um health professionals network and working to get this conference out there for people to attend. I think that this is going to be the big launch pad for what Something Positive for Positive People looks like in the next year. It can look like this year, y'all, in 2024 and 5 years, 10 years, 15 years being the organization that facilitates these trainings across the country for sure, maybe even across the world. I'm learning Spanish. So, you know, maybe I can get into Spanish speaking places. Um, once I'm fluent in Spanish, I think I can learn some German, you know, and then, yeah, branch out from there.
00:21:34 Courtney Brame: Yeah, you never know. You never know. But again, we are 501c3 nonprofit, so we are running exclusively off of donations. Um, I don't have any ongoing massive donors on a consistent basis. Uh, the more I read about nonprofits, the more I hear that that's important. Like 20% of your donations come from uh 80% of the people and 80% of your donations come from 20% of your ongoing donors. So, I got 11, 12, 13, 14. I think there's 14 ongoing donors at this point in time who subscribe to the membership and like I rocks with y'all. Like every chance I get, I will do what I can to support y'all, make y'all feel supported. Um and yeah, because these have been my day ones. Um so I want to express my gratitude for y'all being here as well. And yeah, y'all y'all have access to me. Y'all know who y'all are cuz we talk pretty consistently, I would say.
00:22:34 Courtney Brame: Um and yeah, that said, I mean I think that that's enough here. Um events just just stay up to date with the website. If you are not already on our mailing list, please join. Um, even presenting those numbers helps me with acquiring sponsors. I mentioned that we have Wisp. Um if you go to hellowisp.com, whenever you're using anything, please use the code. Right now, it's SPFPPCON for the conference, but we just had a discussion about becoming a more long-term sponsor. So, uh that code is still active. But I would like for them to switch it over to just SPFPP to make it easier for y'all. But if you do um purchase anything from Wisp, uh which is a sexual wellness brand, uh please use that code. If SPFPP doesn't work, use SPFPPcon. I'm sorry that I'm confusing y'all with two, but we just yesterday had the conversation and now I'm recording on Saturday and uh they're not open.
00:23:38 Courtney Brame: So, if you hear this and you feel like you need to instantly take action, I need you to uh please use that promo code because that helps us with um being able to, you know, we get money for that. So, you get to save money and we get to make money off of the products that you purchase, right? Um let's see. Uh, and then the American Sexual Health Association, y'all. Um, yes, that's one of our podcast projects. And, uh, yeah, they'll be in attendance and supporting and helping us with getting the word out about the Something Positive for Positive People Conference as well. All right, y'all. Um, just stay updated on the website, join the mailing list, and you'll see newsletters on a monthly basis. All right, till next time, and happy new year as well. I hope that all your goals come true. I got to do it with a vision board with my girl and that was amazing. It was a very unique experience for me to be able to creatively like to see these um things that I want for myself and like digging through the magazines and cutting stuff out. It's symbolic of putting in the work to put this thing where it belongs, which is where you want for it to go. So, it was very nice and I don't know, I'm still a little still excited about it and how my vision board looks. My vision board looks trash, but you know, that's my life. Like, I put the things where they belong and then they work themselves out. So over time as I practice just living that and living from that place I’m choosing this and then the outcome that comes due to my consistency. Um yeah that I'm with… that I'm with that fa show. All right y'all. Um till next time.
Transcription ended at 25:09
