SPFPP 322: The SPFPP Conference
Welcome to the detailed recap of our first-ever Virtual Herpes Stigma Conference hosted by Something Positive for Positive People (SPFPP). This pioneering event marked a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to tackle the stigma associated with herpes and enhance the support network for those navigating this challenge.
Conference Highlights
Stigma in Healthcare Dr. Evelin Molina-Dacker, a family physician renowned for her advocacy in sexual health, opened the conference with an insightful discussion on the stigma prevalent in healthcare settings. She provided practical tips for healthcare professionals to foster empathetic and informed interactions with patients diagnosed with herpes.
Psychological Impact Sex therapist Nikita Fernandes delved into the mental health ramifications of living with herpes. She outlined common psychological challenges and offered strategies to promote mental and emotional well-being, emphasizing the importance of compassionate therapy and support.
Education and Stigma Minimization Dakota Ramppen, a respected Tough Love Relationships Coach and Sexuality Educator, explored how stigma minimization can be effectively integrated into sexuality education. His session highlighted how educational reforms can contribute to more effective STI prevention and healthier communication about sexual health.
2023-2024 Herpes Stigma Survey Results I, Courtney Brame, presented the findings from our latest herpes stigma survey. This session covered comprehensive data analysis, discussing everything from demographics and outbreak management to communication with partners and the impact of stigma on mental health.
Why You Should Watch the Conference Recording
Exclusive Insights: The conference provided a unique compilation of data, experiences, and expert opinions that are invaluable for anyone involved in sexual health and stigma reduction.
Support Your Practice: Healthcare providers and educators can find practical tools and knowledge to enhance their practices and better support individuals dealing with herpes stigma.
Community Engagement: Learn from the experiences and initiatives discussed by leading experts and community advocates dedicated to sexual health and stigma minimization.
Access the Conference Recording
For those who missed the live event, the full recording of the SPFPP Virtual Conference is available for purchase. This is an excellent opportunity for professionals and individuals alike to gain deep insights into managing and reducing herpes stigma.
Bring SPFPP to Your Organization
We are also excited to offer tailored workshops based on the rich insights gained from our herpes stigma survey. If your organization is interested in hosting a workshop to better support clients or staff in handling herpes diagnosis and stigma, please reach out to us.
Join us in our commitment to minimize stigma and support those living with herpes. Watch the conference recording today and be part of the change that we are all striving to see in the world.
For more information and to purchase the recording, please visit the herpes stigma conferences page.
Episode 322 Transcript
The Mission: Stigma-Free Healthcare
00:00:00 Courtney Brame: Welcome to Something Positive for Positive People. I'm Courtney Brame. Something Positive for Positive People is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that serves as the go-to hub of sexual health communications resources for people navigating herpes stigma. We train people in the field of sexual health services as workers organizations to offer stigma-free communication. We also teach people how to talk about their sexual health. Y'all, this is such a crucial uh skill as we're learning over the years um that people just don't know. You know, we offer the how of STD prevention and STI prevention um and sex education even. You know, we talk about things that can be done to help, but how do we go about, you know, implementing these things? What does it look like in practice? So, what we're doing here at Something Positive for Positive People, especially with this upcoming conference on May 23rd, 2024, if you have not gotten your tickets yet, please, please, please go ahead and do so.
00:01:39 Courtney Brame: And if you're at an organization, uh we have sponsorship opportunities that include some tickets for your employees to be able to go. Uh and at this conference, what we're going to do is talk about what that looks like. uh I'll be introducing the framework for how we train and give practice to health care professionals on servicing people for their sexual health related needs. And I'm not going to go into too much detail about it. You have to be at the conference in order to receive that bit of information. But this is a really big deal y'all. This is a big deal for not only you know myself but for the nonprofit organization as well and even the work when we look at herpes stigma because it's not just about oh you've got herpes now you're dirty like that's the surface level what it is but we really need to understand the symptoms of herpes stigma and how the core of that really comes down to how sex education doesn't teach just the how of STI communication, sexual health communication.
00:02:53 Courtney Brame: Uh neither does STD prevention. You know, when I look at the articles that come out year-over-year about how we're seeing a rising alarming rate of new sexually transmitted infection rates, all we see is a proposal to just throw more money at it. Oh, we need more money. We need to give out more condoms. We need to do more testing. Uh that doesn't that's not what it is. Like talking to people and talking to the people who've had experiences navigating STI stigma, talking to people who have tested positive, who've had to go through this communication process with their partners, with their health care professionals. Um, and the survey that we've been doing, we've got more than 1,200 responses at this point to the herpes stigma survey. And it's not just do you have herpes and what are your symptoms. We're talking about interactions with health care providers that perpetuate stigma that enable people to go on and not want to talk about their sexual health with partners, who don't engage in or initiate conversations about sexual health with their health care providers.
The Ripple Effect of Stigma-Free Care
00:04:07 Courtney Brame: the very people that they're receiving the information that can reduce the risk of being exposed to an STI. And we can do so much better with just giving health care providers the practice and the training that they need in order to be able to offer stigma-free sexual health care. And in doing so, not only are we mitigating the symptoms of stigma in the health care setting, but we're also mitigating the symptoms of stigma between people who are dating, in relationships, who are sexually active because we're giving them the tools and resources that they need to talk about their sexual health. And this gets a lot deeper because so much of it is also harm reduction because when we incorporate the elements of Something Positive for Positive People's intervention program that support sex education resources and STD prevention efforts, what we see is that we're not just talking about how to talk about sex, but also relationships. And we're looking at what it means to give consent, to receive consent, what it means to see uh boundaries in action, and how to uphold and respect those boundaries, and how to seek support in the event that something doesn't go well, how to not only receive a no, but how to also say no, and what a yes really looks like, and understanding the complexities of people just changing their mind even.
00:05:45 Courtney Brame: So, as a secondary effect of us going in and training uh health care professionals on offering stigma-free care, we've got such a trickle down effect, a ripple effect of people who are sexually active going on to have stigma-free conversations with their sexual partners that create the space necessary for people to discuss their sexual health status. Whether that be with a positive infection or if you're positive for something or negative. But the general population is not receiving this information. It's people who test positive for something and then go on and look for resources that find this. Why is it that the default for STD prevention is surrounding people doing things that just are supposed to prevent you from getting STI? This excludes people who have gotten one, who are living with one from the conversation. And these are the people who we need to be having conversations with. It's not a matter of, "Oh man, I talked to that dude with herpes and I don't ever want to get that, so I'm going to make sure that I do the things that are said in STD prevention." No,
00:06:58 Courtney Brame: it's what lessons are being learned post outcome that can be incorporated preemptively before a person is even sexually active or thinking about sex or talking about not even I don't want to say that far back but there are ways to incorporate these communication skills that people learn after their diagnosis and all of the work and the research that has to go into that and the trials and errors ers that occur when a person is going through the process of dating, seeking information, looking for answers to how they're supposed to navigate conversations with their sexual partners. Um, there's so much there there's a lot here. And without me delivering the presentation, all I'm saying y'all is May 23rd, 2024, I'm asking that you consider coming to the conference. this uh conference. More details and the tickets are on sale at www.spfpp.org/conferences and that's with an s at the end. All right. Uh this tab is going to have the upcoming conference, the date, the details, a link for you to be able to register and purchase the tickets.
Conference Details and Future Plans
00:08:10 Courtney Brame: Anyone who has already purchased tickets, please be on the lookout for an update coming to you by March. Um, I'm in the process of getting the Zoom links and everything in order. I don't want to give it out too soon because I don't want people passing it around. So, y'all just bear with me, please. Um, this is new to me. This is new for me and it's going along very smoothly. I called a consultant uh shout out to Steph Zapata uh from the Slam Sexuality Liberators and Movers uh conference. Uh, she's been facilitating that conference for years now. And so she was able to come in and help us with um giving the consultations that we need in order for us to have a smooth process in setting this up. So it's legit. I have invested finances into this and been able to move forward in a way that the people who are going to be purchasing tickets are going to get exactly what it is they're coming for.
00:09:06 Courtney Brame: The conference is from 10:00 a.m. uh central time to 400 p.m. Central time. Um and we have four presenters. We're sponsored by the American Sexual Health Association. Shout out to them as well as WISP. I'm so grateful that we were able to get some sponsors to support being able to pay our presenters as well as any costs of the software that are in place as well. So, we here y'all. We doing this. This is a really big deal for me because I've never planned a conference. I've never really been big on events, but for 2024, uh that's going to be a huge part of our fundraising efforts. Um this conference is the launch pad of the rest of what Something Positive for Positive People is going to be doing. Uh not to say that we're leaving the herpes space. We are here. We are uh we've even brought back therapy for people with herpes.
00:09:58 Courtney Brame: I'm in the process of collecting more therapists who can work with more people in a broader way across different states. Um, I don't know about other countries, just other states. All right. So, we are keeping that in the United States. Uh, just so I don't get in trouble with the IRS or anything. Um, and as mentioned, like this is virtual. Um, everybody can join the… I got to be careful what I say because I have to leave some for the conference, y'all. I need y'all to be there. Please come to the conference and get this information. We are going to announce the training program where we are giving health care providers and organizations practice with providing sexual health uh services. On the Something Positive website, there's a directory tab and that's called brag or nag. Uh it's called directory, but the page is brag or nag, where you can fill out a form where you talk about what a health care professional in the sexual health realm has done well for you or what they've done poorly for you.
00:11:06 Courtney Brame: You can give us their contact information. You can share that experience and that story. Uh get that to me. I need to stop saying “me”. Get that to us at Something Positive for Positive People. And we will reach out. We'll contact these people and you know we don't have to use your name and say what you said about them exactly but we need to know who the Something Positive for Positive People community approved to have people reach out to them for their services. So whether that be STI testing, whether that be treatment, whether that be for sex education resources, these are all things that exist and people don't know exist. So, if you found a hidden gem of a place where you can go and get testing and treatment done, please visit the directory tab on spf.org's website. All right? And once you do that, uh, I'll compile this information. I'll put it up on the website so that people can see where we're going to get high-quality services taken care of for ourselves.
Stigma-Free Resources and Closing
00:12:07 Courtney Brame: All right. Um, speaking of, uh, Shameless Care, this is an organization that offers at home STI test kits. You and it includes a herpes test for HSV2. It's a blood test and I believe they only test for HSV2 at this time. So, if um you're someone who likes discreet, to be discreet, you don't want to leave your house, um getting in for an appointment is going to be challenging for you, then you can go to shamelesscare.com/spppp or you can just even visit the um the what what tab is that on the Something Positive site? STI testing. It's the STI testing tab on the Something Positive for Positive People website. You can go and check that out and if you click that link whatever purchase you make um you'll get a percentage off and Something Positive for Positive People gets paid for that as well. If you're looking for alternative treatments to your outbreaks um if you're having any physical symptoms of herpes Vanquish Care is uh one of Bise's products the STD coach um hold on let me make sure yeah the STD coach uh and she's on our partners tab as well spf.org org/partners.
00:13:23 Courtney Brame: Um you can check out her Vanquish Care products and get a discount on those and uh we're part of her affiliate program and we'll receive uh some money for that as well. So um yeah, if you're listening to this and you have not purchased a ticket to the conference, I invite you to please do so soon because early bird ticket prices are up now. That is not going to always be the case. All right. So, uh, yes, if you are wanting to be a sponsor, please reach out to me, courtney spf.org. I wanted to keep this podcast episode short because I don't think that there's really any that I've done exclusively talking about the one thing that is getting the most of my attention right now, which is planning for and executing uh, this conference. The theme is sexual health and mental health. We're going to talk about stigma in the healthcare field. stigma in therapy and the mental health field. I'm going to bring all of those things together and tie it into the keynote, which is going to be a presentation and analysis of the 2023 going into 2024 HSV stigma survey.
00:14:33 Courtney Brame: Um, you've probably seen that I've been posting this all over the place trying to get people to take it, especially men. Y'all, I am on dating sites. I'm on Positive Singles dating app and I am so aggressively looking for men to take this survey. I put in my survey the sur uh I put in my profile the survey and I've got myself showing up to men who are interested in men and I am messaging people and I'm like hey take this survey like I'm matching with dudes and everything. I need people taking this survey so that we can have more representation of men even if they're not straight men. I don't care. Like, we need more men's perspective in this space. And so, hopefully the nonstraight men showing up are going to have straight men like, "Wait a minute, that's not my experience. I'm going to get involved." So, if we got to tap into that competitiveness, we can. But, um, yeah, this is the episode that is exclusively for the conference. Um, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. You know how to get in contact with me. Uh, I am Courtney spf.org. And we are doing so much more through the website directly. If you haven't been seeing me on social media, please reach out and get subscribed to our monthly newsletter which has all of the updates for Something Positive for Positive People coming to your inbox directly one time a month. All right y'all, till next time. Thank you.
Transcription ended after 00:16:08
