Birmingham-based HIV Peer Support group, Positive Peers, becomes part of the Saving Lives UK family

Birmingham Positive Peers, the only organisation in the West Midlands to offer peer support services to people living with HIV regardless of their gender, sexuality, ethnicity or background, is now part of the Saving Lives UK family.

The group, to be known as ‘Positive Peers’ going forward, has served patients in the UK’s second city and its surrounding region for four years, providing peer mentoring and support to people newly diagnosed with HIV, those who have lived with the virus for many years, and everyone in between. The programme is a true grassroots community, developing out of a patient forum at one of the citys largest hospitals.

Positive Peers co-founder and current manager, Rachel Greaves, has delivered peer support across the Midlands on an often entirely voluntary basis since setting up the programme with the late Tom Matthews in 2017. Funding for some discrete projects has been provided over that time by Saving Lives, and Birmingham City Council, among others.

‘If we are going to take peer support in our region to the next level, we need the additional support that being part of a formal charity can offer,’ says Rachel, reflecting on why Positive Peers has moved to operate under the umbrella of the Saving Lives charity.

‘Peer support is, and must be recognised as, an essential element of the care offer that should be made to all people living with HIV,’ she adds. ‘Saving Lives has a fantastic record of policy advocacy, winning funding, and supporting our community to achieve great things. We are really excited for our future with them.’

Dan Hartland, Director of Saving Lives, said: ‘Work like that done by Rachel, Tom and their teams through the years is completely inspirational. They have done amazing work and made a real difference, and their commitment to patient care should be a model for all of us. This is a true community organisation a service for people living with HIV, by people living with HIV, which lives where they do.’

‘Our goal is to help Positive Peers become an ever better resourced organisation, so that it can deliver gold-standard support and mentoring services in Birmingham and across the West Midlands.’

Tom Hayes-Isaacs, a Saving Lives Trustee, added: ‘Growing up in Birmingham without the HIV support that I needed, I am thrilled that Saving Lives is now able to provide Rachel and the Positive Peers team with a solid foundation from which to carry out their crucial work.’

Positive Peers will continue to be a self-managed service benefitting from Saving Lives’ legal, financial and regulatory oversight and support including the charity’s sector-leading information management and data governance. The charity is also consulting with the George House Trust, among others, to further enhance the peer support offering in the West Midlands region.

‘It’s a really exciting time for us,’ concludes Rachel, ‘and most importantly for all the people we exist to help.’

Positive Peers website: www.positivepeers.co.uk

Saving Lives UK website: www.savinglivesuk.com