For nearly 10 years, we have been working with the community in settings where men who have sex with men (MSM) socialise and interact - including pubs, clubs, community events and public sex environments. We have a lot of experience and expertise of engaging with guys 'where they're at'. We can be found in locations across west London. We also have specialist workers focussing on the needs of HIV positive men, Black men and Asian men. We can offer safer sex supplies and reliable advice on sexual health, and also work with MSM to offered tailored support through our health trainer programme.
Health trainers are men from the local community. They work face to face with other guys in lots of different locations, focusing on the individual’s needs. This is initially done using a life check tool called an iBASK - BASK standing for behaviour, attitudes, skills and knowledge. The iBASK helps us to identify if there are any gaps someone might like our support on - sexual health, issues with drugs and alcohol, self-esteem or depression, or anything else that might be important. The ultimate aim is to help men remain or become self-aware, be self-confident and to live healthy lives.
Once we’ve gone through the life check and discussed any issues that come up, we create an action plan together. Based on individual needs the health trainer might then offer support by accompanying them to have an STI or HIV test or simply arranging to meet in a couple of weeks to talk things through again. If a man wants help to change certain things, we can assist by helping them to build goals, or offer ongoing support. We can also support them to access other kinds of support such as group work or counselling. We recognise that just by identifying issues and making an action plan doesn’t make it easy to stick to, so we can re-visit the plan as necessary, changing goals to keep them realistic and achievable. By exploring an individual’s needs with the i-BASK then supporting them through follow-up sessions for up to three months, we really get to see firsthand how best to assist people.
If you see us out and about, please feel free to approach us, or you can request a meeting by phoning our free phone number 0800 587 8302 or email us at info@westlondongmp.org.uk.
Check out our short film about health trainers on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/westlondongmp