Empowerment Hub: Youth Leadership + Peer Support Resources

PEER NAVIGATION:
HIV CARE & PREVENTION

PEER SUPPORT IS LIFE-SAVING.

Peer navigation plays a crucial role in supporting youth living with or at risk for HIV. This section is dedicated to providing resources that empower young peer navigators with the knowledge and skills needed to offer compassionate, informed support in HIV care and prevention.

Explore educational materials, training guides, and personal stories that highlight the importance of peer support in promoting health and well-being. This collection aims to equip peer navigators with the tools they need to effectively guide and assist their peers.

HIV Peer Navigation Best Practices

HIV Peer Navigation Best Practices

Created with the help of our National Youth Advocates, and funded by ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action for Youth (PAFY) Grant, this handbook was developed to train and support hundreds of youth mentors to provide peer navigation and support related to HIV-prevention, treatment, and care and housing to QTBIPOC youth.

Reports and Toolkits

Best Practices: Integrating Peers into HIV Models of Care: AIDS United

Learn about unique and effective Peer navigation models that successfully and efficiently reach vulnerable HIV populations and how to sustain these services

Navigation Services for HIV Medical Care and PrEP: Washington University

A detailed report reviewing the effectiveness and best practices of peer navigation in HIV care and treatment.

A Practical Toolkit to Empower HIV Prevention Efforts with Marginalized Communities: NASTAD

Explores the role of peer navigators in supporting individuals with HIV through personal stories and expert insights.

Linkages Across the Continuum of HIV Services for Key Populations Affected by HIV (LINKAGES) project: uSAID

Provides comprehensive guidelines and resources for peer navigators working in HIV care and prevention.

Podcast Resources

  • Pozcast

    Based in Toronto but global in outlook, pozcast challenges the status quo and celebrates people living and thriving with HIV.

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  • Positively UK

    This podcast features stories and insights from some of the most engaging, courageous, and inspiring LGBTQ+ people from all over the world,

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Web-based Resources

How Peer Navigation Waters Communities

This video showcases when young people are affirmed to be leaders, their communities thrive in tandem. Young people need access to safe housing and critical healthcare to thrive. This video explores how youth are leading the charge to end youth homelessness and access critical HIV care.

Supporting Young People at Risk or Living with HIV/AIDS

This video, from PSY’s 2022 Western Conference session on the importance of intergenerational solidarity for young people at risk of or living with HIV, examines best practices for wraparound care and prevention, focused on centering and hiring young people in HIV and youth service positions.

Affirming Young People through Peer Support

Learn how Point Source Youth’s Youth Advisory Council, the National Youth Mentorship and Empowerment Initiative Leaders, and Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) Peer Learning Communities have developed tools and resources like handbooks, animated videos, and more to support organizations in co-developing peer support spaces with young people.

Expanding Prevention, Treatment, And Care Ending HIV & Youth Homelessness In The South

This video is from PSY’s 2023 Southern Conference which addresses how the south is home to the highest HIV infection rates in the country and the racial equity crisis connected. Learn about the social determinants that put Black and Brown folks, LGBTQ+ youth, and youth experiencing homelessness at a greater risk of HIV exposure. Hear how equitable access to PReP across the South is critical to prevention efforts and leave with resources that can support newly diagnosed LGBTQ+ youth and ensure that they get sustainable access to the care they’re owed.

Affirming Youth at Risk of/Living with HIV

Hear PSY National Youth Advocates discuss the importance of mentorship programs for Queer & Trans BIPOC youth experiencing homelessness living with HIV/at risk of HIV in the South. Learn best practices for creating youth-led programs, and what meaningful, sustainable youth leadership really means in these initiatives.

HIV/AIDS Prevention: Supporting Youth Clients

This resource, from PSY’s 2022 Rural Conference, discusses pragmatic approaches to actualizing housing as healthcare by reviewing how programs, policies, and procedures can better ensure regular access to testing and resource navigation for youth clients.

LGBTQ+ Affirming HIV Care

This video from Equality Florida the benefits and impact of peer support in HIV care, featuring testimonials from peer navigators and clients.