News

HIV organisations have come together to call for the EHRC draft guidelines to be withdrawn.

This year, we spoke with Iain, Waverley Care’s Peer Support and Volunteering Coordinator (East), to learn more about how peer volunteers are transforming lives and what they mean to the wider work of Waverley Care. Our volunteers play a vital role in everything we do; from fundraising and events to trustees on our board and direct peer support.

For this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, which focuses on the theme of ‘community’ we spoke to Thomas, Peer Support and Volunteer Coordinator at Waverley Care about how volunteers and community support can make a real difference to people’s mental health that are living with or affected by blood-borne viruses (BBVs).

Scotland is often praised for having some of the best HIV health outcomes in the world. Yet, for many people living with HIV, accessing mental health support remains a real challenge. People living with HIV in the UK are 63% more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness compared to people without HIV . Likewise, two in five people living with HIV currently have a diagnosis of at least one mental health condition – substantially higher that the population average .