Living Positive Victoria (LPV) is starting its first Reconciliation Action Plan (Reflect). We are looking for another member of the HIV positive community who also identifies as Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander to be a part of our RAP Working Group. We welcome people from Victoria as well as people from other nations currently living in Victoria.
The LPV RAP working group consists of staff from LPV who work in peer support, health promotion and communications and events, as well as two members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community who are living with HIV.
We are looking for someone who:
- Is interested in helping LPV to start its reconciliation work
- Can share Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and ideas on issues that are important for reconciliation in Victoria
- Can help with ideas about the work we do as well as about relationships and connections with communities
- Feels positive that a Reconciliation Action Plan can make LPV a better organisation to support and connect First Nations people in Victoria living with HIV
We will meet every three months for 1-2 hours, and there might be a small amount of reading for each meeting. We will offer some payment for these meetings.
The first meeting will discuss the first draft of our Reflect RAP.
Your privacy and confidentiality are our highest priority and you can join in this working group without having your identity or personal information shared outside of the group without your permission.
If you would like more information or are interested in joining please email Jen at jjohnson@lpv.org.au or call 03 9863 8736.
Read on for more information about Living Positive Victoria, and about our RAP.
More about our RAP
We are committed to closing the gap in HIV outcomes that exists between First Nations people and people from non-Indigenous, settler and colonial backgrounds. As a peer-led organisation, we recognise the critical importance of self-determination and of community-controlled services that are governed and delivered by and for community.
We recognise that as an organisation we haven’t always done enough to make sure that we are a culturally safe space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to show we are a culturally safe organisation. We recognise that we haven’t always been able understand and respond to the HIV peer support needs of positive Mob.
Our stakeholders, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with HIV, have asked us to develop a RAP and we are committed to this. We are committed to ensuring that we are a culturally safe organisation for First Nations communities. Our goal is to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria have a genuine choice in whether they access HIV community support through Aboriginal community-led services or through our HIV community-led services.
We want our Reflect RAP to communicate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with HIV that we are aware of their experiences and challenges engaging with HIV services, including our own, and recognise the harm, trauma and ongoing impacts of colonisation.
A RAP working group will guide the development and implementation of Living Positive Victoria’s Reflect RAP. This working group will consist of representatives from across each of our operational areas: peer support, health promotion, communications, positive speakers program and senior management. We will also ensure the working group includes the meaningful (and paid) involvement of First Nations members of the HIV-positive community.
About Living Positive Victoria
Living Positive Victoria (LPV) is a not-for-profit, member-based community organisation of people living with HIV that has represented people living with HIV in Victoria since 1988. Living Positive Victoria is committed to advancing the human rights, health and wellbeing of all people living with HIV. We do this through the greater and meaningful involvement of people living with HIV in our governance and operations.
We provide peer education, peer navigation and peer support services, and other peer-led community development initiatives that reduce stigma and improve health and quality of life for people living with HIV. We also work closely with a range of HIV-specific and other organisations to deliver a comprehensive and coordinated community response to HIV across Victoria and nationally.
People living with HIV are involved at all levels of our organisation, which currently has 12 staff and 41 volunteers (including board members). Our office is located at 25 Elizabeth Street, Naarm/Melbourne in Wurundjeri Country, Victoria. Membership is open to all people living with HIV in Victoria and Tasmania, and LPV is governed by a board of directors who are elected from the membership. We have a membership base of over 1,600 people living with HIV across Victoria and Tasmania.
During our 35-year history numerous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members have contributed our work through roles on the board of directors as well as other volunteer and advisory roles.
Currently there are no LPV staff or board members who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. While 4 LPV members have identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, we haven’t always asked people about their First Nations identity so we don’t really know. We also don’t know whether any past staff identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.