In the past couple of years, Fife House has been intentional in increasing its efforts to attract and engage clients, residents and other people living with HIV/AIDS – also known as “peers”, in volunteer roles. Today we have approximately 40 dedicated peers who are actively contributing to the Volunteer Services Team and utilizing their lived experiences with HIV/AIDS in their volunteer roles.
Our Peer Engagement Team meets on a regular basis, creating a space for our peers to come together and discuss topics that are relevent to them and to provide support and knowledge to our peer team.
In 2017, Fife House joined forces with five other organizations across the province: the AIDS Bereavement and Resiliency Program of Ontario (ABRPO) and the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation (PWA) from Toronto; the AIDS Committee of Windsor (ACW) from Windsor; Reseau Access Network from Sudbury; and Elevate NOW from Thunder Bay. An application was submitted to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and was successfully funded for a 5-year project to enhance the health and well-being of people living with and at-risk of HIV and/or Hepatitis C by engaging them in skills development and capacity building opportunities within their respective agencies.
If you are a person living with HIV/AIDS and are not a volunteer yet, but would like to apply to become a peer volunteer at Fife House, please visit our Volunteer Page for more information and to access the online Volunteer Intake Form.