My PrEP Story: Phil (part 8)

In Phil’s latest MPS, he talks about PrEPster’s brand new Ask Me About PrEP (AMAP) project and how to get involved with it.

My PrEP Story is the personal voice of people who are using, or have used, PrEP, and those who have been at the forefront of providing it and advocating for it. Find out more about their decisions to use PrEP, how they have navigated using PrEP, and their very own PrEP journey.

If you’d like to add your voice to My PrEP Story, check out our helpful guide and email hello@prepster.info

I’ve been working as a social activist, health promoter, researcher and writer in HIV and sexual health for over 4 and a half years. That’s almost as long as I’ve been taking PrEP! Starting PrEP has made advocating for it and raising awareness about it much easier. When I talk to other people like me about PrEP, I can draw on my own firsthand experiences of using PrEP.

PrEP might not be for everyone but it’s important that people feel able to talk about it without being judged. Talking about sex can be difficult for many of us, but research shows that non-PrEP users knowing other people who are taking PrEP can have an effect. It’s easy to read and hear things about it but until you have an experience of talking to someone who takes it, it can be difficult to have a good grasp on the specifics of PrEP and how it works. Research has also shown us that talking openly and honestly with each other can be a really effective way to learn and share information about sexual health.

At PrEPster, we’ve always seen our work as having a ripple, with the information we share directly with our friends, partners and peers cascading outwards to their friends, partners and peers like a stone in a pond. This ripple effect into communities has been critical to everything we do.

This is where our brand-new pilot project Ask Me About PrEP comes in. Continuing our use of the ripple effect we are looking at training and supporting 150 peer mobilisers to speak to their friends, partners and peers about PrEP. We’re looking at how PrEP ripples out beyond the mobilisers and the people they speak with.

You can take part if you currently live in England, and if you see yourself as a peer of one of the key groups of people that will currently most benefit from PrEP. We especially encourage people who are currently using PrEP to take part. This is an incredible way to educate and inform social and sexual networks about PrEP as well as increase awareness and access to it.

All you need to do is sign up for a quick-and-dirty mobiliser event with the wonderful PrEPster team! You’ll get some great AMAP materials including t-shirts, stickers, tote bags and online assets that are exclusive to the 150 people we train. Then all you have to do is get talking!

To sign up and for more information about the AMAP project and, visit prepster.info/amap/

— Phil