Events

Lunch & Learn: “Putting Out Fires: Depression, anxiety and improving your relationship with your Self” Friday, September 23, 2016 11:30 – 1pm Lunch provided 101 – 1139 Yates Street Victoria, BC Free for VPWAS members RSVP 250.382.7927 or support@vpwas.org About the Facilitator Peter Bell completed Clinical Hypnotherapy training in 2015 in Victoria. Peter also studied meditation and Hawaiian Huna for over 20 years, and he is currently exploring how hypnosis technology and secular mindfulness/compassion practices might be combined for maximum […]

Dear Future VPWAS Board Members Living with HIV has been both a burden and blessing. From the relentless social stigmas to outright rejection by family member and would-be lovers, to weekly doctor appointments and disability cheque debacles to the weekly after-shock of, “Fuck, did I take my meds today!” –all this compounded by stressors of a world that increasingly feels unhinged –why volunteer to help run a grassroots organization like Vancouver Island Persons Living with HIV/AIDS Society (VPWAS)? If all […]

Original article published Tuesday, 28 June 2016 on www.positivelite.com http://www.positivelite.com/component/zoo/item/youth-and-hiv-disclosure In December 2015, YouthCO HIV & Hep C Society, Canadian Positive People Network Youth Caucus, and the HIV Disclosure Project collaborated in a survey for youth under 30 years old which focused on experiences of HIV disclosure. Hopefully, many of you were able to participate in this survey, which was designed by Muluba Habanyama and YouthCO, in collaboration with CPPN-RCPS and HIV Disclosure Project. Earlier this month, Muluba was able […]

Welcoming Martin to the VPWAS Team! MARTIN is a self described 2 spirited Tlingit and Northern Tutchone young man from the Yukon Territory who currently lives in Victoria, BC. He is a Youth Mentor on the National Indigenous Youth Council on Sexual Health and HIV. Martin has recovered from addictions / mental health that lasted over 17 years and believes that his lived experiences will play a vital role in his dream to become the help he needed so badly […]

Vancouver Island Welcomes HIV Positive Youth from across Canada Youth Unleashing Power – a pozitive youth symposium #YUP2016 (Victoria, BC – June 2, 2016) Welcome! The Vancouver Island Persons Living with HIV/AIDS Society (VPWAS) welcomes HIV Positive Youth from across Canada to the first symposium created by and for pozitive Canadian youth. Youth aged 16-30, living with HIV/AIDS and/or Hepatitis C, will be gathering for Youth Unleashing Power – a pozitive youth symposium #YUP2016 from June 3-5 2016 on the […]

The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, coordinated by the Global Network of People Living with HIV is one of the world’s oldest and largest grassroots mobilization campaigns for HIV awareness in the world. Since 1983, the memorial has taken place the 3rd Sunday of every May in 115 countries. Join VPWAS for the Victoria AIDS Candlelight Memorial – Victoria BC Join us by the fountains in Centennial Square at dusk for an informal gathering and open-mic. Date: Sunday May, 15 2016 […]

[Victoria, BC – April 8, 2016] In looking for ways promote and integrate our history of grassroots activism while still engaging our community in meaningful ways, the Board and Staff of the Vancouver Island Persons Living with HIV/AIDS Society (VPWAS), in consultation with membership, staff, volunteers and allies has decided we will not participate in the 2016 “Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life”. VPWAS, along with the now-defunded Victoria AIDS Resource and Community Services Society (VARCS), have hosted this annual event […]