if customers found out about my HIV status."
He got support from the THT and local media and
eventually accept a substantial out of court settlement from the supermarket
chain.
Mark is now a community worker with MESMAC in Newcastle: "People
who have HIV come to me and know I'm positive. It's a great relief for
them to meet someone who's been through what they're going through and
is able to give support."
At a later workshop, the sheer scale of mental health problems facing
people living with HIV became a little
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Jack Summerside. head of THT's Living Well with HIV team; (l to r):Jack with Babs Evans, Justine Sserwadda & Jane Cooper
clearer.
Terry Lilley, of the Manic Depressive Fellowship, said: "HIV positive
people have to cope with stress and depression as a common side effect
of HIV medications."
Steve Brooker, of the Maudesley Hospital, said they needed to identify
and treat people with chronic mental health problems who then get HIV,
and also to identify and treat people with HIV who then go on to develop
severe mental problems.
Worryingly, Brooker concluded: "50 per cent of HIV positive people
have mental health problems and people with schizophrenia are 200 times
more likely to get HIV." A somewhat disturbing way to end what was
generally accepted as being a very productive first national conference
of people living with HIV.
