Head & Hands
“I’m voting for Street Work because it helps me connect to the youth on the street and understand their needs, to be able to provide adequate support.” Ralph, Head & Hands Legal Coordinator
Vote for us every day between December 3 and 12 to help us win $87K and bring back Street Work!
“In many ways, street work is the essence of why Head & Hands exists – we *need* this program to support the youth in our community who get the least help from others.” Jon, Head & Hands Director
Vote for us every day between December 3 and 12 to help us win $87K and bring back Street Work!
“Street work has been a crucial part of Head & Hands since its inception in 1970. Since then, street workers have played a variety of roles in our community: conducting outreach and making youth aware of our services, running prevention and education programs, and extending the reach of essential services beyond our doors to reach youth in greatest need. Researching this history has made me realize how vital this program is for NDG youth; it is essential that we bring back this service to our neighborhood! “ – Gina Metallic, Master of Social Work Student Intern
Vote for us every day between December 3 and 12 to help us win $87K and bring back Street Work!
“I’m voting for Street Work because I think every youth should be valued and supported, no matter what challenges they face.” Juniper, Head & Hands Fundraising and Development Coordinator
Vote for us every day between December 3 and 12 to help us win $87K and bring back Street Work!
“Street Work clients deserve to have someone’s undivided attention as they articulate what options work best for them.” Vaughn, Head & Hands Front desk Coordinator
Vote for us every day between December 3 and 12 to help us win $87K and bring back Street Work!
“Without the Street Work team, I have lost contact with many very important clients and have not been able to reach out to others who do not know I exist.” Rhonda, Head & Hands Counselor
Vote for us every day between December 3 and 12 to help us win $87K and bring back Street Work!
“Our Street Workers are our eyes and ears on the street that outreach to the people, to be one with the people. We are not getting a certain influx of the youth that might cross the path of Street Workers. We want them back.” Neil, J2K Coordinator, our teen drop-in centre in NDG.
Vote for us every day between December 3 and 12 to help us win $87K and bring back Street Work!
Head & Hands and Project 10 are teaming up to offer a special rapid HIV testing clinic! Come on down and get tested at the P10 drop-in on Thursday July 5th between 6:30-8:30pm! Dr Tellier from the H&H clinic will be on site to answer questions about safer sex and sexual health.
Why rapid testing?
With rapid HIV testing technology, with a simple prick of the finger you can receive your HIV result in minutes. Knowing your HIV status is an important step for preventing the spread of the virus and treating people living with HIV.
Get tested. Know your status. Because knowledge is power.
Q: I had a possible exposure in August 2010- unprotected receptive anal. Im a female btw. At 5 and 6 1/2 months I got tested for all STI’s. All results were negative. My main concern is HIV. Do I need to test again? P.s. I had no exposure since that night.
Since you got tested twice, and your results were negative both times, I would feel pretty confident in your results. You also got tested after 6 months, which fully covers the window period for HIV (the time frame in which the virus can’t be accurately detected by a test – for HIV it’s 3-6 months). In your case, I would let go of the stress and start enjoying safe sex again.
In general, when you are sexually active, you should get tested for STIs every 6 months even if you use protection – that way, you cover all the window periods of the different tests. People sometimes choose to get tested every year, or even less often, if they have one partner and they’ve agreed on a monogamous relationship. In your case, it sounds like you’ve got your bases covered for that one situation, and you could consider getting tested regularly (e.g. every 6 months to a year) in the future. You can also stock up on free condoms and lube at Head & Hands (and most other clinics), to further protect your health!
Here are a couple of questions and answers we got recently in our anonymous questions box to the right -> Great questions about pregnancy risks and birth control pills! Hope this helps, and keep ‘em coming…
Q: can you get pregnant if a guy fingers you with sperm on his hand?
For pregnancy to occur, sperm has get inside the vagina or on the vulva (where semen could be pushed into the vagina through intercourse, touching etc.). If someone has semen on their hand, and it is still wet, and then fingers someone else, then yes, there is a pregnancy risk there. However, sperm have a hard time surviving once the semen has dried up, so pregnancy is pretty unlikely if the person had semen on their hand that had dried up. Either way, there are a few ways you can reduce this risk: hand-washing is a quick and easy way to make sure there’s no remaining ejaculate around, or use gloves and lube for fingering. If you’re concerned about pregnancy in general, check out this post for some different birth control ideas. The more you know about your body and how pregnancy happens, the better!
Q: My boyfriend is moving away for a year, and we won’t be seeing each other much. Is it safe for me to stop taking birth control for the year he is away, and then start again when he comes back? Are there bad side effects from going off the pill?
The Pill is a reversible form of contraception – meaning that once you stop taking it, your body resumes its natural cycles and you are able to get pregnant. It’s safe to stop taking it whenever you want to stop taking it, just remember that it may take awhile for your body to adjust. When you first go on the Pill, your body is adjusting to the new levels of hormones in your system. (more…)