I first heard about this group from PositiveLite.com publisher John McCullagh in a post he wrote, which you can read here, where he interviewed Jody Jollimore, the program manager at the Health Initiative for Men (HIM), a gay men’s health organization in Vancouver, and Rui Pires, Gay Men’s Community Education Coordinator at AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT). Both leaders described it as a leadership program for young gay men where we can learn about love, life, sexuality, sexual health and how we can apply this knowledge in our community.     

Intriguing, I thought, so I might as well register. I soon received an email advising me of the program schedule. We were set to meet for four full-day Saturday sessions. I wasn’t too sure about giving up my Saturdays for four consecutive weeks but I figured that I should check it out and see how I felt after the first session. 

Not knowing what to expect, I approached the first session with a hint of caution. The lay out of the room was well done and I was greeted warmly by the facilitator Rui Pires. I was overcome with a bout of absolute shyness at first as we went around the table giving brief introductions about ourselves and what we hoped to get out of the group. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that I wasn’t the only one hoping to learn how to connect with other gay guys outside of the bar setting with no pressure to get sexual. 

After our intro’s Rui told us a bit about himself and the work he has done with the gay/HIV community. It was safe to assume that we were in good hands. We then launched into an interactive workshop on coming out. We gathered around the room in the order of who was out the longest and we each shared a little about our coming out process. This exercise was enlightening and the stories were amazingly diverse.  Rui then gave some tips on coming out and being supportive to others who are coming or thinking of coming out. 

Throughout the duration of the program we had the opportunity of hearing from various community leaders ranging from health and mental health professionals to community activists. We also got to learn about the dynamics of different types of gay relationships. And there are quite a few that I wasn’t aware of! We got first hand testimony about the importance of getting involved in different aspects of the community, like the fight against HIV. We even had a crash course on flirting and cursing! 

So without giving too much away about the program, I would strongly recommend it to anyone between the ages of 18-26 who wants to learn about the gay community and the issues that affect us, as well as develop great communication and leadership skills. Above all it’s a safe space where guys can come to have fun and engage in conversations on a variety of topics that affect us today.

The next session of Totally Outright takes place in June. For more information, you can visit www.actoronto.org/to or you can contact Rui Pires at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(left to right Keith Reynolds, Daniel McGraw, Darren Ho)

Earlier this year on PositiveLite.com, we profiled Totally Outright, a program for young gay men who show promise as future community leaders. Today, in a special series of articles by three graduates of the program, we hope to show how, by investing in these and similar young men, we’re able to ensure that the future of Canada’s gay community will be in good hands.

The uplifting stories of Daniel McGraw, Keith Reynolds and Darren Ho illustrate how, with a minimum of resources but with lots of creativity, it’s possible to create the gay leaders of tomorrow. But the program not only forms future leaders. It also provides participants with the chance to build communication skills, practice outreach techniques and strategize solutions for the numerous challenges faced by gay men.

All three of the young men who tell their stories on PositiveLite.com today have found a place in the gay community beyond the bars and clubs. Both Daniel and Keith now work in gay men’s health while Darren, a university student, has started a project to address the lack of visible presence of LGBTQ people among ethnic communities.

Totally Outright has been running in Vancouver for several years and graduates 20-25 young men annually. Created and evaluated by the Community Based Research Centre (CBRC), it’s delivered by Health Initiative for  Men (HiM), a community organization dedicated to strengthening the health and well-being of gay men through a sex-positive, integrated approach to health. The program has been so successful that a Toronto version was launched this spring by the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT). 

Read what Daniel, Keith and Darren have to say and be inspired!

If you are interested in starting a version of Totally Outright in your own community, or just want to understand this program in depth, Health Initiative for Men has provided full background information in CATIE’s Programming Connection.

There’s a new approach that’s taking place in HIV prevention and support programs, particularly those focused on gay men, that’s based on supporting us in maintaining good health, particularly good sexual health, by emphasizing our strengths and resilience rather than focusing on risk behaviours and pathologizing our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Here on PositiveLite.Com, we’ve featured several programs that utilize this new approach: It’s Hottest at the Start; The Sex You Want;  GPS (Gay Poz Sex); Spunk;  and Totally Outright. 

So I thought it was timely to learn more about the thinking behind this new approach and to understand more about the concepts of risk and resilience that underly it. To help me, I recently sat down with Duncan MacLachlan, the manager of community health programs at the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT). 

John McCullagh: Welcome back, Duncan, to PositiveLite.Com. I’d like to start by asking you to describe risk for me. When I think of risk, I usually think of things that could be dangerous, like smoking, for example, or drinking and driving. But it’s more complicated than that, isn’t it?

Duncan MacLachlan: Risk is complicated, John, because it always exists in a context.  It’s often oversimplified. Risk for gay men has, for the most part, been narrowly defined in terms of vulnerabilities. Things like HIV and other STI acquisition, or mental health, issues like depression and anxiety, or substance use. These vulnerabilities are real, of course. They exist because of things like stigmas, trauma and poverty, but they aren’t the whole story. Gay men know this. In the arena of sexual expression, we’re motivated by things like desire, pleasure, intimacy, connection and love not merely the fact that we may be challenged by anxiety or loneliness.

John: I hear you saying that risks don’t exist in a vacuum, they always have a context. That means, I guess, that we should be cautious when judging our own or someone else’s risk behaviours. And yet, that’s not the way, until recently, that we’ve done HIV prevention work. Instead, we’ve said, “This is what you should be doing” - like “Use a condom every time” - which was based on the theory that we’d all make rational choices when faced with risk.

Duncan: Exactly. We all know that our behaviour isn’t always rational. So this idea that we’re free to chose in every situation and that if we’re armed with information we’ll always make “good” decisions is false. Yet, while those of us doing prevention and education work with gay men have moved beyond this simplistic notion a long time ago, it still persists in society at large. It exists in our community as well; the demonizing of bareback sex is an example.

John: Duncan, how would you say we can best overcome the odds and challenges of the risks we face in our lives?

Duncan: Wow, John. That’s a big one! Here’s part of the answer. My studies of psychology teach me that it’s positive reinforcement rather than punishment that motivates us. Again, we all know this intuitively because we’ve experienced them both.  I’m a big believer in love and compassion, both at an individual level and a community level!

John: So tell me a bit about gay men’s resilience. It’s more than just coping isn’t it? 

Duncan: It is. As part of ACT’s current gay men’s resilience campaign, we asked guys what resilience meant to them. What they told us was that it meant bouncing back from a challenge and gaining some aspect of strength from the experience. I think sometimes resilience is coping, but, as you say, it’s often more then that. What’s really interesting is the notion of protective factors - characteristics that counter some of the challenges gay men face, like homophobia. Protective factors can be enhanced. An example Amy Herrick and others have identified in research is shamelessness or sexual creativity.  ACT’s Pig Sex Project (for gay guys who identify as “sex pigs” and who like to have raunchy sex. - Ed.) nurtures these protective factors by providing an environment where guys are affirmed and valued – our slogan is “It’s your choice” - rather than judged for their sexual expression. It’s also an environment where the guys share their strategies for risk reduction with each other because they feel safe to do so.

John: Can you give me some other examples of how we can build resilience.

Duncan: One of the most useful ways of considering the development of resilience programming, or evaluating existing programs and supports for their resilience effectiveness, is a model called the 7 C’s of resilience. These 7 C’s of resilience are: confidence, competence, character, contribution, coping, control, and connection.  People have better health outcomes and a higher quality of life when these things are nurtured and this can be easily measured. At ACT, we are using the 7 C’s of resilience to enhance our capacity to assess the effectiveness of our programming in building resilience.

John: So, Duncan, if I’ve understood you correctly, you’re talking about an asset-based approach to health, focusing on our strengths instead of our weaknesses, on our resilience instead of our deficiencies. That’s very different than talking about condoms, than talking about disease, isn’t it?

Duncan: Yes, although an asset based approach that is rooted in resilience doesn’t mean we don’t talk about condoms or disease. Using condoms might be an important part of many gay men’s resilience.

John: So give me an example of how focusing on our assets, on our strengths, correlates with reducing risk behaviours?

Duncan: Sure. Let’s talk about sex, sexual creativity for example, which is another of the protective factors identified in Amy Herrick’s research. More and more guys are talking about viral load with each other. We now know that having an undetectable viral load reduces risk of transmission. We’re not sure by how much, but it makes a difference. Our willingness to push the boundaries of sexual pleasure enables us to explore the utility of a great variety of cock and ball “accessories” that enhance our ability to stay hard, facilitating condom use.

John: Duncan, you’ve really helped me understand why building on our successes is ten-times more compelling than trying to build on our failures. Because we all want to be successful and healthy. Thank you so much.

Duncan: You’re welcome, John.

Reference: Herrick, A. et al. Resilience as an untapped resource in behavioral intervention design for gay men. AIDS Behav (2011) 15-S25-S29

ACT Community Health Forum
HIV AND THE EFFECTS OF OTHER CONDITIONS

Wednesday February 15th.  2012   7-9pm.

Eastern time also via web cast: www.actornto.org/forum

Ramada Plaza Hotel. 300 Jarvis Street
Toronto

Totally Outright is a thought-provoking, leadership and community-building program for young gay men. It’s designed to introduce them to community leaders, mentors and experts in gay men’s health. It’s about building a community of well informed, sexually-savvy young men who can communicate with a wide range of people to enhance gay community health.

The program was created by the Community Based Research Centre (CBRC) in British Columbia and then further developed and delivered by Health Initiative for Men (HIM), a gay men’s health organization in Vancouver. It’s been running in that city since 2005; now a version is being offered in Toronto - more of that later.

I recently had the opportunity to chat about Totally Outright with Jody Jollimore, the program manager at HiM. Here’s our conversation.

John McCullagh: Jody, what’s Totally Outright?

Jody: In a sentence, John, Totally Outright is a leadership program for young gay guys. And we use a very broad definition of gay, so we include other guys who have sex with guys, and trans men who identify as gay.

Around twenty guys get together over two full weekends for a series of workshops teaching them how to be, as we put it, healthy, sex-savvy trendsetters. These workshops cover all sorts of important topics. We start with a backgrounder on a history of gay health activism in Canada and BC, and build from there, with presenters speaking about gay sex, policy making, assertiveness training, harm reduction, coming out, and a lot more. Really, a lot of the skills that young gay guys could use navigating the community. It’s no wonder that a lot of them liken it to “gay high school”, where they pick up some important and fundamental skills and information.

John: So it’s not so much a support program as a skills-building course. Tell me more about the the skills the program aims to build among these young men.

 Jody: They’re quite diverse but some are built more directly than others. For instance, the mental health presentation may be more useful for some guys at that time than others, but it gives them the tools to find help should they need it and to understand how being a gay man might affect their mental health. Then there’s a workshop on assertiveness training, to directly teach the guys how to be more assertive in their lives with what’s important to them. That could translate to negotiating condom use and peer pressure or asking a guy on a date or their boss for a raise.

A great strength of Totally Outright is the peer education aspect. For example, a participant may not himself find the drug-related harm reduction workshop especially useful because he doesn’t use drugs, but he’s now a resource among his friends. After the program, the guys themselves become ambassadors, the trendsetters as we call them, for the skills and information they’ve picked up.

John: Why was the program developed?

Jody: It was conceived as an evidence based HIV prevention intervention for young gay guys, encompassing an approach to address the social determinants of health in that population. The model has continued to develop into a capacity-building program that not only increases the leadership skills in the participants, but also provides guys with an option to continue to pursue a career in gay men’s health or to take a role as a community leader.

John: What kind of guys, Jody, do you look for to participate in the program?

Jody: While Totally Outright is open to all young gay men, we’re looking for participants who’ll benefit themselves and their community. We look to see how they’re involved in other groups and organizations, working or volunteering, or how they have demonstrated ambition and dedication through the experiences they describe to us. We’re looking for guys who’ll remain active in the community or their group of friends after the program, to really put what they’ve learned to use.

John: How does Totally Outright work?

Jody: It gives great health promotion information in a ready-to-use format. It engages the guys and the presenters – who are all volunteers – with the community. And it begins relationships among the guys, other organizations including those who provide the presenters, and the larger health care community. We hear from participants that one of the most important things that guys take away is the experience of getting together with other gay guys, in a non-sexualized way, to have a chance to talk about the realities of their lives in a safe and empathetic atmosphere. It’s a powerful experience!

John: What are the components of the training, which I understand takes place over two full weekends?

Jody: There are three different components: the presentations, outreach, and a group project. Most of the time will be spent participating in the presentations, which we always work on making as interactive and engaging as possible. At the beginning of the program, the guys are separated into groups of four or five, and are tasked with developing an idea for a program or service that would improve the health of the community. The scope is very broad, and we’ve had groups come up with fantastic ideas: a dedicated community centre, a shelter for runaway youth, and an outreach program to visible minorities, for example. They’re given time during the two weekends to work on it, as well as some time during the weekend in-between, and then at the end of their program they present their ideas to everyone, including the other participants and many presenters.

The outreach is on the second Saturday, which is the longest day of the program. Rather than ending at five as we do on the other days, we bring the guys back to the HIM office where we have some presentations on campaigns, media, and outreach. Then we break the guys into groups and spread them around Davie Street to actually apply some of what they’ve been learning, as well as letting them try their hand at doing outreach, one of the volunteer opportunities they will have after the program ends. The outreach component is often cited by the guys as one of the most fun parts of the program, and they really do seem to have a great time.

John: It does indeed sound fun. So what, Jody, have you learned over the years that you’ve been delivering Totally Outright?

Jody: John, if there’s one thing that I’ve learned, it’s that given the opportunity young guys in our community can be counted on to really help themselves and others. There’s a lot of talk about how disengaged youth are, but Totally Outright demonstrates year after year just how active and involved young guys can be.

John: Totally Outright looks like a great example of how we’re redefining the way we do sexual health promotion among gay men. Thank you, Jody, so much for talking about it to PositiveLite.com.

Jody: My pleasure!

The AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT)  is now bringing Totally Outright to that city. Rui Pires is the Gay Men’s Community Education Coordinator at ACT. I recently talked with him about the Toronto version of Totally Outright.

John McCullagh: Rui, why did ACT decide to organize a Toronto version of this program?

Rui Pires: First and foremost, John, young gay men account for the majority of HIV infections among youth in our city (85% in 2009). And while Toronto has some wonderful programs for young gay men, there are not nearly enough services and supports that address sexual health and pre-existing problems such as social marginalization, stigma, internal and external homophobia and bullying. Totally Outright addresses HIV prevention within the context of these issues, while also acquainting youth with other services and resources that they can access. As the Vancouver model seems to be achieving these objectives, it makes sense to implement it in Toronto.

John: What are your hopes and expectations for Totally Outright?

Rui: Given the current community attention placed on bullying and teen suicides, I hope this program will help break the isolation of gay and bi male youth by bringing young gay and bi men together not only to talk about things like relationships, loneliness, negotiating safer sex, or be able to talk to their friends about HIV and sexual health related topics with some self assurance. But I also hope it’ll be a window through which they can see how older gay men are leaders in addressing HIV, how some men have lived with HIV with dignity, and see what needs to be done to address HIV and the stigma associated with it. I hope this will cause youth to see promise in the response to HIV that is particular to being a gay or a bi male.

I hope that the message they can take away from the challenge of AIDS is the value of volunteering, getting an education and looking at how they can give back to community.  When I talked with young men who took the Vancouver program, and are now in Toronto, I am impressed by how many have gone on to take up leadership positions in the sexual health field. Some are working on related university degrees while others have gone on to volunteer in the field. I hope we’ll be able to hear people talk about the Toronto program as being inspirational, as they already do about the Vancouver one. 

John: Good luck with the program, Rui. And thanks again for speaking to PositiveLite.com about it.

Rui: My pleasure, John. It’s very important for the community to know about the work we do so I appreciate the opportunity in speaking with you!

Totally Outright is a program for gay guys between the ages of 18 and 26.

The next Totally Outright program offered by HiM in Vancouver will take place on the weekends of March 10/11 and March 24/25, 2012.

In Toronto, the program will be offered on Saturdays in March and again in June.

Guys from outside Vancouver are invited to apply as arrangements can be made for transportation and accommodation. Toronto’s Totally Outright program is looking for participants primarily within the city and offers no accommodation.

You can apply and get more information as follows:

In Vancouver:

HiM, 310-1033 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 1M7

Telephone: 604 488 1001 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/totallyoutright

Web: www.totallyoutright.ca

In Toronto:

ACT, 399 Church Street, 4th floor, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2J6

Telephone Rui Pires: 416 340 8484 ext. 264

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Web: www.actoronto.org/to

PositiveLite.com’s editor Bob Leahy recently talked with Duncan MacLaughlin, the manager of community health programs at the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT), about the evolution in promoting gay men’s health that’s moving away from focusing on our weaknesses and vulnerabilities and more towards emphasizing our resilience and strengths. This interview, which you can read here, was specifically about a new ACT initiative TheSexYouWant.ca, which goes beyond the basics to tackle more advanced questions that gay and bi guys have about sex, pleasure and risks.

ACT is now taking this one step further by starting a discussion-based support group called SPUNK! for gay and bisexual men who use drugs. Drugs and alcohol have long been blamed for higher rates of bareback/condom-less anal sex and higher rates of HIV and other STI transmission among gay and bi guys. Research studies suggest that there’s a connection between drug use and HIV/STIs but these links are more complicated than is commonly understood.

The fact is, many gay guys who are HIV-positive or HIV-negative or who don’t know their status use drugs and alcohol and have sex. Lots of guys manage their partying. For some guys, though, it can be a struggle. There’s a lot of misinformation about drugs, and there’s so much shame and stigma in both the gay community and in the broader culture that open, honest and practical conversations about drugs don’t often take place.

SPUNK! is a response to that. The word “spunk” was chosen for the group because it’s a synonym for both resilience and semen. Resilience is about finding our strength and meeting life’s challenges with this strength. Semen is something that gay men need to talk more about; it has significant meaning for us.

SPUNK! is a group where gay and bi guys who party with drugs and alcohol can meet in a safe, non-judgmental space to talk about drugs and sex - one that isn’t 12-step, or a clinical withdrawal and detox management service. Rather, it aims to be a space where men can connect with each other and engage in an open and meaningful dialogue in a confidential, sex-positive and drug user-positive way. It’s a place where guys can talk about making a positive change towards feeling good about their relationship with substance use and the sex they have.

The intent of the group is to raise awareness among its participants about the reasons they may enjoy using drugs and alcohol and about why they may struggle with substance use. It’ll offer them encouragement, alternatives, tools and inspiration for making a positive change. This isn’t necessarily about stopping the use of substances, because you can be a substance user and be healthy at the same time. It’s more about making positive changes so that you can have the sex you want while caring about your own well-being and that of the guys you play with.

The first group, starting in January 2012, will be for men 30-years-of-age and older. A group in the spring of 2012 will be for guys younger than 30. Both groups will be led by facilitators trained in running groups like this and who’ve had years of lived experience in LGBTQ communities and substance-using and party scenes.

More information is available on the ACT website, on Facebook, by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by calling 416 340 8484, ext. 235.