Dealing with the news of being HIV positive is hard for every individual, and it is even harder to live with HIV when you don’t fully and honestly disclose your status so that you can find support and encouragement from the people around you – both HIV positive and negative.

In today’s episode, I talk with Patrick about the benefits you have when you publicly admit that you are HIV positive, and about some of the places where you can find the support you need.

Patrick Reyntiens received his HIV diagnosis in the 1980s and he rapidly became public with his status. Since then, he is educating people in schools or other organizations about HIV and the obstacles, oppositions, and trials of all kinds of struggles that accompany it, showing them how to live without secrets, discrimination or stigmatization.

So, listen to Episode 14 of Positively Alive, to learn about Patrick’s views on HIV as a long-term survivor of AIDS.

Questions I ask:

• Could you please tell us a little bit about your story and how you were able to deal with this devastating news at the time? (03:13)
• I can imagine that back in the '80s you have probably lost a lot of friends and people that you knew, from HIV and Aids. How did you deal with that fear yourself? (04:46)
• You said that you organize weekends, two times a year. What exactly happens during those weekends? (08:58)
• How has the response been to these weekends, from the people that attend? (10:36)
• What made you decide to go public so quickly and what were the initial reactions of the people around you? (18:17)
• What is your message to a person who gets diagnosed with HIV today, on how to best approach this new reality and then, how to continue living with HIV in the future? (30:04)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• The importance of making contacts and connecting with people living with HIV. (06:13)
• The difference between taking your treatment in the ‘80s versus now. (11:59)
• What Patrick means when he says, “We should aim at normalizing HIV, but not at trivializing it.” (16:15)
• Patrick’s message for people who are thinking of getting public with their status. (21:06)
• The differences and the similarities between stigma in homosexual and heterosexual communities. (24:05)
• About Belgium’s largest Sexual Health Organization called, “Sensoa”. (27:06)

Connect with Patrick:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Sensoa

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