Worrying increase in HIV in young gay men

London is an expensive city to live in. Many cannot afford to buy PrEP. They missed their chance to get it free through the IMPACT Trial. Would you help us offer free PrEP to those aged under 25 years who are unable to buy it? A donation of £12 will buy a 1 month supply of PrEP. We’ll waive all our prescribing and dispensing charges. It’s not for long. We’re expecting the NHS to start funding PrEP in 4-6 months. We want to make sure that the youngest members of our community are protected while we’re waiting. Every penny donated during December will be used to help protect a young gay man from HIV.  Help us by donating here. What makes sex great? Is it love? Is it touch, is it smell? Is it a special connection between two people? (Or four people or eight?) Is it a lone pleasure, or is it something shared? This month, we’re inviting people to reflect a little on these things. We’ll be exploring the role sex plays in our lives with a community discussion in Soho Square. We’ll have some sexologists and sex therapists, but also some Queer Radical Faeries, some tantric sex enthusiasts, and sensual embodiment practitioners. We’ll have a porn star who does tantric porn. We’ll be talking all things sensual, all the things that go into making sex great. There’ll be a sober sex tutorial for people that haven’t had sex without chems for a long time, or feel nervous about it. We’ll also talk about planning; how to plan sex better, and how to write Grindr profiles with more sexual authenticity. It happens on Wed 11th Dec, 6pm to 8pm in Soho Square. Read more about it, or RSVP here.

Balancing chems and alcohol use this party season.

This month, we’ll be hosting our alcohol group workshop again. It’s themed on the role alcohol might play in our sex lives, the way it might influence the choices we make in sexual situations. We’ll learn ways to feel more in control of our alcohol use, and how to make changes regarding our drinking. That’s on Thursday 12th Dec, 5.30 to 7pm at 56 Dean Street. Read more about it or RSVP here. Remember too, that our chemsex advisors are in the clinic each week, in case you want a chat about chems. No appointment needed, and no obligation to commit to any changes. It might just be a brief conversation about a bad experience, or to plan a weekend without chems. But of course the chems advisors can help with more serious things too if needed. The chemsex support clinic walk-in times are here. And if you don’t want to come into the clinic to talk about it, there is an online chemsex assessment tool here that can help you plan your week ahead and make changes. Gay sex and relationship education wasn’t really available to us all in school, and a lot of us didn’t talk to our mums or dads about it much either. But you can talk to us. The 56 Dean Street teams want to be here for all the unwanted things that sometimes come with sex, but also for all those discussions that we need to have, about what makes sex great. Lastly, thank you for being part of the Dean Street PRIME community this year. Together we’re making a real difference to end HIV transmission in London. We hope you have an enjoyable Christmas holiday break, however you choose to spend it.