Gus Cairns

Gus, 48, is a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist(www.guscairns.com). In this capacity he has been a phone advisor at the National AIDS Helpline, an HIV and Sexual Health counsellor at PACE and also works as a psychotherapist in private practice. He is on the referral networks of the Chiron Institute for Body Psychotherapy, PACE, the Helios Centre and Muswell Healing Arts.

In terms of group work, Gus has facilitated the Gay Men's Support Group at London Lighthouse and the residential gay men's weeks at Laurieston Hall in Scotland for the Edward Carpenter Community.

In an individual capacity Gus has organised training on HIV/AIDS awareness, treatment information and counselling for various organisations including PACE; the Immune Development Trust; Coca Cola Africa; Boehringer Ingelheim; Roche, the Globe Centre, the Media Trust and the African HIV Policy Network. He has also worked for SHAG, a young people's sexual health education group funded by City and East London Health Authority that provided safer-sex awareness workshops for East London schools and colleges.

Until recently Gus was the Editor in Chief of the UK's HIV and Sexual Health magazine Positive Nation. He is also a prolific writer and journalist on HIV and related subjects, contributing regularly to Positive Nation, AidsTreatment Update, Aidsmap, gay.com website, and many other publications.

Last but by no means least, Gus has been living with HIV since 1985, and with an AIDS diagnosis since 1995. He sees himself as a long term survivor of HIV and says that one of his motivations in the work he does is to equip people both with the skills to avoid HIV and to thrive with it if they do become infected.