WATCH! 2.0 (Women's Advocacy and Treatment Coalition on HIV) is The Well Project's new treatment advocacy webinar series, based on our highly successful 2015 WATCH! series. True to our organization's values emphasizing a women-led response to the HIV epidemic, WATCH! 2.0 puts women and advocacy at the forefront.
For women living with or vulnerable to HIV and our allies,* advocacy can mean many things and focus on various facets of life with HIV – everything from prevention, to treatment, to living well. Building advocacy skills and knowledge can provide you with tools to improve your own healthcare outcomes and those of your wider community, build leadership, and help shape policy and research. WATCH! 2.0 will guide you through a series of core topics, led by a variety of experts, to help you begin (or continue) to be a change-maker in the field.
Upon finishing the series and completing the required evaluations, participants will be issued a certificate of completion from The Well Project. We encourage participants to join the live sessions, but recordings will be available for a limited time to those who are unable to attend. Below please find the dates, topics, and confirmed speakers for the first four sessions of WATCH! 2.0. Keep checking back for more details!
*Note: While the goal of this program is to provide capacity building and training for women living with and vulnerable to HIV across the gender spectrum, we encourage all community members and allies to participate.
SESSION 1
HIV Advocacy: Awareness in Action
Thursday, November 7, 2024, 12 pm - 1 pm ET
An advocate is, by definition, someone who takes steps to support or recommend a particular cause or policy. For many, getting started is the hard part. This first session in the WATCH! 2.0 series is aimed at giving voice to your advocacy. This webinar will talk about the different types and levels of HIV advocacy, the importance of person-first language, and how women’s voices impact the landscape of treatment and prevention.
Moderator: Bridgette Picou, LVN, ACLPN, Stakeholder Liaison
Presenters: Tiommi Luckett, Transgender Law Center and Masonia Traylor, Lady BurgAndy
Episode 1 of the WATCH! 2.0 series is supported by a grant from Merck.
SESSION 2
Knowledge Is Action: Learning the Basics of HIV
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm ET
View the webinar and fill out an evaluation by January 6, 2025.
There is a lot to know about what HIV does (and does not do) in your body. Knowing the facts – and pushing back on misinformation and myths – is part of empowering yourself to stay healthy. Join us for episode two of our WATCH! 2.0 webinar training series, get educated on the basics of HIV, and gather tools to inform your friends, family, and community members as well.
Moderator: Olivia G. Ford, Editorial Director
Presenters: Bridgette Picou, LVN, ACLPN, The Well Project and Louise Vallace, Aunty Lou's House
Episode 2 of the WATCH! 2.0 series is supported by a grant from Merck.
SESSION 3
Treatment + Prevention = Action! Understanding the Modern Era of HIV
Thursday, January 15, 2025, 12 pm – 1 pm ET
Treatment options are among the first decisions a person makes after finding out an HIV diagnosis. As the field has advanced, HIV research has revealed more and more ways that HIV treatment can also be HIV prevention. Join us for the third session of WATCH! 2.0 to learn more about managing HIV treatment along with other aspects of life, how it promotes health and well-being for people living with HIV, and the ways that taking HIV drugs is intertwined with preventing new cases of HIV
Moderator: Bridgette Picou, LVN, ACLPN, Stakeholder Liaison
Presenters: Ebony Gordon, HUES (Healing & Uniting Every Sista); other expert presenters TBA
Episode 3 of the WATCH! 2.0 series is supported by ViiV Healthcare's Positive Action Grant Program.
SESSION 4
Wellness in Action: Sexual Health, Pleasure, and HIV Across the Life Course
February 2025 – Details TBA
When women are able to take control of their sexual health, with an emphasis on bodily autonomy and pleasure, they can ensure a wide range of their health needs are being met, whether they are living with HIV or not. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), along with information, is an approach that can help women with reasons for prevention remain HIV-free. Session four of the WATCH! 2.0 series will arm you with tools to take action around your sexual health – and steps to weave that knowledge into your advocacy.
Moderator: Bridgette Picou, LVN, ACLPN, Stakeholder Liaison
Presenters: TBA
SESSION 5
Reproductive Life with HIV: Action Steps from Pregnancy Planning to Infant Feeding
March 2025 – Details TBA
You may already be aware of the fact that people living with HIV can have safe, healthy pregnancies and thriving babies who remain HIV-negative. In the fifth session of the WATCH! 2.0 series, we will dig deeper into how we got to this point, what conception, pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period can look like for parents living with HIV, and how advocacy for yourself and others can play a role.
Moderator: Ciarra "Ci Ci" Covin, Senior Manager of Community Programming
Presenters: TBA
SESSION 6
Aging Positively: Taking Action Across the Lifespan
April 2025 – Details TBA
The focus of growing older with HIV should not just be about managing the aging process itself, but rather on our overall wellness. This means physical health, mental well-being, and a sense of social connectedness that allows us to age well and thrive, even as we live with HIV. How to apply lived experience, wisdom, and planning are just a few of the tools we have to advocate for ourselves and others as we look forward to aging. Join us to explore these topics and more on the sixth session of WATCH! 2.0.
SESSION 7
Science in Action: Women, HIV Research, and Clinical Trials
May 2025 – Details TBA
Historically, women have been insufficiently included and involved in HIV research. While this has improved in recent years, there is still a need for increased representation of women across the lifespan in all aspects of research from prevention through cure – including biomedical, behavioral and social research, and the effects of HIV on our bodies as we age. In this webinar we will break down clinical trials, take a look at where women have been in research and where we must go, and explore some of the advocacy tools needed to get there.
