Positive Help

General information

We are a small Edinburgh-based charity which provides four free services to around 250 people who live with HIV and/or Hepatitis C. Our services are delivered by our trained and dedicated volunteer team of around 75 people, supported by a small staff team.

We are extremely grateful for all support, especially from our wonderful volunteers. We offer a range of supported volunteering opportunities, from one-offs to daily sessions.

Positive Help started life in 1990, in response to a community consultation where people living with HIV said they needed practical support. We maintain this practical emphasis today, and continue to evolve in line with the needs of those who use our services.

Positive Help's services:

The Supportive Transport service
Through the Supportive Transport service, Positive Help’s volunteer drivers provides lifts to medical and social care appointments, to group support, and to access food. This helps our service users to adhere to vital treatment regimens, provides social support, enables access to other services, and offers help with grocery shopping. The aim of this service is to support service users to maintain physical and psychological health by adhering to treatment and social care programmes.

The Home Support service
In order to enable service users to sustain a decent quality of life, independence and wellbeing, Home Support offers practical and social support through volunteers. This service helps to reduce social isolation and build bridges to the wider community. We provide help with cleaning, painting, gardening, and other household tasks, and where necessary, we enable access to emergency food supplies to ensure adequate nutrition for beneficiaries.

The Children and Young People’s Befriending service
A dedicated Befriending volunteer is matched with a child or young person to offer fortnightly outings. These outings are designed to help the children and young people cope with difficult life situations by building resilience, confidence, and emotional and social skills. The relationship which develops between the pair acts as a protective factor for the children and young people, increasing their life chances. Over time, we see the children and young people in the Befriending service benefit from having one-to-one time with positive adult role models who focus on learning and fun. They become more confident, develop better social and coping skills, and experience improved wellbeing.

The Study Buddies service
Similar to the Befriending service, but with a focus on academic skills, Study Buddies matches a child or young person with a mentor for weekly help with homework and learning. Sessions are focussed on a key skill such as literacy or numeracy. Starting from a level where the child or young person feels comfortable and engaged, the mentor will use a mixture of learning techniques to achieve development in key areas. We are seeing amazing results. The children and young people in Study Buddies improve their attitudes to learning, are more successful at school, and feel more confident about their futures.

These four integrated services offer the support our beneficiaries need to improve wellbeing and overcome some of the health and social inequalities they face.