Cost and what is provided:

The workshops provided by QAHC are free of charge to the Participant.  The expenses for workshops for men who have sex with men are covered by QAHC’s funding received from the Queensland Health Department for Sexual Health Education.  Currently all of the workshops on offer are free of any charge.

There may be workshops held in the future in which fall outside of QAHC’s Sexual Health funding.  QAHC will always endeavour to explore alternative funding arrangements or provide the workshops at a lowest possible cost to the participant.  QAHC is a not for profit organisation and any charges associated to the workshops will be to recoupe expenses. Currently all workshops on offer are free of charge.

Location of the workshops:

When possible workshops in Brisbane, Cairns and the Sunshine Coast will be provided at the QAHC Office.  Where numbers of participants do not complement the space available or where the training rooms are not available, QAHC will hold workshops at an alternative location.

The safety and confidentiality of the participants is always a main priority when external locations are chosen to house workshops.

Workshops Facilitation Staff:

Each workshop is run by two facilitators.  The workshops are run on the basis of Peer Education which means that the facilitators have personal understanding and can relate to the experiences of Gay and Bisexual men.

Each facilitator has been chosen for their experience in facilitating  workshops and all are trained in the topics that they are presenting.

The facilitation staff are bound by the QAHC confidentiality policy and are extremely helpful if accessed for information and referral.

Confidentiality and Security:

At the beginning of each session the facilitators ensure that all of the participants understand the confidentiality agreements that are essential for your involvement in any of QAHC’s workshops.  The process of the workshop experience is required to be safe from exposure of others personal information (totally confidential), non-judgemental and respectful of difference.  The venues for the workshop are chosen in an attempt to ensure the security of all participants.

Type of participants ( targeted audience):

The workshops are for all men who are sexually attracted to men, over 18 years of age, how ever they choose to identify.  This group of men may identify as;  Gay, Bisexual, Pansexual, Trans-male, or non-gay identifying men who have sex with men.  Regardless of how you identify, the only main pre-requisite is that you are male and are attracted to males. 

Attendance and Participation:

The workshops run for varied lengths of times depending on the particular workshop topic.  They are held on different days;  some are on a weekday evening and some on a weekend.  We have understanding that people have emergencies that pop up, there can be illness, work
commitments that can interfere with your attendance in a workshop.

Where a participant may not be available for a particular session, the workshop booklet will be provided the following week, or mailed out so the participant can still have access to the information that has been covered.

It is a requirement of participation in a workshop that it is the intention of attending a minimum of 75% of the over-all sessions. 

If a participant is aware that they are unavailable to attend a workshop session then it is requested that they notify the QAHC reception as soon as possible. 

When booking in for a workshop held over consecutive days, if the participant knows in advance that they will be unavailable for a particular session, it is requested that they advise of the particular date/s.

Explanation of Workshops:

Feedback has been received that the name ‘Workshops’ can be perceived by people as academic-related.  This is not the case.  It has been suggested that the name be changed to ‘Gay Men’s Gatherings’.  This change may be introduced in the future, although in the meantime it is
essential that we provide an explanation of what is meant by the term ‘Workshops’.

In QAHC usage of the term ‘Workshops’ it is a term used for a get together of gay men who explore a particular topic that the ‘workshop’ is based on.  For example ‘Relationships Workshop’ is a gathering of men who are sexually attracted to men to learn and discuss experiences to do with the varied forms of relationships that they can have. 

For particular workshops there may be pre-requisites for participation.  Most of the pre-requisites are based on reading and writing skills and the ability to function within a group environment.  Where a participant may experience difficulties with certain functions, QAHC can also provide support (confidentially) so an individual can participate.  For example if an individual has literacy problems, support can be provided in order for them to participate.

Information for service providers booking on-behalf of clients

Service providers may have clients that could benefit from participating in one of QAHC’s Workshops.  Feedback has been received from SHACS, Brisbane Sexual Health and QuIHN that they have already referred a number of clients.  All have expressed approval for the improvement of the provision of information on the topics and workshops program as well as the improved booking procedures.  For clients who are accessing services in ‘areas of sensitivity’ a service provider may wish to book out an entire workshop on a particular topic with their clients only (e.g. for reasons of confidentiality, sensitivity, etc). 

The Workshop section of the QAHC web site provides the service worker with access to information on the topics and other required information and the ‘On-line booking forms’ to book clients in automatically.  When the on-line booking form already has prior bookings the ‘Contact Us’ page can be utilised to forward requests for a particular workshop to be held with the services specific clients only.