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Client #1 Impacts – from a Woman Sustained by a PAC Faith Group on the Roller Coaster Ride with HIV/AIDS
“This year, the HIV/AIDS medications continue to be a challenge. I am blessed that I am a believer. Every challenge becomes a purpose. The only thing to sustain me was the spiritual care women’s group at the Philip Aziz Centre for Hospice Care (PAC). With their help, and in dependence on God, I told myself: “I will beat it. I will beat it. I will beat it.” My blood pressure got very high. I kept trying to hide my pain and symptoms at work. And I kept receiving support from PAC. The final blow was when my skin started blowing up, and I could not hide my symptoms at work. The spiritual care group helped me: spiritually and practically. They checked in on me, and they helped advocate with my doctor when he was not looking at my symptoms holistically. Being able to lean on one another, and to take our pain to the Lord, knowing He is faithful, was the resilience that carried me through.”
Women’s HIV/AIDS Spiritual Care Peer Support Group
“The women’s group has been discussing the big things and struggles that are going on in our lives. Many of us are dealing with mental health right now. You go to the meeting thinking I am the worst. I have the worst symptoms and situation, and then you hear the stories of the others, and you are humbled… All of us have lost loved ones and are grieving family members, and all have struggles impacting mental health. Everything impacts mental health, which is why you need to be rooted in Strength, the Lord, community, and a group who knows and supports you where it is safe to share and disclose your pain. We pray and find encouragement together. We are stronger together.”
HIV/AIDS Conference - many came forward seeking my source of resilience
“When I spoke at a closed HIV/AIDS conference earlier this year, I was reminded how many of us there are in the wider GTA. I shared how I have been supported by this PAC women’s spiritual care group, and there were so many people who came forward asking how they could access this type of support. There are many newcomers to Canada, who, although they may have a church and friends, they do not have a spiritual peer group who share this HIV/AIDS journey. We have the best HIV/AIDS medications and progress in Canada, but there is this other side, the spiritual encouragement: having others to pray and walk you to the doctor for eight years; having medication side-effect blisters exploding caused by eczema while trying to work on your feet for long hours; falling from pain at work; and nonjudgmental ears to hear and to hold us when we share our stories…. So many women with HIV/AIDS at the conference were struggling and wanted access to a spiritual support group of peers. They may have a church but not a spiritual group of peers who share the same lived experience: to pray that God touch their bodies, their lives, and their medical people. Many came forward – many from different countries and religious backgrounds – seeking access to my resilience, and access to my spiritual peer group supports for their own journey.”
Client #2 Impacts – Family Care Dynamics When a Mom’s Anxiety Over Daughter’s Suicidal Thoughts Strains Health Already Compromised by HIV/AIDS
Like many of these clients, this woman who participates in the PAC women’s peer group, also receives one-on-one support from our social worker, and is a busy caregiver for her family. As part of the sandwich generation – caring for an adult parent, as well as a husband and her own children – she experiences stress and often neglects her own self-care needs. The risks of stress and neglect are higher for her, as a person with HIV/AIDS, than they might be for a healthier mother. Her stresses put additional pressure on her HIV/AIDS-compromised health and her body that is coping with the side-effects of the antiviral medications. In this family, both mother and daughter are clients of the PAC HIV/AIDS Program, receiving individual support, as well as advocacy and counselling in times of crisis. Recently, the daughter has been bullied at school; and when she is stressed, she talks about suicide. The mother is being coached on how she might manage these occasions, and on how to do a preliminary check to determine if her teen is at immediate risk of self-harm, or if she is expressing frustration in the moment. As a young person trying to find her way (and voice) in life, the teen daughter seeks help with communication and brainstorming solutions that are not destructive. Mom requests help with overprotectiveness, parenting strategies and anxiety. The relational continuity with PAC helps address psychosocial and practical concerns (like self-harm and occasional food insecurity) in a timely way. Having these structures in place with the Philip Aziz Centre for Hospice Care becomes one effective tool for this mom’s HIV/AIDS symptom-management, and the benefits impact the entire family.
Client #3 Impacts – An Adult Man with HIV/AIDS Finds a Friend in PAC
One gentleman has been on the PAC client caseload receiving HIV/AIDS Program supports for over four years. He is a senior, experiences poor health, and is very lonely. Many of his friends died of AIDS. More recently, one of his friends stole his belongings and our PAC (Spiritual Care) Practitioner/Counselor accompanied him to court and legal meetings for support. For him, PAC provides a consistent relationship that he can count on in times of difficulty. He has experienced challenges in his relationship with his family and is unable to talk with them, safely share his experiences, or lean on them for support. As with many palliative clients, family members are not able to relate to the experiences of the individual with a palliative prognosis, and for clients with HIV/AIDS, often there is a wider gap of relatability and understanding of what the client may be experiencing. For this gentleman, during some of his roughest life challenges with HIV/AIDS, the Philip Aziz Centre for Hospice Care was the most reliable, consistent and judgement-free source of support: a friend.
With thanks to FaithWorks 2024 and 2025, many of these clients are renewing spirituality, finding new hope, and participating in God’s healing work in the world. Beyond our circles, others are hearing stories and being exposed to a dotted line connection between resilience in crisis and faith in Jesus.
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