Be Aware, Be Alive

Be Aware, Be Alive (BABA) is a risk reduction counseling intervention designed to work with persons engaging in activities that put them at risk of transmitting or acquiring HIV as well as other STIs. Typically clients involved in BABA are having difficulty with safer sex or are engaging in needle sharing behaviors. Factors that may impact a client’s ability to maintain safer behaviors include: mental illness, homelessness or risk of homelessness, domestic violence, and substance abuse among others. The Prevention Counselor meets for one hour a week for as long as the client is interested in working on risk reduction goals.

The second component of the prevention project is the provision of Counseling, Testing, and Referral (CTR) services for those whose HIV serostatus is unknown. Chicago House provides free confidential rapid (OraQuick ADVANCE) HIV testing for this portion of the project. The overarching goal of the testing program is to find previously unidentified positive persons so those individuals may access medical care and other vital services.

John, a BABA client, had a history of many relationships that he described as “only sexual with no emotional connection,” despite the desire to be engaged in a long term relationship with another man. The sexual encounters did not involve using condoms. While working with a BABA Prevention Counselor, John was able to articulate that he could not get emotionally close to another man because he was sexually abused as a child. He indicated that he did not trust other men, but that he had a strong desire to have sex with men. After talking with John about how he felt about himself after the abuse, it became clear to the Prevention Counselor that John’s self esteem was very low. John eventually indicated, “what’s the point of using condoms, I’m going to get something anyway.” The Prevention Counselor worked closely with John to help him see that he was a valuable person and that his health was worth protecting. By the end of the BABA intervention, John was in a relationship with a man who John stated “treats me like a king.” John said he had the “safer sex talk” with his partner immediately, and that they use condoms “to protect both of us.”  

For more information about BABA, please contact Susan Zeigler at 773-248-5200 x334