Mental health is routinely included on lists of neglected issues in the care of people living with HIV. This session will be an opportunity for global mental health and HIV experts to interact and engage with each other and the audience to understand the scope and magnitude of the problem of mental health and HIV, and consider solutions to integrating their care.

Highlighting work done throughout the Bay Area by community-based organizations, AIDS service organizations, research institutions, arts and culture leaders; led by the committee who comprised the AIDS2020 Local Planning Group.

Supporting mental health is one of the most overlooked aspects of treatment, care and support within the HIV response. HIV diagnosis can cause trauma, anxiety and depression, or exacerbate existing anxiety and mental health disorders. Anxiety and self-stigma around job and housing security, self-esteem, status disclosure and building healthy romantic relationships, including fear and anxiety due to HIV criminalization, can affect the mental health, self-esteem and emotional well-being of people living with HIV. Opportunistic infections and drug side effects can even be the cause of some mental health issues. Even within HIV activism and the workplace, we replicate traumas and social inequalities perpetuating cycles of oppression. In this session, women living with HIV will share their lives work through research and advocacy in the realms of mental health and resilience in the context of gender-based violence, HIV criminalization, health care violations, sex worker, poverty and inter-movement aggression.