about PLSA

Positive Life SA Inc evolved out of a series of community meetings held by people living with HIV and was incorporated on 26 April 1995. The organisation thus became an independent voice for all people living with HIV in South Australia to ensure that our lived experiences directed the provision of effective health and wellbeing support services and activities.

As a peer driven organisation, Positive Life SA is led by a community elected HIV positive Board of Management and has grown from modest beginnings to become an integral provider of information, advocacy, and support to all people living with HIV across the South Australia.

Since July 2009, Positive Life SA has been re-orientating its service provision from individual client case management to a ‘population health promotion’ approach involving the delivery of lifestyle engagement and change management  programs that build the capacity of all people living with HIV for self management and increased quality of life.

Positive Life SA  adheres to the keystone principles and practices of the Ottawa Charter (1986) and Jakarta Declaration (1997), and actively works to balance the wishes and needs of individuals with the longer term issues affecting the wellbeing, longevity and quality of life of all people living with HIV.

Additionally, Positive Life SA is committed to the principles underpinning the ‘GIPA’ (Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV; UN 1994) and actively seeks to involve and sustain all people living with HIV across all aspects of the organisation.

Positive Life SA is committed to providing high quality evidence based services for all people living with HIV and works to reduce transmission of HIV and to add value to the health and quality of life of all of us living with HIV.

Positive Life SA provides program activities and services that promote, expand and maintain accessibility, community education, connectivity, personal education and positive health.

Over the course of our five year Strategic Direction, Positive Life SA intends to:

  • ensure accessible resource, referral, advocacy and support places across South Australia for all people living with HIV
  • support access to online and face-to-face education, support and social health opportunities to facilitate connections and networking for all people living with HIV
  • develop responsive mental health and medical support opportunities, including services that meet urgent or unexpected needs
  • implement solution-focussed personal education, skills development and capacity building activities
  • develop a comprehensive HIV community education and training package for related mainstream groups
  • implement a “Poz Health” workforce development program for related mainstream groups working with our community living with HIV.

Positive Life SA is committed to meaningful, relevant and strategic engagement with all people living with HIV and will engage with ‘communities of interest’ to build capacity, promote information exchange, increase our organisational expertise, and  value-add to members of our communities of interest.

Furthermore, we are committed to collaborative and coordinated approaches to service provision and strive to work across the HIV sector in a manner that supports cooperation between organisations, encourages innovation, and maximises our positive experience of our services.

Positive Life SA provides a variety of program activities in response to the diverse needs and issues that people living with HIV manage and look to us for leadership in. Our organisation has a long history of advocacy and support for all people living with HIV and issues that affect our positive community around stigma and discrimination.