FRANÇAIS PRINT-READY PDF TABLE OF CONTENTS PREVIOUS PAGE NEXT PAGE RELATED LINKS Managing Your Health, 1999 edition Life After Diagnosis
Family, partners, and friends
The people who are already close to you can give you support. To help you decide who to tell, you could ask yourself the following questions.
Who do you feel ought to know? Who accepts and doesn't judge you? Who loves and values you? Who respects your privacy? Who is practical and sensible and reliable? Who has responded well to requests for help in the past? Who's a good listener? You may decide to tell different people for different reasons. You may be afraid of how loved ones will react to your having HIV. Depending on your situation, there may be certain people who are hard to tell -- maybe your parents, or your children, your partner, or your close friends. You may have to tell people things about yourself that they didn't know. If you're gay, or bisexual, and people don't know, talking to them about HIV can be difficult. This can also be true if you have been having sex outside a relationship, or if you use drugs, and people don't know. But many spouses, partners, friends, and relatives will be able to recognize the courage and trust it takes to talk about being HIV positive. Many people with HIV find that taking a chance and talking with people they trust results in deeper, closer relationships.
You have to balance the risk of rejection with the possibility of support. A counsellor at your nearest AIDS group or needle exchange program can help you decide whether, or when, to tell someone. A counsellor can also help you deal with your feelings about how people react when you do tell them.
You don't have to tell anybody until you're ready. And you don't have to tell everyone all at once. You'll probably find that you feel comfortable with different people at different times. Trust those feelings and do what feels right. | 
