1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:04,040 Welcome to Something positive for Positive People. 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,160 I'm Courtney Brain. Something positive for positive 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,200 people is A5O1C3 nonprofit organization supporting people 4 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:12,920 who are navigating herpes stigma. 5 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,080 And let me tell you all this, I just updated the website 6 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:23,040 tremendously. There is now a men's herpes 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:27,200 support group. There are, if you go there and 8 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:31,240 you're interested in that, like you'll see a link that directs 9 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,920 you to the additional resources for men. 10 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:38,280 This includes some of the stuff that I used to do when I made 11 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:42,600 Self a nonprofit, which was dedicated to men's emotional 12 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,240 Wellness resources. And those men's emotional 13 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:48,720 Wellness resources are now directed on the Something 14 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:50,560 Positive for Positive People website. 15 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:56,120 So if you're looking for men's groups, men's resources, you'll 16 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:58,960 be able to find that on the website. 17 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,680 So just go to the website. It's going to be super easy to 18 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,800 navigate. Now my graphic designer who 19 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,280 shitted on me recently in a 7 minute voice message, she won't 20 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:10,960 hear this because y'all don't think she listens to the 21 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:16,520 podcast, but she, she lit a fire into my ass and I got all my 22 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,440 shit together. So the website is a lot easier 23 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,480 to navigate. It'll be much easier to find 24 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:25,480 what it is that you're looking for. 25 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,480 I think that we did a real good job of stripping down things. 26 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,520 I got really hyped up and excited when I was learning 27 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:34,240 about atomic language, which I'll still use. 28 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:38,360 I'll use that personally and I'll let my podcast self be 29 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,680 where I'm more so speak out loud and practice using that language 30 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:43,840 and exploring that. And then whenever I'm working 31 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,520 with my yoga therapy clients, using that framework as it 32 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:53,200 applies to yoga in order to support people and get them to a 33 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,040 better place with their diagnosis. 34 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,760 And a lot of times what it is that I will say I do, from 35 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:04,600 support calls to support groups to yoga therapy, is really 36 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,960 getting people to understand what their baseline is, the 37 00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:12,600 connection, the relationship to the nervous system and how that 38 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:16,760 expresses itself in behaviors in the body and the mind. 39 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:19,880 And I know a lot of people don't like to use spiritual language, 40 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,880 but I believe that the nervous system is a manifestation of the 41 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:27,080 spirit. What this regulates us, what 42 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,240 heights us up, what slows us down, what makes us feel 43 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:32,960 stagnant and stuck. And everything is about balance. 44 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,680 And that's one of the things that I'm learning from yoga 45 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:40,320 therapy, which I'll be done with my training in 2026. 46 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:48,000 So I just went through and I checked in with my instructor to 47 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,080 make sure that I was on track to get everything squared away for 48 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,920 2026. So I'll be fully licensed, 49 00:02:55,920 --> 00:02:58,360 assuming I passed a test, which there's no reason I shouldn't 50 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,880 pass the test. Yeah, I'll be fully ready to go 51 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,000 come the end of 2026, going into 2027. 52 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,720 So yeah, be on the lookout for that. 53 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:15,040 So what that means is that there will be more of a connection to 54 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,080 yoga in the presentations that I create and talking about like 55 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,360 this as a support resource. And I think I might have found 56 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:27,400 the longevity of my career in utilizing yoga practices and 57 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,800 yoga therapy specifically as a way of supporting people with 58 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,480 their herpes diagnosis. Not just to minimize the 59 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,640 symptoms of outbreaks or expressions of the virus and 60 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,400 transmission, but also how people deal with the statement, 61 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:43,680 the emotional Wellness, the mental health piece. 62 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,320 I want to shout out to all my practice clients that had let me 63 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,080 work with them, and then the clients that decided to stick 64 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:51,800 with me because they found value in it. 65 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:53,600 The ones who've left and come back. 66 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:56,960 So yeah, it's real validating that I'm doing what I'm supposed 67 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:05,240 to be doing. Yesterday I did a workshop with 68 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:09,720 Project Safe and this workshop was with a shout out to Tara 69 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,080 Jones. Tara Tara Jones of the Youth Sex 70 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:15,400 Spurt program. It's found out she was 25. 71 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:20,480 I didn't know she was 25, but she came in with me to Project 72 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:25,960 Safe here in Brooklyn, which is a youth organization that 73 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:31,760 educates people, young people, and they have like young people 74 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,760 as ambassadors for the program as well. 75 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:38,960 And the overall goal was to go in and talk about herpes, herpes 76 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:40,320 stigma. But in order to meet the 77 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:43,440 requirements for what they needed, there had to be a little 78 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,360 bit more expansion on SC is like we just had to really touch on 79 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:48,480 it. But I didn't feel comfortable 80 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,840 not doing that by myself. So I reached out to her and I've 81 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:56,040 been seeing her work for a while and I've wanted to support, but 82 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:58,960 every time that I'd want to do some type of a fundraising 83 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:04,760 thing, the event which is not sale or I had a lot of stuff 84 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,440 that happened in the first half of this year, so I wasn't able 85 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,880 to produce what I thought I would. 86 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,880 So it was nice to be able to reach out to her and invite her 87 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,600 along to present with me and be able to pay her directly for 88 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,960 what she brought in because Lord knows I don't like making 89 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,920 presentations. So yeah, between that and 90 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:28,840 conducting the presentation, it was a really good experience. 91 00:05:28,840 --> 00:05:35,960 I'm glad that Project Safe, you know, reached out and wanted to 92 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:42,320 have me come in and do this. So I thought about recording it, 93 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:44,160 but I don't know, that didn't feel right. 94 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,600 So what I'll do here then is instead just recap. 95 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,080 This will be something that's for more of the health 96 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,440 professionals, healthcare providers, therapists, 97 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,480 educators. Some of the things that 98 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:02,480 consistently come up when it comes to like the stigma 99 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:08,600 minimization training or how do we eliminate stigma from our 100 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:11,840 vocabulary and from our practices and marketing 101 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:18,080 materials is the the language. A lot of times language is 102 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:22,120 something that people are confused by and we want to use 103 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,200 the information that's out there, the data that exists. 104 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,840 But a lot of the data and information that exists, 105 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:33,760 especially regarding herpes and herpes stigma, it doesn't make 106 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:39,080 sense and it's inconsistent. If you go to the World Health 107 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,680 Organization or the NIH or the CDC, the American Sexual Health 108 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:45,320 Association, you'll see different things. 109 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:48,440 And even if you go to something positive for positive people, 110 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:52,320 like I always tell people, my disclaimer is that the people 111 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:55,600 who take our surveys, the people who we hear from, these are 112 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:58,360 people who are generally not doing well because of their 113 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,200 diagnosis. So we're not really able to get 114 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,200 a reflection of the entire population of people who have 115 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:07,240 herpes and know that they have herpes. 116 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:10,480 OK. So a lot of what I try and stick 117 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,440 to are the psychological mental health, the emotional Wellness 118 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,080 effects, and anything that can be recorded. 119 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:23,040 If they can report the frequency or intensity of the herpes 120 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:30,640 outbreak, if they know that they have or have not passed herpes 121 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:34,000 on to a partner, this is the kind of information that we can 122 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,840 get that we can report on and we can further investigate. 123 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,200 But beyond that, like I don't believe that there's a way for 124 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:47,960 us to quantify transmission rates like accurately, because 125 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:49,480 it does depend on so many things. 126 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,080 And I'm learning from my yoga therapy clients when they share 127 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:57,840 with me their experiences with outbreaks and what's going on 128 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,280 with them around the outbreaks time. 129 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,840 Like that's really all we got to report on. 130 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,120 And you really got to follow people and stay with them and, 131 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,720 and like track over the course of, I mean, I guess we can do a 132 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:15,440 year, but I don't know, man. I think the the course of from 133 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,320 the time a person receives their diagnosis to the time that they 134 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:23,120 seek out support, that that window of time is so 135 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,880 inconsistent that we can't really, you know, find out, OK, 136 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,680 if this number of people were diagnosed, this number of people 137 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:35,400 had outbreaks or symptoms at this location and, you know, go 138 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,400 down the list of what it is that you would be tracking. 139 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:41,520 I don't think that it we can get that consistently enough. 140 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:47,520 At least I can't, not without a significant amount of time on my 141 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,400 hands and a significant amount of funding to really be able to 142 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,200 just do this because I am curious. 143 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:56,040 But at the same time, I also recognize the irrelevance of it. 144 00:08:56,560 --> 00:08:58,720 People ask me all the time about transmission rates. 145 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:00,960 Oh, well, you know, if I wear a condom, if I take the 146 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:04,200 medication, does that bring the transmission rate down? 147 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,240 Yeah, maybe. But if you're stressing about 148 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:10,760 bringing the transmission rate down and stress is the number 149 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,440 one cause for outbreaks, what are you really doing? 150 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:20,480 And also, like I always tell people, the person who doesn't 151 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:24,160 have herpes, they have to like you more than they don't want 152 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,520 herpes. And also like for you, if that's 153 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:29,680 something that you're consistently worrying about and 154 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:33,280 stressing over, then that is going to increase the likelihood 155 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,640 of you passing Murphys on to them or having an outbreak even 156 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,640 because again, this is one of those things where stress it 157 00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:48,000 invites outbreaks. So having to talk to people, 158 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:52,440 talking to educators and like, explain that the information 159 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,320 that people want a doesn't exist because people want to know how 160 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:59,880 to prevent transmission. There is no preventing herpes 161 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:02,600 transmission. And so the only thing that we're 162 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,640 really left with is how do we get people to that realization? 163 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:10,120 How do we do so in a way that language allows for us to do so 164 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:16,520 without inviting any stigma? Words like protection because, 165 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:19,800 you know, that implies an inherent danger of something as 166 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:23,000 pleasurable, as fun, as connecting, as beautiful as sex 167 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,080 can be. The word safe also does that. 168 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:32,640 Words like disease, you know, like the word infection, to me 169 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:35,400 ain't no different. But I know we're going from STD 170 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:41,840 to STI and an infection is more accurate because you can have an 171 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:46,080 infection, you can have a virus and not have any symptoms, 172 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,200 whereas if the disease has the symptoms. 173 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:50,960 So I get that, I understand that. 174 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:56,120 But there's a lot to be said for not just how we say what we say, 175 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:57,840 but it's also the words that we use. 176 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:03,080 And it's very situational. I like to remove violent terms 177 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:08,760 from the the language we use when we talk about sex and 178 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:13,040 sexual health, when we talk about even ending stigma or 179 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,720 destroying stigma or eradicating ending. 180 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:22,240 The words that we use are things that have they have like a 181 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,160 weight tool. And one of the exercises that I 182 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:28,480 like to do is a simple meditation where we begin to 183 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,160 explore what stigma feels like by consciously looking at the 184 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:34,280 difference role. The different roles we play in 185 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:39,160 life are different identities, and then we throw stigma in 186 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:43,480 there, but we kind of move ourselves into stigma to feel 187 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:48,520 what that feels like and not be those other aspects of 188 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:50,360 ourselves. And then we can kind of relate 189 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:53,520 the weight of those identities up against what it feels like to 190 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,240 be stigmatized. So we also did that and this 191 00:11:56,240 --> 00:12:00,480 gives an idea of what stigma feels like to a person who's 192 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:04,920 experiencing it and the way out of it being to validate their 193 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:09,200 identity outside of stigma, which oftentimes it's just 194 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,280 reminding them that they are a sibling, someone's offspring, 195 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:18,280 maybe a parent, someone who has hobbies or a particular career. 196 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:22,800 They're a colleague, they're someone's teacher, a student, 197 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,880 right? And these are the kinds of 198 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:30,360 things that we do in the workshops and one of the things 199 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:34,040 that's really expensive to do, but I want to do more of. 200 00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:37,080 I'm hoping to hear back about this grant that I applied for, 201 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,440 which will be at the end of this month. 202 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:45,080 Fingers crossed because this will be the big thing that I've 203 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:48,680 wanted to do, which is hiring sex educators to be patient 204 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:52,080 actors so that we can go into clinics, we can go into therapy 205 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:59,360 practices, and I'll give them a script for us to prepare, like a 206 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:02,280 back story. And these people are going to 207 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,080 consult with us and communicate with us, delivering the 208 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:07,920 diagnosis. Answering our questions about SC 209 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:13,200 is maybe we're newly diagnosed and we just want to know what 210 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:19,600 our options are in terms of being able to practice sex that 211 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:23,880 is more safe, safer with our potential partners. 212 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:28,720 So I think that that is that is, I don't want to say I think that 213 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:32,800 is the next step of what this advocacy looks like, but I just 214 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:36,560 got to be, I got to strip things down. 215 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:40,480 So when you go to the website, you'll see that you might not 216 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,960 even notice, but a lot of stuff has been stripped down from the 217 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:48,240 website and organized in a way where it's much easier to 218 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:49,800 navigate. We got the home page. 219 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,240 If you want to learn about something positive, if you want 220 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:54,320 to learn about Courtney, you can do that. 221 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:58,800 If you want to understand the the training like I'm describing 222 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:03,280 here, you can do that. We've got a blog I need to start 223 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,640 adding more to. I've blogged about the main 224 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,080 questions that people have about discording, dating and then 225 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:14,680 transmission rates. But I I can probably post more 226 00:14:14,680 --> 00:14:17,880 there and I'm going to invest a lot more time on the website 227 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:23,800 than I have been on Instagram because Instagram has not been 228 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:25,960 Instagram ain't been cool with me lately. 229 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,280 I would say even I might have noticed it maybe two years ago, 230 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:34,520 but it's been consistently just not aligned. 231 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:37,560 It's not been showing my content to people. 232 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:41,600 And so I'm better off just investing more into the website. 233 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:43,240 So I put a little bit of money into it. 234 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:48,800 Shout out to Jenny for making the website look good, making it 235 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:51,840 easier to navigate, and giving me the feedback that I needed in 236 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:54,200 order to light that fire into my ass to get shit going. 237 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,200 Because yeah, this is how people are finding something positive 238 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,800 for positive people. And this is where the 239 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,720 opportunities are being created. This is how we're able to keep 240 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,480 things going. So yeah, if you are someone who 241 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:13,920 works at a clinic, some sort of a Health Organization, public 242 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,840 health, sexual health, mental health education, if you provide 243 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:20,200 any training, please reach out. If you know of any conferences 244 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:23,320 that would make sense for something positive, for positive 245 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:28,560 people to be represented at, please reach out. 246 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:31,680 Let me know. Like it is, I'm doing this by 247 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:34,320 myself and I reach out for help when I can. 248 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,360 When I can pay people to do things, I reach out to them to 249 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,680 help me do the things. But I'm doing everything I can. 250 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:44,160 I don't see myself burning out. I don't see myself stepping away 251 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:45,920 from this. So please don't like feeling any 252 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:49,000 kind of sense of urgency or anything, but it is a lot. 253 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:53,160 It's a lot that I do. And the Tara asked me yesterday, 254 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:55,000 she was like, So what are the pillars or something positive 255 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,240 for positive people? Yeah, I'm in yoga therapy 256 00:15:57,240 --> 00:15:59,840 training. I do have my 500 hour yoga 257 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:03,080 teacher certification, which is it? 258 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:06,560 It fuels the approach I take to the support offerings that I 259 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:10,000 have. And I also have the stigma free 260 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,920 training with the patient actors, which is a whole program 261 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,720 to manage off. I host the support calls. 262 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,920 There's now a weekly support group, 1 is for men, one is for 263 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:23,040 women. These meet Mondays at 7:30 PM 264 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:25,720 Eastern Time. At this moment, anyone who wants 265 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,320 to be in the group, you have to be vetted first. 266 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:30,280 So we have to have a support call. 267 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,080 And after the support call, that's when you can get added to 268 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:36,520 the group. And then when you're in the 269 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:41,440 group, it's required that you make a donation for each of the 270 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:44,080 ones that you attend. Don't matter how much I just 271 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:46,400 want you to, I want commitment. I need commitment. 272 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:48,040 I'm tired of people not showing up today. 273 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,440 I'm tired of people telling me, oh, you should do this and 274 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:53,600 they're not doing it. I am the person who's 275 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:57,280 facilitating the men's group as well as the women's group. 276 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:01,680 These are separate just because I, I, I noticed and in talking 277 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:05,960 to other people, we've noticed the same things where we'll have 278 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:08,599 a support group for everybody, but then men don't show up. 279 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:11,720 We'll have a support group for men and then women will be like, 280 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:14,720 why? We ain't got what so Well, 281 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:16,520 that's my experience. I can't say that that's the case 282 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:20,079 for everybody, but there's alternatives. 283 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:24,160 If you are a woman who doesn't want to be at Courtney's support 284 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:27,440 group because I'm a man, cool. We have alternative options for 285 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:32,160 that as well. So, yeah, this, this episode 286 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:35,800 really feels more like an update to what's been going on. 287 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:40,720 But I also really just like, if you are somebody who wants to 288 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:44,760 help out, can help out, tell me who to talk to. 289 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:47,280 Just give me give me the name. You ain't got to do nothing 290 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:48,400 else. If you can make a warm 291 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:52,960 introduction to one of these healthcare organizations, one of 292 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:54,600 these public health organizations. 293 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:57,960 I'm connected to the National Coalition of STD Directors. 294 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:00,560 I'm connected to the National Coalition for a Second Sexual 295 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:02,680 Health. I'm connected to the American 296 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:08,200 Sexual Health Association, like all of the acronyms as far as I 297 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:11,760 know, I'm connected to, I'm applying to speak at conferences 298 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:16,440 and presented these places. I have my first HBCU that I'm 299 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:22,720 talking to historically Black College in Baltimore coming up 300 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:26,200 next month. And I'm I'm doing more of these 301 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,120 things. I'm looking for more of these 302 00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:31,440 things because he's he's what's keeping the lights on. 303 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:35,160 He's a progressing mission. And the more of those things I 304 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:39,320 do, the less shit that I got to look for is looking for. 305 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,840 This shit is really what's kicking my ass, to be completely 306 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:44,000 honest. And I want to shout out to 307 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:47,080 Doctor Ina Park, who's a former board member of Something 308 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,640 Positive for Positive People. She had to step down, 309 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:56,160 unfortunately, to have like a lot of other obligations, and 310 00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:01,160 with her obligations, she was still able to support me 311 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:05,400 personally, inviting me as well as Jolene, who created the No 312 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,480 Shame in This Game film documentary out to Montreal, 313 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:13,720 Canada this past July. I think it was July and we got 314 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:15,800 the present and that's what turned into a couple of really 315 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,920 nice opportunities for me. So I'm very fortunate and 316 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,960 blessed to have people who do just point me in the directions 317 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,720 of things. Shout out to I think it's Amari 318 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:30,960 sex Ed. She's like a sex education 319 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:36,400 administrator of some sort, admin by Amari on Instagram who 320 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,160 connected me to someone who writes for Cosmo. 321 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:43,280 I want to say I think it's Cosmo, she said. 322 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,480 And giving me the opportunity to share my experience with 323 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:49,880 somebody who's living with herpes. 324 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:59,400 And yeah, this, this, this life of mine is fueled by community. 325 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:04,040 I don't do this shit for money. Like I, I need the money. 326 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,720 Yes, the donations that come in awesome. 327 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:09,880 The paid opportunities make it a lot more efficient and easy for 328 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:12,880 me, 'cause the less I got to worry about, the more this I can 329 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:16,120 do. So that I, I got friends who 330 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:17,880 were like Gordon, yeah, yo, you should do this. 331 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,680 This is how you can make more money, get into the stock 332 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:22,920 market. I, I honestly don't give a fuck 333 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,280 about that as long as I can. My living expenses are about 334 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:32,280 $1500 a month. That's it like I just me $1500 a 335 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,080 month and I don't know how the fuck I'm able to do that. 336 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:39,240 And a lot of the stuff that I want to do off of $1500 a month. 337 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:44,760 And I just accredited to just alignment and being connected to 338 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:49,600 what I perceive as to be God, as to be the universe. 339 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,280 You know, whatever language it is that you want to use quantum 340 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,960 mechanics physics. But in aligning myself with the 341 00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:00,640 nature of the flow of what my life experiences and has has 342 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,800 formed me into and what's been formed in terms of my 343 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:10,080 personality, my identity, I find that a lot more stuff has been 344 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,520 happening just more fluidly for me. 345 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:18,560 So yeah man, that's that's it. Like if y'all know of 346 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:23,000 opportunities, please send them my way so that I can do more of 347 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,680 what I've done yesterday and I'm getting better at it to where I 348 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:27,920 don't need to bring somebody in with me. 349 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,960 I'm used to bringing in people just because I like connecting. 350 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,680 Like connecting is more important to me than how much 351 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:37,280 money I'm getting. I ain't got no problem with 352 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:42,920 splitting whatever the cost, whatever the money coming in is 353 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:47,000 in order to give somebody else the opportunity to share the 354 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,560 spotlight stage speaking opportunity, whatever it is, I 355 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:56,400 ain't got no problem with that. So that's what I'm looking for. 356 00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:00,080 I'm looking for more of these. I'm looking for more of these 357 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:02,440 opportunities. If you find them, if you know 358 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:04,040 them, let me know. All right? 359 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:09,720 And what this includes is a lot of just speaking to the lived 360 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,360 experiences of people who are struggling with and navigating 361 00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:16,400 herpes stigma, teaching people how to talk about it, and the 362 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,880 people who are in the educational or clinical 363 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:20,720 settings. How do you talk about this with 364 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:22,840 patients? A lot of people always get like, 365 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,720 unique questions. There was someone who said 366 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:30,920 someone that they knew had gotten herpes on his foot from 367 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,120 like walking around the resort, went to the doctor, and the 368 00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:34,440 doctor told him, no, that's herpes. 369 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:36,800 But they were able to freeze it off. 370 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:41,080 I was like, all right, you know, I, I hear about the, like, 371 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,480 wrestlers getting herpes from the yoga mask, but that, that 372 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:44,640 didn't sound right to me. So I asked. 373 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:47,480 I was like, you sure it was HSV, not HPV? 374 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,280 And then some time went past and she checked and she was like, 375 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:52,840 oh, yeah, it was HPV. It was HPV. 376 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,720 I was like, cool. So, you know, there's no telling 377 00:22:55,720 --> 00:23:00,880 how long this kind of experience, this, this story can 378 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,840 exist and then grow and evolve over time. 379 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,680 And then, you know, we, we think these things, that's really how 380 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,640 stigma works. It's often times that we don't 381 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:16,040 have accurate or the, the right information to be able to call 382 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:18,480 something what it is. So now we've got this ripple 383 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,920 effect because the information that I was given is what I'm 384 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:26,960 using and sharing as lived experience, as I'm talking to 385 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:29,560 people, as I'm telling them, oh, hey, you know, this is what I 386 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:31,520 heard. And this is where that cycle of 387 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:36,280 stigma continues. It continues to perpetuate and 388 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,920 it's not intentionally, it's not out of malice, it's just out of 389 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:45,440 not really knowing the most accurate bit of information or 390 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:47,720 not having all of the information I have and the right 391 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:52,080 information. And a lot of what I'm learning, 392 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,680 my role is is to really like clean that up, to just clean up 393 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:01,840 that space of misinformation and stigmatization and to do so 394 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:03,920 through my own lived experiences. 395 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,240 Like I don't, I ain't got no problem telling the story about 396 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,120 how I got herpes, when I got herpes, how I went through that 397 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:11,720 process. And you know, even most recently 398 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:16,080 I shared my own experience, my story, whatever a recent episode 399 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,920 that was, and I got some good feedback from that. 400 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,000 Just like being real and being honest about what my experience 401 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,440 has been speaking about that, that four years between my 402 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:31,160 diagnosis and then discovering the, discovering something 403 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:35,360 positive for positive people, or I'm sorry, not something 404 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:38,120 positive. But discovering positive singles 405 00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:43,760 and learning that there's this resource out there that despite 406 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,920 how good it is at connecting people with herpes, still fuels 407 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:49,120 and perpetuates stigma. And it does. 408 00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:52,400 So by I, I'm, I'm shitting on them now because they kicked me 409 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,000 off the website and they won't return my e-mail and I know why 410 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,840 they kicked me off. I'm fucking up their money. 411 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,080 They ain't making no money off of me because I'm literally 412 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,840 telling people, Hey, you don't need to only date people with 413 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,760 herpes. So y'all can kick rocks like I, 414 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,360 I'm, I'm over it. I'm done trying to like work 415 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:11,880 with y'all and work together. Y'all ain't got no desire to 416 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:14,360 minimizing the impacts of statement. 417 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:18,120 Like everything y'all doing is just to save face and keep 418 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:21,680 people in this cycle. Like screw y'all. 419 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,840 And yeah, I was going to get back on there for my own selfish 420 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:27,080 intentions, I ain't going to lie to you. 421 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,440 But I was also going to talk about the usefulness of 422 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,760 something positive for positive people. 423 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:38,760 So yeah, that's, that's it. I don't want to come here and 424 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:40,280 just like be bitching about anything. 425 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:42,720 But it, this is important work to me. 426 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:45,400 This is important to me. And it, it doesn't even always 427 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:49,040 feel like work when it's a line. It just feels like I'm showing 428 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,720 up and just being myself. And you know, maybe that's how 429 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:57,720 some of the past influencer influencers have felt throughout 430 00:25:57,720 --> 00:25:59,840 history or the people who've LED movements. 431 00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:02,960 But like, all I really want to do is just empower people with 432 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:04,800 choice. You can, once you learn that 433 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:09,240 it's a choice of I'm going to continue to be stigmatized and 434 00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:13,800 let stigma run my life or I am not going to, then that's it. 435 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,040 That's all I want to do. That that's what I feel like my 436 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,360 work is, is to just live in a way that empowers people with 437 00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:23,320 choice to live out loud in such a way that people also feel 438 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:25,240 inspired to live out loud in their own way. 439 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:29,440 And the return on investment in that is it's it's I can't put a 440 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:34,560 dollar value to that. I can't And it's it's been this 441 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:39,280 nurturing of my own nature that I'm finding whoa, that thing was 442 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:41,960 scary. These Lantern bugs. 443 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,040 All right, so there's these things in New York called 444 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:46,440 lanternflies. They're like pretty red like 445 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,000 when they jump and fly they're bright red. 446 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:52,640 But apparently they're like an invasive species that like 447 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,520 eliminates or endangers some type of trees or something, so 448 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,040 people see him and it just maliciously kill them. 449 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:02,720 Whenever I think about that, I think about that episode of 450 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,600 Black Mirror where the soldiers like were brainwashed into 451 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,680 believing that the people of this culture in these villages 452 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:11,480 were Ant people, like aliens and shit. 453 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,600 One of the soldiers, his brain short circuited and he was 454 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,560 getting his cognition back and he saw real people, but 455 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,160 everybody else was seeing like alien bug people. 456 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:22,800 And so he was like, whoa, these are fucking people. 457 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,600 They're just poor. They're just like not, you know, 458 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:28,920 modernized. They're just in this land living 459 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,240 in huts and shit or like broken down buildings, but like they 460 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:33,960 got families and shit. So he's not killing these 461 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:37,440 people. And so Fast forward and they try 462 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,720 and like fix him or whatever. And yeah, basically that's it. 463 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:46,000 So I'm like looking at these things, I'm like, yo, what is 464 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,360 this misinformation? Like, have I been given 465 00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:51,240 misinformation about lanternflies? 466 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:53,320 Because it's never felt right to like, kill him. 467 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:58,880 And it scares me how much like, adrenaline kicks in people and 468 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:02,960 they feel like rewarded, like they did some good in the world 469 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,040 for stomping on these fucking lanternflies. 470 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,360 Like, I don't know, bro. And my whole atomic living 471 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:12,840 language. And what I'm learning when you 472 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:15,480 fuse that with yoga is that everything does have a purpose, 473 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:17,840 you know, even if its purpose is destruction. 474 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,480 Like even with getting sick, even with getting a parasite, 475 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:22,880 right? It's a sign that something has 476 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,280 to change. You have to do something 477 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,000 different. So the invitation of things that 478 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:31,200 are seemingly purposeless, illness, disease, disruption of 479 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:35,160 rhythm, that's all it does. It's it's designed to redirect 480 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:39,120 you to whatever your rhythm is. So I don't know if killing these 481 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:44,000 things is the the way that we, you know, take care of nature, 482 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,200 but it's something ain't right about it. 483 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,280 I'm asking questions. And I shout out to the Black 484 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,240 Mirror creator for that episode because it made me look at shit 485 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:54,280 a lot different than I would before. 486 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:57,960 So yeah, I just ask questions. That's it. 487 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:02,280 And a lot of my teaching is it comes from a lens of curiosity. 488 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,200 So I yeah, if you're somebody who's looking for somebody to 489 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:10,160 come in and talk to your organization about how to be 490 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,720 stable, free or how to minimize stable in your practice or with 491 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,280 your patients, your clients, I'm in a much better place than I 492 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,720 was several months ago when people were reaching out to me 493 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,480 and ask me about this. So I can like, I can, I can 494 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:23,960 speak to this a lot better. Now look at this guy. 495 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:25,920 See, there's one right here just chilling. 496 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,560 Where are you going, though? Like, why do you walk on the 497 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:33,600 sidewalk when you see what are you looking for, What do you see 498 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:36,840 over there, 'cause then like if I try and raise my foot to stomp 499 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:42,480 on it, it jumps. I don't know, I just let me see. 500 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,400 I'm gonna follow it for a little bit while I finish this podcast 501 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,200 episode recording and see what it does. 502 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:53,360 But yeah, it's kind of big though, so I don't know. 503 00:29:53,480 --> 00:30:01,200 Anyways, yeah, I very much just like appreciate everybody's who 504 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,640 everybody's involvement, the community that this has been, 505 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:07,760 this is really giving me a sense of purpose, is giving an outlet 506 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,480 for my anger. While I'm not like an angry 507 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:16,640 person, the anger that I have toward suicide that I have 508 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:24,400 toward people, not people feeling like they don't have a 509 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,880 choice, like that anger that I feel is directed towards 510 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:29,880 something. And it wouldn't be, it wouldn't 511 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:33,480 be as focused, it wouldn't be as aligned as it is. 512 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:39,240 It wouldn't be what it is had it not been for people's 513 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,000 willingness to share their experiences with me. 514 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,840 So I appreciate y'all. I appreciate the people who come 515 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:47,760 here and you listen to the podcast, you support the 516 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:49,360 podcast. Maybe you reach out for a 517 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:53,000 support call, maybe you join the support group, maybe you share 518 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,840 the resources. Maybe you introduce me to 519 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:58,760 somebody who later brings me in to speak. 520 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:01,920 And I, I like I said, I appreciate that. 521 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:06,120 Thank you for that. And I'm, I'm doing what I'm, I'm 522 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:09,080 doing, I'm supposed to do. And yeah, I feel, I feel 523 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:11,040 different. I feel lighter. 524 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:15,880 I feel like I got some some personal validation as well from 525 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:20,840 just yesterday and being able to do the presenting that I've done 526 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:24,320 and maintaining the connections, relationships that I have. 527 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:28,600 It's it's fucking beautiful. It's fucking beautiful. 528 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:36,280 So yeah, presentation yesterday went well, we want more of this 529 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:38,400 that I guess that's it. I just don't really feel like a 530 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:42,480 podcast episode, Like I ain't, I don't know if I'm like running 531 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:44,840 out of shit to say, which I've thought about before, like I'm 532 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,520 running out of things to say. So if you somebody that wants to 533 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:50,080 be interviewed on the podcast and you are ready to share your 534 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,680 experience, know that you can do it anonymously. 535 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:57,280 You don't have to be anonymous if you don't want to, but I 536 00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:01,240 invite you to talk to me. Reach out, go to 537 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:07,600 spfpp.org/podcast, Scroll down to the guest intake form, fill 538 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:12,560 that in for me and we can get things set up to where you can 539 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:14,560 be a guest on the Something Positive Positive People 540 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:16,560 podcast. I'm looking for people to share 541 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:20,560 their experiences. If you are someone who is living 542 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:25,040 with herpes. If you are someone who is dating 543 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:29,840 someone living with herpes, if you are somebody who works with 544 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:36,040 people living with herpes, any aspect or Ave. of herpes stigma 545 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,120 education. If you got anything to 546 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:42,320 contribute or if you got any input for us, please don't 547 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,080 hesitate to reach out. I need guests or otherwise we 548 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:47,000 don't get more of these. I'm going to just talk about 549 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:50,800 something that's been going on and that'll be podcast episode. 550 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,960 So if y'all want to see this thing contribute or continue 551 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:57,960 contribute all right till next time stay present.