What uncertainties did Linda have about meeting face to face?

Question

As an employee of a private, nonprofit HIV/AIDS clinic in a rural North Carolina community, Linda Summerfield’s job was to provide direct services to people with HIV/AIDS as well as to connect them with resources. Aware of their needs, she also respected their need for confidentiality and anonymity in an area where issues surrounding HIV/AIDS were highly charged and prejudice was common. In 1999, Linda was also eager to help six men in her caseload who were struggling with uncertainty, loneliness, and isolation. Aware of their shared needs, she believed in the healing power of group work for such clients. Although initially reluctant, the six men agreed to “meet” via telephone and, despite their apprehension and some technical difficulties, after five weeks all agreed that the experience was helpful. But when meeting via telephone became unworkable, Linda faced decisions over whether and how or where to persuade the men to continue meeting.

Answer 1

Two of the men did not want to meet, so the group may be smaller, with only four men. She worried that the other two may have felt excluded if the telephone meetings stopped and they were not involved in the face-to-face meetings. Finding a safe location that is accessible to all, as well as to Linda, would not be easy in this community where many were not accepting of persons with HIV/AIDS. Linda imagined that she might develop a cover story to arrange a meeting place for gay men with HIV/AIDS. She did not seem to feel comfortable with this from her “self-talk” in the opening paragraph, but she has not explored this fully just yet.