Mental and Emotional Health
Adolescents living with HIV face social stigma and discrimination based on their HIV status and age. Many adolescents also face self-stigma and social biases due to their race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexuality, gender, migration status, whether they are living with disabilities, and more. The discovery or disclosure that they are living with HIV only compounds this sigma. As such, psychosocial support—that is, support for adolescents’ mental and emotional well-being in addition to their physical health—is vital for helping adolescents living with HIV lead happy, healthy, and fully realized lives. This section of the toolkit contains resources from the growing body of knowledge on psychosocial support for adolescents living with HIV, including program design and delivery guides for implementers, handbooks and resources for adolescents, and tools for parents and other supportive adults.
Each linked resource page contains a description of the tool, with links to either an online version of the tool or a downloadable copy. Where resources are available in multiple languages, we have provided links.
For those interested in learning more about providing holistic support for adolescents living with HIV outside of a service center setting, we recommend exploring the resources available on the Positive Living and Peer Support pages of this toolkit, accessible above.
Adolescent Girls and Young Women Mentoring Program Toolkit
YouthPower Action, 2018
A comprehensive toolkit for training, supporting, and monitoring mentors for adolescent girls and young women on topics including HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health alongside soft skills, financial capacities, violence prevention, and other topics.
A Qualitative Review of Psychosocial Support Interventions for Young People Living with HIV
WHO, 2009
Building Futures: Supporting Youth Living with HIV Technical Assistance Toolkit
US Health Resources and Services Administration HIV/AIDS Bureau, 2018
Technical assistance toolkit for health clinic managers and providers planning holistic support for adolescents and young people living with HIV.
Equipping Parents and Health Providers to Meet the Psychological and Social Challenges of Caring for Children Living with HIV in Africa
AIDSTAR-One, 2011
An activity report and recommendations for program implementers, including case studies and best practices from South Africa and Uganda.
Foundation for the Future: Meeting the Psychosocial Needs of Children Living with HIV
AIDSTAR-One, 2011
A technical brief covering best practices and including implementation recommendations for integrating the pyschosocial needs of adolescents living with HIV into clinical and other program initiatives.
Managing Grief and Loss
Frontline AIDS, 2019
Leaflet for peer supporters with tools to help young people living with and affected by HIV manage grief and loss.
Positive Connections: Leading Information and Support Groups for Adolescents Living with HIV
FHI 360, 2013
A facilitator’s guide, lesson plans, and evaluation tool for running support groups with adolescents living with HIV.
Pyschosocial Wellbeing Series
REPSSI
A series of 10 handbooks, facilitator guides, advocacy tools, and implementation tools focused on mainstreaming psychosocial care and support into pediatric and adolescent HIV care and treatment.
Stigma and Self-Stigma
Frontline AIDS, 2019
Leaflet of advice to peer supporters to help young people living with HIV cope with stigma and self-stigma.
Toolkit for Transition of Care and Other Services for Adolescents Living with HIV
AIDSTAR-One, 2014
Resources including a training manual and handbook for providers focused on transitioning adolescents living with HIV to adult care.
Types of Resources Key:
Training Tools: Facilitator and participant manuals and training activities designed to provide training in relevant topics for multiple audiences.
Handbooks/Job Aids: Guidance and tools for use “on-the-job” by health providers, peer educators, advocates, or other implementers. These tools are generally succinct and task-specific.
Global Standards: Minimum standards, best practices, and aspirational statements of core principles for the health and rights of adolescents living with HIV.
Implementation Guides: Programming principles and guidelines for developing services, outreach, or advocacy with and for adolescents living with HIV.
Curricula/Educational Tools: Educational guides, curricula documents, activities, and handbooks for conducting comprehensive sexuality education, peer education, or outreach.
Research/Best Practices: Case studies, systemic reviews, analysis of evidence, and recommendations for advancing the learning agenda on adolescents living with HIV.