In this episode, we were joined by Sonya Wright, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with a background spanning over 30 years in various fields, including education, substance abuse prevention, and mental health treatment. Our conversation delved deeply into challenges and opportunities for strengthening and increasing the HIV workforce. We discussed provider burnout, its prevalence amongst healthcare providers, specifically those who work with people with HIV, and ways to address it. This episode reminds us of the importance of recognizing the symptoms and seeking mental health care to preserve or renew general wellness.

In this episode, we invited Dayna Morrison, MPH, Senior Director of the Oregon Primary Care Association, a regional partner of the Mountain West AETC, and Jill Coleman, MS, Program Manager of the South Central AETC’s Oklahoma regional partner, to highlight the impact of partnering with their Primary Care Associations to implement sustainable models of care for people with HIV and address the burden clinics in their remote regions sometimes face.

The new season of HIV Care Conversations will focus on challenges and opportunities for increasing the HIV workforce. In this episode, we discuss the emergence of and need for HIV training pathways in Family and Internal Medicine residency programs to increase the number and diversity of providers serving people with HIV in the U.S. We invited Dr. Phil Bolduc, Principal Investigator of the New England AETC, and Dr. Chris Bositis, Clinical Director of the AETC National Clinician Consultation Center, to share their experiences training and working with HIV fellowship and residency programs and provide information about the new HRSA HAB-funded National HIV Residency Pathway Consortium.