 Hey everyone, I'm Raiv DeRozzi and I'm so excited to announce and share the telegram group I created recently just for the HIV community. There are multiple different rooms you can chat in with topics like mental health, immigration and travel, romance and dating, fitness and nutrition and more which I'll share in a moment. It's completely free and it's completely anonymous if you want it to be. The choice is yours. There is no phone number displayed with telegram which is why I chose the telegram app as opposed to other apps like WhatsApp. I know that anonymity is very important for our community around the world. A lot of it has to do with safety so that was a definite concern of mine and that's just it. We have members from all over the world on every continent currently already in the group. Different countries and cultures are going to have different concerns, needs and challenges and it's helpful to be able to talk to people in your area in a safe environment. And so this telegram allows people to do that. It also allows you to talk to people outside of your immediate area, outside of your country and compare your experiences with others as well. First and foremost, this is a place for community and support and mental health. That's why I initially created it. But in addition to that, we also have practical use from it like getting recommendations, things like how to get back into fitness, how to approach challenges with dieting or making sure that you're on a good regimen with taking your pills, dating advice, things like that, sharing resources. The full list, current list of the topics and rooms that I have available right now are a general chat, mental health, immigration and travel, romance and dating, medications, fitness and nutrition, resources and an off topic chat for everything that doesn't fit into one of those categories. In the future, I may add more topics as needed. For example, one idea that comes to mind is one that focuses on science and the latest research. This is a very special and unique place and in order to preserve and protect that, I put in some very important and firm rules. So I will go over those rules with your doubt. It includes please keep conversations in each room and each topic specific to that topic. This is not a place to stir up debate or promote your own belief system, whatever that may be. This is not a place for HIV, AIDS, denialism at all. This is not a place to ask for monetary donations, crypto gifts of any kind, any kind of currency or fiat money. This is not a place for people who are concerned about getting HIV and want to ask questions about symptoms and possibly try to self diagnose. That's not what this place is meant for. And all these rules apply not only in the chat that everyone can see, but also via DMs and with rules comes enforcement. Initially, this telegram group was open to the public. It was just being shared via DMs and just like one on one. But now that I'm sharing it to a larger audience, I've changed it so that each person who wants to join has to request permission. And I or one of the moderators will have to give you access. Once you joined, there is a pinned message that will break down all these rules for you. So it's very simple, very clear. There are moderators in place to make sure that the space remains safe and supportive and that people are following the basic rules. And if like, for example, if you get a DM and someone is clearly breaking one of the rules, then you can reach out to myself or one of the moderators and we can correct it for you. If you are caught breaking the rules, one of the moderators will either demand that you stop whatever it is that you're not supposed to be doing. Or if it's bad enough, then you'll just be outright banned from the telegram group. It's that important to maintain the space that we've created. This is not a matter of free speech. If you want to exercise your right to free speech, you're more than welcome to do so in any public domain. This group, however, is private with a very specific purpose and intention. And that comes first before anything else. One limitation is that this group is primarily for English speakers. I know that that limits the reach of the people that who have access to it can benefit from it. And maybe in the future, there will be an opportunity to change that or add something to that so that other people, different languages can join as well. But for now, that's the limitation and we're just going to make this work really well and then we'll see from there as time goes on. We currently have right now, as of today, 184 members who are all supportive and loving and ready to welcome you all. And I've let them know that we'll be inviting more members and so they know that you all are coming. The more connected we can be as a community, the more informed and supportive we are of each other. The stronger we can be as individuals, not just as a community. With that said, I do want to say that if you are not in a place where you feel ready to chat with others, anonymous or not, you are not obligated to do so in this group. So don't feel that way. Don't feel pressured to chat. You are more than welcome to just come, observe, read, and just feel connected by simply being there amongst other people who are going through the same lived experience that you are. All right, everyone, thank you so much for taking the time to watch this video. If you are interested in joining the Telegram group, the join link will be in the description box below. Please be patient if it takes a little while for us to accept your request to join. There may be an influx of a lot of people in the beginning. I'm not sure. I don't really know what to expect at this point. But just in case if it takes a little while, please just be patient. We will get through every single one. Be sure to like this video if you liked it. Subscribe if you haven't already hit that bell so you get a notification every time a new video comes out, which is happening at least once a week now. Don't want to miss it. And please, please, please share this video, especially with people in your life who might benefit from joining a loving, supportive, safe community like Telegram. Until next time, cheers.