HiVitality was born out of a remarkable story of friendship and courage.

It all started with an experimental one-day workshop, with tremendous take-up and enthusiastic feedback.

Tom Matthews (a later co-founder) was present and suggested to the leader of the sessions that we could do the same thing over a whole weekend, inviting people from all over the UK who had received a positive diagnosis of 5 years or more ago, and had not become ill.

Funding was found for a weekend retreat, the first retreat was at Glenfall House in Cheltenham.

At the end of that truly successful weekend, during the closing session, Tom said he thought that it would be a great relief to participants if they knew that this would happen again.

There was unanimous agreement, and NLTSG was born in 1992.

Read our full history

Tom Matthews died on Wednesday 2 February 2022

"He may have gone, but his legacy will be remembered and carried forward.”

On the 8th September 2022, we were luckily enough to be joined by one of the other founding members of NLTSG (HiVitality).

The transcript of the discussion is available here

In remembrance to Tom Matthews

HiVitality is a volunteer-led charity, which means that we are all volunteers, HiVitality do not have any paid staff.

We all have the passion and dedication to organise retreats throughout the year in different locations across the UK for people living with HIV.

We deliver workshops on topics like how to deal with stigma, exercise, meditation, mindfulness, self-care, and positive psychology.

You can learn new skills and strategies to cope with HIV and improve your quality of life.

We also provide a safe and supportive space where you can share your experiences, challenges, and achievements with other people who understand what you are going through.

At the retreats we:

- promote peer support

- encourage positive living

- challenge isolation

- build support networks

We aim to create a sense of community and connection that is invaluable.