Publish 23/07/2017

The SEGI Transgender Youth Support Group is coming up to its first anniversary and the group members will be celebrating with a BBQ next month.

The SEGI continues to support the transgender community providing a 25yrs and under Trans Youth Support group and a Transgender Drop-in service to meet the needs of the transgender community through peer support and access to our counselling service.

We are hosting a new service for Parents and Carers of transgender people which has been organised as a collaboration between METRO Trans Youth Support and South East Gender Initiative (SEGI) Trans Youth support to provide an opportunity for the parents and carers of transgender people to support each other and their children. 

Publised 05/12/2014

Please follow the link below to complete  the survey 

 SEGI SURVEY

 MGSD Centre is carrying out a survey of support services provided by the South East Gender Initiative. We welcome feedback on the transgender peer support service provided at Medway Gender & Sexual Diversity Centre in Rochester. The survey aims to capture the views of all who have attended the service, both past and current users.

The survey is conducted online with tools in place to ensure that your answers are completely anonymous. Your identity will not be disclosed to anyone, including the researchers. Your participation is completely voluntary and you may skip any questions that may cause you emotional distress, or end the survey at any time by simply clicking on the Submit Survey link. There is no material benefit for participating in this survey.

We aim to complete the survey by 14^th December.

Thank you for your time and help in completing this survey.

Kind regards

Hilary Cooke – MGSD Centre

Mental health charity says society’s attitudes towards transgender people are not changing fast enough

• Patrick Strudwick
• The Guardian, Wednesday 19 November 2014 15.36 GMT

The hidden extent of suicide attempts among young transgender people has been highlighted in a study. A survey found that 48% of trans people under 26 said they had attempted suicide, and 30% said they had done so in the past year, while 59% said they had at least considered doing so.

By comparison, about 6% of all 16- to 24-year-olds say they have attempted suicide, according to the Adult Psychiatry Morbidity Survey.

The research was conducted by Pace, a mental health charity for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, in partnership with Brunel University, the University of Worcester, and London South Bank University. It involved interviews and a survey of more than 2,000 people in England from 2010 to 2014. The report said the suicide last year of Lucy Meadows, a primary school teacher who was transgender, after two previous attempts was indicative of a much wider problem.

The figures on suicide attempts by trans youth were higher than those found in previous studies across all age groups. A US study in 2006 found that 32% of trans people had tried to kill themselves. And the Trans Mental Health Study of 2012 (pdf) found 35% had attempted suicide once and 25% a second time. The Pace research also found 59% of transgender youth said they had deliberately hurt themselves, compared with 8.9% of all 16- to 24-year-olds.

Pace released the findings to the Guardian before Thursday’s International Transgender Day of Remembrance, which annually highlights transphobic murders.

Margaret Unwin, the Pace chief executive, said: “The lack of visibility and acceptance in society contributes to these shocking figures about suicide attempts and self-harm in trans young people. While society’s attitudes towards transgender people are changing, it is still not fast enough and the negative impacts on trans people’s mental health every day are huge.”

Jay Stewart, co-founder of Gendered Intelligence, a group that supports young trans people and seeks to increase education around trans issues, said the findings were not surprising. “We have been working with young people since 2006 and the demand for our services is growing. While there have been many changes in legislation, the realities of young trans people are that they can experience highly negative responses for either being trans or expressing gender variance. Bullying behaviour in schools is endemic and we often find schools sweeping such things under the carpet.”

Juliet Jacques, 33, a journalist and campaigner who documented her transition pre- and post-surgery in a blog for the Guardian from 2010 to 2012, said: “Many young trans people experience discrimination, intolerance, bullying, rejection and violence from several spheres. First at school, a place where gender norms are enforced and policed, where you’re told by teachers and other pupils that boys do x and girls do y. Within the family there can be rejection, verbal and physical abuse, and then also at street level, in the media and in the workplace. Together this can render people unable to see a future for themselves.

 It is no wonder suicidal thoughts are so common.“I have suicidal thoughts every day, even now. A lot of that is to due with the scars of childhood, feeling I lost my youth to this, things I wasn’t able to do because of the discrimination I experienced and because of the trenchant mental health problems that came with it. I’ve found a way of dealing with this. But I’ve been pretty close to the edge several times, and pretty much constantly during my teens, when I didn’t feel I could talk to anyone about it. I found a way back. And I have a lot of support. But not everyone has that.”

• The Samaritans’ 24-hour helpline is 08457 909090.

Published 16/09/2014

We are inviting young people to our first planning meeting for the group on Tuesday 23^rd September from 6 to 8pm in Rochester. There will then be fortnightly meetings afterwards, October 7^th, October 21^st…

The youth group is for young people aged 16 to 25 years who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or who are questioning their sexuality or gender identity (LGBTQ).

 Young people can email me at dan@metrocentreonline.org  for the full address. They can come along and get involved straight away on Tuesday 23^rd!

Please can you spread the word with young people you work with.

Do drop me a message with any questions. Thank you for your support!

Many thanks,

Dan

Dan Baker 
Head of Integrated Youth Services

Tel:  020 8305 5000

Fax: 020 8305 5001