WHEN Abbie Clark transitioned genders in 2019, she felt lost when it came to finding the services available to her.<\/p>\n
After five months of psychologist appointments and nearly $1000 in expenses the year prior, she began hormone treatments after being directed to a local service by a former university colleague who\u2019d successfully transitioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack then it was more who you knew, not what you knew,\u201d Ms Clark said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think that was reasonable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe process at the time was go and see your GP, get a mental health care plan, see a psychologist and they\u2019ll help you with the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot all psychologists are informed on how to help with trans folks though.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friend led me to sound psychology and started hormones in May. I also received support from the local trans community groups and stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following her experience, Ms Clark has spent nearly five months developing an online national directory charting transgender and gender diverse services, groups, and resources, called Trans.au.<\/p>\n
Though based in Ballarat, she said it was important for her to cast the net out to services across Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the resurgence of services like TransHub, TransFolk of WA, Trans Health South Australia. They all have lists of doctors, but I didn\u2019t think that was going to quite cover everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s only those states. Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, ACT, Northern Territory all seem to have no real list, and that\u2019s just with doctors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Trans.au, we don\u2019t just list doctors. We list other services, so mental health support, voice training, clinics, sexual health services, community groups, resources, events, surgeons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe include trans-friendly gendered businesses like hairdressers, beauty services and personal trainers, because it can be really confronting to go to those early in your transition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trans.au went live last week, and includes more than 320 map markers, 158 of which are Headspace locations.<\/p>\n
Many interstate services were sourced through a page on Reddit that Clark moderates, while people are able to submit their own suggestions to feature in the trans.au directory via a Google form.<\/p>\n
Plans are underway to expand the website\u2019s news and advocacy component, which is set to serve as a news aggregator for trans media organisations nationwide.<\/p>\n
Trans.au saw 500 hits on launch day while more than 20 community submissions have been received.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WHEN Abbie Clark transitioned genders in 2019, she felt lost when it came to finding the services available to her. After five months of psychologist appointments and nearly $1000 in expenses the year prior, she began hormone treatments after being directed to a local service by a former university colleague who\u2019d successfully transitioned. \u201cBack then […]<\/p>\n