Trans resources thread

I believe you want this thread updated so here's the most current info about transition in Ireland and the UK available, assume anything with "Link--->" beside it is a url since I can't actually post url's so just replace "Link--->" with 3 w's and a dot at the start

Getting started
OK so how the whole process generally works. Our side links can only give you info nothing more. To start on the road to changing you first need to see a psychologist called Dr James Kelly via Link--->diamondtherapy.eu/page17.html he's not on the medical card so you do have to pay (Its about 95 euros for an hour long session), you need to see him in person at least once and after that you can video conference him over Skype for a few more sessions (usually one or two) so he can assess you to see if you really are TS but he's a lovely guy and it's more like chatting with a friend. I was nervous the first time and am usually uptight in situations like that but he put me totally at ease. Then if he gives you the green light he'll send you to see an Endocrinologist called Dr Donal O'Shay (Again a lovely, understanding guy). He'll ask you a few questions just for his record and decide whether or not you get hormones and may prescribe anti-androgens that day as long as you did the blood work Dr Kelly will tell you about before your appointment with Dr O'Shay. It's a long process and no matter how intense you are about it we all had to go through it so from coming out to starting hormones could take up to 5 months depending on when you can get appointments so patience is required but it's worth it in the long run and to be honest this is the best time to start laser hair removal because the heavier hair will be gone so by the time you start the hormones and they kick in you'll only have the lighter hair and it'll thin out and make electrolysis alot easier and less painful.

A common misconception is that you have to be living full time as female for a certain amount of time to be approved for hormones but that's untrue, that's only the UK not Ireland (I'll talk about that later and Kat is from the UK so will add more about the ins and outs of UK policy). I started the hormones while still living as male. As long as Dr Kelly agrees you could be prescribed them the first day you talk to Dr O'Shay. As a disclaimer just for me not to be accused of getting anyone's hopes up other factors come in here too, Age, health, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol Levels etc. also play a big part in how you'll react on the hormones as does if you're a smoker or a drinker because all those things can interact badly with the hormones so your lifestyle will be part of the decision to approve them so choices need to be made before committing to this route.

So I figured that not all the Transsexuals on here may be from Ireland since we could have UK and Northern Irish posters too so I decided to do some research and to put up some starting info and an idea of what to expect for those too in case anyone needs it.

Some Info on the TS situation in UK and NI:

In the UK treatment for gender dysphoria is available both on the NHS and privately.

Treatment on the NHS:

The NHS route is heavily oversubscribed and with limited resources made available long delays for appointments are inevitable. At the time of writing (May, 2013) the funding structure for all NHS resources is undergoing a radical change from Primary Care Trusts (PCT's) to Clinical Commissioning Groups and it's not completely clear how care will be affected. A more detailed description of the current restructuring and implications for trans people can be found here: Link---> plain-sense.co.uk/2013/03/how-is-trans-care-affected-by-nhs

Either way it's advisable to initiate appointments early.

The first point of contact is via your GP with a request for referral to a Gender Identity Clinic (GIC). This is followed by an appointment and assessment with an NHS psychiatrist. Once this is completed it's then up to the relevant PCT to approve funding for treatment. Once funding is approved an appointment will be offered at one of the GIC's.

When you get an appointment at a GIC the exact care protocol will vary somewhat between clinics. The traditionally model is that you have to undergo a period of living full time in your target gender role before hormones are prescribed. This is usually referred to as Real Life Experience (RLE). In the case of Charing Cross Clinic in London you are expected to provide proof of name change and evidence of employment, enrolment as a student or voluntary work before you can proceed with HRT. Other clinics may be somewhat more flexible with this requirement. In all cases the exact treatment regime and it's relation to RLE can vary somewhat dependent on the patient.

A recent development is that in Scotland besides going via your GP it is also now possible to self refer to the Sandyford GIC.
The NHS is Scotland is also taking a much more flexible approach and the current WPATH standards and will prescribe hormones before beginning RLE.

The NHS refer patients for reassignment surgery (SRS) after two years RLE carried out at Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith, London

UK Gender Identity Clinics:

England:

West London Mental Health NHS Trust GIC (often refered to as “Charing Cross” due to it's proximity to the hospital
179-183 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8QZ,
Tel: 020 8483 2801
The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust Service (for Children/young people)
The Tavistock Centre, 120 Belsize Lane, London NW3 5BA
Tel: 020 7435 7111

Leeds Gender Identity Clinic
1st floor, Newsam Centre, Seacroft Hospital, York Road, Leeds LS14 6WB
Tel: 0113 305 6346

Sheffield Gender Identity Clinic
Porterbrook Clinic, Michael Carlisle Centre,
Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
75 Osborne Road, SHEFFIELD, S11 9BF
Tel: 0114 2716671

Sunderland Gender Dysphoria Service
Upper Poplars, Cherry Knowle Hospital, Ryhope, Sunderland SR2 0NB
Tel: 0191 569 9401

Nottingham Gender Clinic
Mandala Centre, Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham NG7 6LB
Tel: 0115 960 2820

Town Close Gender Identity Clinic
Julian Hospital, Bothorpe Road, Norwich NR2 3TD
Tel: 01603 421710

The Laurels Gender Identity and Sexual Medicine service (Devon Partnership NHS Trust)
The Laurels, 11-15 Dix's Field, Exeter EX1 1QA
Tel: 01392 677077

Northern Ireland:

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
Gender Identity Clinic for Northern Ireland
Gender Identity Service, Centre for Psychotherapy, Shimna House
Knockbracken Healthcare Park
Saintfield Road, Belfast, BT8 8BH
Tel: 028 90916924

Scotland:

Sandyford Gender Identity Clinic
2-6 Sandyford Place, Glasgow, G3 7NB
Telephone: 0141 211 8130

Private Treatment in the UK:

The Transhealth Clinic in London provides an excellent and more flexible approach to gender transition while still adhearing to the WPATH standards of care. In the past it has been possible to arrange for the local PCT to fund treatment through the clinic, however, now days this is difficult due to budget restraints. More easily arranged is a Shared Care Agreement where the local GP provides some of the support services, e.g. blood work, prescriptions etc on the NHS while the patient pays for appointment themselves.

Link--->transhealth.co.uk/

Changing your name/gender marker (UK)

Changing your name and the gender marker on passports and driving licenses is in fact remarkably easy.

Link--->gender.org.uk/gendys/index.htm is a very useful network for all persons who have gender identity problems personally and for those that provide care or are just in a relationship with a TS. The network tries to help transsexuals and intersexed people see themselves not as victims, but as survivors of their gender identity. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 came into force in the UK on 4 April 2005. The law now recognises a change of gender ('the acquired gender') as being a person's gender for all legal purposes. If the person who has changed gender has an entry in a UK birth register, they are entitled to have a new entry showing their acquired gender.

In Britain, as in most countries, there are two paths to transition: public (NHS) and private. The latter is costly but the client has great control and choice, the former is very problematic, inconsistent and rigid with the individual at the mercy of the system. In particular, if an individual opts for NHS Treatment, funding varies considerably between Primary Care Trusts. In the past, some would provide funds for psychiatric counselling, but not for treatment. This is now illegal. All PCTs must provide treatment, although they can impose (unreasonably) low quotas or insist patients follow a specific treatment regime.

One essential and very expensive treatment – facial hair removal - is not generally available on the NHS, as is the same in Ireland, so this must be paid for by the patient regardless of whether he or she transitions under NHS care or privately. Patients attending a consultant psychiatrist privately may have their prescriptions charges paid for by their PCTs but there is no guarantee. Further, the NHS Gender Clinics themselves have long waiting lists, which often results in the transition taking a greatly extended period of time (this affects us over here too since most Irish TS have the SRS in the UK so are also subject to that waiting list). As a result of the volume of demand, NHS Gender Clinics are now requiring patients to undergo a Real-Life-Test before receiving hormone therapy which obviously makes it much more difficult for the person to undertake an effective transition. As a result of these problems, many individuals attempt to fund much or all of their transition privately. This means that hormone therapy is usually started within three months of the first consultation with a consultant psychiatrist and the Real-Life-Test typically starts several months later.

If the patient copes well with the Real-Life-Test, approval for surgery is likely to follow a year or so after it was started. Since the costs of surgery must be met by the patient himself or herself, in many cases patients will not seek surgery as soon as approval is given - a two year period from the start of RLT seems to be fairly typical. Moreover, a lot of TS individuals consider foreign venues for surgery (especially Thailand).

In the London area, following the retirement of Dr Russell Reid in 2006, the best known and best regarded private gender clinic is run by Dr Richard Curtis (see Link--->transhealth.co.uk for the wide range of services and prices). An example of prices would be Stg£200 for the first gender consultation and £100 for each consultation thereafter and IPL hair removal comes in at £150 per half hour session . Not cheap so shopping around may provide less expensive options and Saloons/Beauty Therapists outside major cities that provide IPL would most certainly be less expensive.

For anyone considering gender reassignment from what ever country I'd also recommend having a look at Link--->tsroadmap.com/, it's a US based site but it's been added to over years and has a lot of advice about how to develop your look, alter your voice etc. and other small nuggets that really do help just passing day to day.

Info

Ireland has no gender reassignment surgeons so usually the HSE pays for us to go to the UK and have it done on the NHS but it's part of the National Treatment Purchase Fund and is, for the most part, funded by the EU. This is a really long process and I've heard of people being on the list for over 4 years and it's piled with red tape.

After seeing Dr Kelly and Dr O'Shay you're still only 20% of the way there. You also need approval from your GP and from a HSE certified Psychiatrist. You need to visit one on a regular basis in the area you live in and I'll be totally honest, a lot of these have little or no experience with Transsexuals and can be as frustrating as **** and at times will put you down to bits. My best advice is to go in knowing your stuff and if necessary educate them too, they didn't have to study this in college so expect them to be very vague on details.

Technically speaking you're full time living starts the day you officially change your name, just wearing a dress on the weekends but still calling yourself John Doe during the week in work is not enough, you have to be living fulltime which includes your passport/driving licence/Tax everything changes to your new name and you work in your chosen gender too, if this will be a problem at the start I'd suggest using an androgynous name until you get your confidence up (Changing your name by deed poll takes a day out of your time and costs at most 70 quid, I changed mine for 30 quid and had everything I needed to change it everywhere in 10 days, I'll post all the steps to do it later in this post.

Dr Kelly and Dr O'Shay can help you find a Psychiatrist in your area but the area you live in can also, unfortunately, be a factor in how quick your approval goes through. The Southside of Dublin for example has a much quicker approval rate than the Northside from what I've been told, as I said red tape. Dr Kelly can help you too if you decide to go private (thats what I plan on doing) but all in all you're talking the guts of €20,000 so again not the cheap option.

I know at times it's hard, I've been there but seriously once the face hair dies down, you're on the hormones and living full time you change mentally. When I was living as male I hated my life and obsessed about being female and wanted everything done tomorrow but once I got things in place the obsession with the operation died down, I still want it but now that I'm happy in who I am I'm willing to wait those extra couple of years to get it right for me. Don't let the big things consume you because they take ages, focus on the little things and do them right and the big things don't seem as big anymore and you can actually see them happening in the future and don't really mind waiting an extra year or two.

If you are under 18 there is a youth group called Link--->belongto.org/group.aspx?groupid=6 who also has a specific group called Individuality where you can find help and support, you aren't alone so contact them before doing something self destructive because trust me it isn't worth it and scars are for life not just for Christmas and no amount of make up can cover them up.


Changing your name

How to change your name:

OK go to the main court office, in Dublin it's Link--->courts.ie/courts.ie/library3.nsf/PageCurrent/F8280C1F8A2E6F2980256F20004F7A58?opendocument - The Four Courts (go through the gate, take a right and go in the door of the building on the right, walk down the hall and ask where you buy "deed poll paper" at the reception, you go outside and cross a court and the shop is there), go to the shop and deed poll paper costs 50 cent per sheet, buy 10 sheets just in case (it's only a fiver for 10 sheet), go back to reception and ask where you go to change your name. the counter is right inside the door you get directed too. The people there are really nice and will refer to you as your new name but all they need is for you to fill out a form with new name and e-mail address and they will mail you your Deed poll template.

Link--->courts.ie/offices.nsf/(WebFiles)/19D92A7D61354B0480257C6D005E9E4D/$FILE/Template%20of%20Adult%20Deed%20Poll.doc



Link--->courts.ie/offices.nsf/(WebFiles)/2FA463E1898E6E6880257C6D005F1A50/$FILE/Affidavit%20of%20Attesting%20Witness%20for%20Adult.doc

is for your witness, DO NOT CHANGE THE FORMAT OF THE FORM! if it asks for your name change it to your new/old name but keep the font. Your witness fills in the second form and so does a commissioner of oaths (that costs about 30/35 quid and there is a solicitor in a small office just down the lane beside the 4 courts who will do it for you there and then as long as you and your witness have a decent form of ID). get it done right (This is why you need 10 sheets of deed poll paper, you'll probably get it wrong the first time, I ****ed up 3 times tbh). when it's right bring it back to the four courts, to the same place, and they'll send you to pay the registration fee (back at the main gate, the building to the left just there) costs 30 quid, bring the receipt back to them, they take everything and phone you in 10 days and that's it Name changed in 60 euros and one day by the way you need to also have a full version of your birthcert (it costs 10 euro to get it) which they take and attach your deed pool too. As an aside there is no legal requirement to register your name change in the courts, as soon as the commissioner of oaths stamps it it is perfectly legal. Some institutions will tell you it isn't legal until it is registered in the courts but they are wrong. If you read this page it is from the four courts official web site:
Link--->courts.ie/offices.nsf/0/B43B2E45023B633B802573D10045B030?OpenDocument The four courts it says that it doesn't need to be enrolled (registered) to be legal so if anyone says otherwise just print this page off and beat them with it, once you show them that then you have made them aware of the law so if they continue to refuse to change your name then it is them breaking the law not you since it is them who insist on using a name that no longer legally exists. In cases like that you hold all the cards so don't let them walk all over you


For anyone outside Dublin you can also buy deed poll paper in most Solicitors office.

All those links and that info is as updated as you can get right now so feel free to use it as you wish. Again sorry I couldn't add direct links but the site won't let me so maybe a mod can add the part I had to edit out and make them clickys. Oh yeah and this is Kazobel (obviously) but I was told that you needed this thread updated and have been asking for someone to do it for about a year now so if I don't help no one else will so feel free to delete this account now, I really only created it to post this