Gender- Ask a Pro Live with Kai and Olivia July 25th 2019

[Jess1-RO]

@Olivia_QLDchildrensHospital I am so moved by your drive to make a difference! We need more service providers like you who are passionate to make a difference and motivated to support those in our community who can fall through the gaps of traditional mental health services. Such an inspiring journey!

[Hozzles]

@KaiRoe thank you for sharing your story! I feel the current age of the internet is allowing more young people to discover their identities/ labels that fit them earlier than before and really find community. I love that! 

@Olivia_QLDchildrensHospital your job sounds amazing and so inspiring! I really want to work with children as a psychologist some day.

Had to head out for a bit but I'm back now, loving this chat! Funny how @Olivia_QLDchildrensHospital seems like a dog person and @KaiRoe a cat person! 

[KaiRoe]

@Hozzles Little known secret, im more of a ferret person!

[Olivia_QLDchildrensHospital]

@Tiny_leaf Im sorry you get misgendered by health professionals. If you have a friendly GP or school nurse/counsellor you could ask them about getting a referral to your local service to check them out. It is totally ok to directly ask your health professional to use your pronouns and mark their records with this

[Jess1-RO]

Our next question is for both @KaiRoe and @Olivia_QLDchildrensHospital:

What are your top three things/pieces of advice you have for those questioning their gender?

We are also going to ask this question to the community, so please feel free to share your top three tips too!

[Olivia_QLDchildrensHospital]

@KaiRoe  Y'all deserve it 

[KaiRoe]

Kai's top tips for questioning your gender! 

1. Don’t be afraid to experiment, experiment with labels, or no labels, until you find something that fits for you. 
2. Put yourself around supporting people who accept you for who you are no matter what 
3. Don’t feel pressured to come out until you’re ready and feel safe.

[Tiny_leaf]

@Olivia_QLDchildrensHospital that's actually after I've asked them to use my pronouns...

Some doctors can't get their head around "they" as a pronoun, and seem to see me as "basically a girl". The NDIS is also not great with this.

I might look into a referral at some point, though I'm getting closer to 18 now...

[KaiRoe]

@Tiny_leaf I'm so sorry you get misgendered by doctors! I can relate. some advice, well something I do, if you feel safe enough to do so, just assert your name and pronouns, make sure they know what they are and correct them if they don't use them!

[Jess1-RO]

Hi @Tiny_leaf I am so sorry to hear you are often being misgendered by your doctors, that must be so tough to experience What I'm hearing is that the gender centre in your area focuses on physical transition, are there are supports you would be interested in too? If so, what would you like to see from gender centres?

We are happy to see if we can point you in the direction of some more support too