Manager's Report

by Elizabeth Riley

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

Counselling

Following our report in last month's issue we are pleased to report that we have engaged the services of qualified counsellor to provide counselling services to the community. The new counsellor is Elizabeth Anne and she is currently available on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Elizabeth is a graduate of The Australian College of Applied Psychology and can provide assistance across a broad spectrum of counselling needs. We have also established referral to a C.S.A.H.S. clinical psychologist/psychotherapist. Clients can access the clinical psychologist through Elizabeth Anne if desired.

Department of Education & Training

I have received very favourable reports on the video prepared through the Department of Education and Training. The video is due to be released in schools in the new term and is part of a training package dealing with the theme "Valuing Diversity". The Gender Centre will receive a copy in the near future and we look forward to improved awareness of transgender identity in mainstream society as a result of this D.E.T. initiative.

Department for Women

The Transgender Working Party met again recently at the Department for Women and we are expecting to soon launch a poster campaign to increase community awareness of transgender people. Once launched the working party will focus on other key issues. Transgender employment opportunities will be high on the agenda. Members of the community who feel there are pressing issues they would like to see addressed should write to me with details. Be aware that the working party comprises key people in state government departments and therefore has limited capacity to deal with issues outside N.S.W. or federally.

N.S.W. Police Service

The first meeting of the group addressing police policy in relation to the transgender community met last month. I anticipate a positive outcome and we will produce the policy in full in Polare as soon as it is developed, finalised and adopted.

Writing Workshops

Many of you will be aware of the negative writing that has been directed towards the transgender community from a number of feminist writers over the last two decades.

We believe the time is right for transgender people to begin to write about their own experiences and perceptions of the world. It is appropriate that we should be the ones defining who we are and not leaving this to non-transgender writers. Our writings may well range in content from personal stories to broader academic and philosophical topics. The Gender Centre is exploring the possibility of gathering a collection of writings from the transgender community, perhaps with the possibility of compiling these into a book.

Interested in contributing? If you are an experienced writer, a budding writer or someone who feels you have something to say we would love to hear from you. If you would like to contribute but lack confidence in your writing skills we will look at the possibility of running a series of writer's workshops to get you started.

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.