Australia's International Sex, Gender & Sexuality Clinic Gets Underway

by Dr. Tracie O'Keefe

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The clinic, based at the Australian Health & Education Centre in Glebe, has now been open for six months although I ran the clinic from my office in Randwick for three years before we found the right premises. Both my partner (journalist & actor Katrina Fox) and I had to wait for three years to get our permanent residency visas before we knew we could stay in Australia. For many years I ran the Sex, Gender and Sexuality Identity Clinic at the London Medical Centre before coming to Australia. We really love Australia and I knew in moving here that I wanted the clinic to be in the centre of Sydney so it would be easily accessible for everyone travelling from anywhere. From Central Station the centre is a 20-minute walk or a 10-minute bus ride. Even if people come by car there is good on-street parking.

I have been helping sex and gender diverse people for around thirty years now. I actually started my encounter with therapy in co-counselling at college thirty-five years ago. In those days there were no other visible transsexuals around where I lived so all my support came from the gay community, many of whom have remained lifelong friends.

In my professional capacity I have never been your average clinician because I have always been politically active within the sex, gender and sexuality movements. I see being a civil rights campaigner as being complementary to being a therapist. I remember spending my teenage years at college with a book in one hand and a placard in the other, and I guess I'm still unapologetically the same.

The Sex, Gender and Sexuality clinic is for everyone including TS, TG, TV, IS, androgynous and neuter-identified people along with gay, lesbian, bisexual and pansexual people, and we also help heterosexual people with sexual dysfunction. Nor do I, personally or professionally, see transsexualism or other forms of sex and gender diverse identities as people having terrible disorders. Although I am a long-term clinical member of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association and use their Standards of Care as a minimum for the way I treat people, I believe my work is far more advanced than those standards and certainly more humane.

At A.H.E.C. we help people make decisions about their sex and gender identity, make hormonal and surgical referrals, where applicable, help people with family, work and confidence issues, post-surgical sexual performance and a range of other issues. We also do microdermabrasion skin resurfacing to reduce wrinkles and scarring on the face or anywhere on the body, non-surgical facelifts and bodylifts, and a range of skincare and massage treatments including cellulite reduction. We also have a voice coach who comes in to help with feminising people's voices.

So there is a place of excellence for sex and gender diverse people staffed by trained professionals in Sydney. We are a private clinic and receive no government funds and we will never apply for any. I believe in private healthcare and have used that option for the majority of my life.

Of course I believe in social medicine and that the state should help those who cannot help themselves. I am a socialist after all - in fact my father was a socialist politician for thirty years, but I don't believe in separating sex and gender diverse people off into hideaways as if they are freaks. We are part of society and the sooner we get used to them and they get used to us, the better we can all live together in harmony. Some fees can be claimed back on health funds or some on Medicare, but not all. People from all walks of life use our services and find the money from somewhere, even sometimes from sponsors.

The majority of people transitioning or living as sex and gender diverse people manage to work and have careers, homes, families and most of the things that other people experience. There are, of course, those who cannot cope with everyday life but I don't believe that these people are greater in number than in the average population, although they stand out more because of their differences.

I suppose the greatest achievement that I believe we attain is that we are kind, and for me that is the very essence of my therapeutic approach. Clients don't have to jump through hoops or make things up. They can just tell it to us as it is and we accept their stories. There is no real test for transsexualism, so let's all stop pretending there is or that any group is superior to another, as we are all human and all have our own needs. There is also very little difference between many of the problems any sex and gender diverse persons are exposed to through society's prejudices.

Professionally I've seen thousands of sex and gender diverse people of all shapes and sizes. I suppose having transitioned in my early teenage years over thirty-five years ago has given me a rare clinical insight since I have been there, done that and literally worn the t-shirt. Don't let that fool you though, because many of the people who come to see us with sex and gender issues do not transition but work out their issues other ways. I also challenge clients to see if the road they propose is what they really want, as only a fool would work with blinkers on. But again I'm kind, because I've been there, and know the difference between having someone communicate with you on your own level and having someone look down on you. All our clients are afforded the respect they deserve.

As a couples and family therapist as well, I often see people with their relatives, lovers and friends to help them keep support networks in place whenever possible. Many people need help post-transition when they find they have to learn a new set of personal and social guidelines by which to manage their lives. We all need friends and people we call our family in order to make a whole and fulfilling life.

Sex is also another important area I have worked in for most of my career. Sex is important to me as a person. I openly admit that I have had rather a lot of it, and it has contributed positively to my life. I believe that everyone is entitled to a good sex life if that is what they want. I know the sex and gender diverse community are just as afraid of talking about sex as the public is afraid of asking them about it. Sex is such a wonderful experience and one that can be explored and celebrated in a natural way for all sex and gender diverse people.

Consultation at the clinic can be in person or in some cases on the telephone or videophone from anywhere in the country. Because we are such a large country, people sometimes come for an initial visit and then may access a videophone at a local business centre, hospital, local health authority or other place with a videophone. We also offer an international coaching service to people outside Australia. We can work with clinicians you are already seeing or we can introduce you to clinicians who can help who are located in your area, who in turn will work with us. As well as being an on-premises clinic we are also a virtual clinic working flexibly in the 21st century so that anyone, anywhere can access our services.

Dr Tracie O'Keefe is a Doctor of Clinical Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapist, Counsellor, Couples and Family therapist, Sex Therapist, Life Coach, and Professor of Sex, Gender and Sexuality at the Calamus International University. She is the Clinical and Educational Director of the Australian Health and Education Centre, Sydney; author of Trans-X-U-All: The Naked Difference (1997), Sex, Gender & Sexuality:21st Century Transformations (1999); Self-Hypnosis for Life: Mind, Body & Spiritual Excellence (2000) and co-editor of Finding the Real Me: True Tales of Sex & Gender Identity (2003).

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