Our Services
Information
ACCOMMODATION
The Gender Centre Inc. is a Specialist Transgender Homelessness Service (SHS) which provides a safe and supported environment in the form of supported refuge and transitional housing to transgender and gender diverse clients who are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless.The Gender Centre provides accommodation services to two broad client groups through its Sydney District Package i.e. a client who self-identifies as transgender or who are exploring issues regarding their gender identity and are 18 years and over to be accommodated within our housing program.
Clients undertake weekly and monthly case management with their case worker to facilitate progress towards building their capacity to for independent living.The Gender Centre’s residential program provides supported shared crisis temporary accommodation for up to three months. Please note clients accepting temporary crisis accommodation may be sharing accommodation with people of varied cultural backgrounds and with a diverse range of experiences.
There is no waiting list kept for admission to the crisis program, admission is subject to bed availability and of the outcome of an individual risk assessment.
ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT
We are committed to educating the public and service providers about the needs of people with gender issues. We provide high-quality education and training services. We acknowledge human rights and ensure respect and confidentiality for all involved.
CASE MANAGEMENT
Specialising in Transgender Homelessness Services, we provide a safe and supportive environment in the form of supported refuge and transitional housing to transgender and gender diverse clients who are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless.
COUNSELLING & MENTAL HEALTH
The Gender Centre counselling service provides a high quality professional counselling service to the transgender and gender questioning community. The values underpinning our work include: integrity, compassion, respect, vitality, resourcefulness, professionalism and perseverance, and is guided by the following core values.
EDUCATION & TRAINING
The Gender Centre is committed to educating the public and service providers about the needs of people with gender issues. As part of this commitment, we specifically aim to provide a high quality education and training service, which acknowledges human rights and ensures respect and confidentiality for all involved.
FAMILY SUPPORT
Support offered to families and parents with transgender children from the Gender Centre. The Gender Centre has a case work support program that works with families. This involves access to our counsellor's for the family as well as a case worker. The model that we offer is flexible, offering individual or group sessions with a case worker.
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
HIV AND HEP C TESTING
The Gender Centre is now offering the Dried Blood Spot (DBS) test which is a free, easy and private way to test for HIV and Hepatitis C at our Annandale office.
You don’t need to go to a clinic, see a doctor or provide any personal information, which allows you to maintain your privacy and anonymity. All you need to do is call or email The Gender Centre reception on 95197599 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to book an appointment with your case worker or with Annika if you do not have a case worker.
It requires just a few drops of blood from your finger, and you get your results by phone, text or email within 1-2 weeks. To be eligible for the HIV test, you must be transgender or gender diverse and be 16 years of age or over. For the Hepatitis C test, please speak to reception or Annika about eligible groups such as Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) clients.
HR SUPPORT
NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM
The Gender Centre is an approved Needle and Syringe program outlet and within this program is known as a "Secondary" N.S.P. outlet. Secondary N.S.P. outlets are those where the provision of needles and syringes is not one of the prime purposes of the service but one of a range of other health and community services that are provided, In Secondary N.S.P. outlets, staff are primarily employed to perform duties other than to provide N.S.P. services.
As part of our regular duties to serve the transgender and gender diverse communities, the Gender Centre provides a range of needles and syringes, and information about safe injecting procedures to those charged with the responsibility of injecting their own hormone treatment. We also provide a range of safe-sex items as part of our outreach service to transgender street based sex workers and accordingly provide safe-sex information to these people and others within the communities that we serve.
The Gender Centre is therefore well-placed to provide the community with a needle exchange outlet from both our Petersham premises and our twice-weekly outreach service.
RURAL & REGIONAL SUPPORT
The Gender Centre is a state wide support service and as such we provide support to all Rural and Regional areas within NSW.
We support rural and regional transgender and gender diverse individuals in a number of ways. We conduct outreach clinics, where there is a mix of casework and counselling provided. Our outreach clinics are available in a number of areas, including Orange, Dubbo, Greater Western Sydney Blue Mountains, Hawksberry, Illawara area ,Central Coast and the Hunter region .We also have educational training for schools and workplaces in regional areas that have transgender employees and students.
SPEECH PATHOLOGY
VOICE /SPEECH PATHOLOGY SERVICES AT THE GENDER CENTRE
DUE TO THE VERY HIGH DEMAND FOR THIS SERVICE THE SPEECH PATHOLOGY SERVICE HAS REACHED CAPACITY
WE ARE NOT ABLE TO TAKE ANY NEW REFERRALS TILL FURTHER NOTICE
To access this service you will need a GP's referral made out to the Gender Centre's speech pathology service along with a Chronic Disease Management form (formerly Enhanced Primary Care Program or EPC) which entitles you to 5 bulk billing sessions, The speech pathology service is available on Saturdays at The Gender Centre 41-43 Parramatta Rd Annandale.
OUTREACH SUPPORT
The Gender Centre's outreach service provides services to our clients who might not otherwise have access to our services or who are confined to hospital or their homes, as well as correctional facilities within N.S.W. Our outreach team provides support and referals to other sepcialist services for more information reagrding our outreach services contact the Gender Centre on 9569-2366.
SENIORS SUPPORT
The aim of the Gender Centre's Seniors Support Service is to offer support to clients who are over the age of 55. Support includes frontline crisis and case management, linking clients with other specialised aged care services that are working with transgender and gender diverse people and enable clients to feel safe and secure in accessing these services, provide psycho-social support and opportunities for engagement, enhance the quality of life in relation to independence and self-determination, to promote the needs of transgender and gender-questioning people to aged care service providers, and to provide skills development and training to other aged care service providers, especially generalist services so they can deliver good practice models of service delivery to this unique and diverse community.
SCHOOLS SUPPORT
There is a number of youth identifying as transgender and transitioning at school. The Gender Centre has had a significant expansion of services delivered to schools.
Our engagement with schools involves supporting the school in providing best practice for the student during transition and right through the course of their schooling. This involves inclusive meetings with a variety of stakeholders including principles, welfare teachers, counsellors, parents, year advisers and where necessary external welfare department consultant. It is essential that planning is thorough to allow for best practice to occur. This involves setting time frames with the provision for flexibility, physical alterations and adjustments made at the school for the dignity and safety of the young person, amendments to formal processes to reflect the students name and gender, and ensuring a strong and sensitive support network is in place.
Assisting the transition of a young person at school requires professional development, training, creating awareness, and affecting cultural change. There are a number of components in our delivery model in holistic support of the young person and the school.
The Gender Centre provides; Support, Training, Workshops & Resources for Principals & Teachers.
TENANCY SUPPORT SERVICES
Very often transgender people are excluded from the opportunity to access long-term housing, including private rental, because of the pre-conceived ideas and assumptions that others might have about transgender people or their appearance may not be as expected. A transgender person's capacity to manage a tenancy is often based on these superficial assumptions and not on the more important issues of having the capacity to manage a tenancy, paying the rent, maintaining the property to a high standard and being a good neighbour.
