Youth Support Services - The Gender Centre INC

Resources

Services we offer our youth

Crisis and Transitional accommodation, for youth over the age of 18.......Brokerage,......Family Support,......School Support,......Case Management,.....Counselling & Psychological support service's and Speech Pathology

Counselling for youth

Youth over the age of 16 attend counselling at the Gender Centre without the consent of a parent or care giver,all sessions are strictly confidential. Youth and children under the age of 16 often attend counselling sessions together with their parents........ or individually with their parents consent counselling can be a safe space in which to address and explore issues of gender

Automatic confidentiality:

This means that unless someone's going to be seriously harmed of killed, a doctor or other health professional has to keep what you say private, even from your parents/guardian.
The age that you have automatic confidentiality rights is:
Fourteen (14) and over in the NT
Sixteen (16) and over in NSW and SA
Eighteen (18) and over in all other states
for further information reagarding confidentiality go to the Reach out .com site http://au.reachout.com/all-about-age-and-confidentiality

Community Case Management

The Gender Centre offers community case management to individuals who aren't residing in our housing programs. Community case management applies to anyone who identifies as transgender, gender diverse, and gender questioning. This service is available to both families and individuals. Community case management is a process of assessment, early
intervention, support, mediation and advocacy to meet the individual's holistic needs. Our primary objective is to support individuals to sustain an independent lifestyle within the community

Housing options Crisis & Transitional

The Gender Centre is a specialist homelessness service (SHS) which provides thirteen supported crisis beds and eccepts clients from the age of 18 up under special cercumstances the centre can accommodate clients under the age of 18 with permission from The Department of Family and Community services. The Gender Centre also provides 21 single supported transitional units for clients over the age of 18

Brokerage

Our brokerage program provides support for

Establishing or moving tenancy
Housing related debts
Bonds
Employment and education costs
Medical and dental expenses

Monthly support groups for Gender Diverse youth

We provide a safe place for trans and gender questioning teenagers to explore their identity and build strong social relationships with likeminded people of a similar age.The group gives participants the opportunity to be themselves, and to talk with other young people who are facing similar challenges or questions. Guest speakers are also invited into the group to share their experience or knowledge of particular topics.

Each month the group explores a particular theme, and we try to cover everything that’s relevant to trans* and gender-questioning youth. We explore topics like transition, family and support, bullying and discrimination. There are also sessions where the group is able to decide the topic or activity for that session.

Through the group we aim to encourage the participants to know that they are not alone,to feel that they are safe, and to know they have the right to move about the streets of their city without being harmed or judged.We hope to develop a sense of strength and resilience within the young people who come to the group.Participants are able to access extra support outside the group if they need it. This can be anything from a safe space to debrief before or after the group, to free counselling, to case management (e.g. help finding housing), or any of the other services offered by the Gender Centre. If we are unable to provide assistance within the centre, we will refer the young person to another appropriate service

What is gender dysphoria

Gender dysphoria is the diagnosis typically given to a person whose assigned birth gender is not the same as the one with which they identify. According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the term – which recently replaced Gender Identity Disorder – “is intended to better characterize the experiences of affected children, adolescents, and adults.” To be clear, transgender identity is not a mental illness that can be cured with treatment. Rather, transgender people often experience a persistent and authentic disconnect between the sex assigned to them at birth and their internal sense of who they are. This disconnect is referred to by medical professionals as “gender dysphoria” because it can cause undue pain and distress in the lives of transgender people.