Trinity College Dublin launches support website for trans people and their families

Today, Trinity College Dublin (TCD)’s School of Nursing and Midwifery launched a new trans support website called GenderEd.ie.

The website’s aim is to provide support to young trans people and to educate their families so that trans people in Ireland get the support they require, reports TCD’s University Times.

Developed from research carried out by Danika Sharek of the School of Nursing and Midwifery in TCD, the website is also supported by TENI, the Transgender Equality Network of Ireland, Trans ParenCI, TransFormers and BeLonG To.

Sharek explained her motivation for developing the resource for trans people and their families.

“In my research, I noticed that some transgender young people had particular difficulties with their families not being understanding or accepting of their identity,” she said.

In creating GenderEd.ie, Sharek hoped that the resource would “help families and parents to make sense of and understand their own experiences and that of their transgender family member so that they could be  in a better position to provide and access the necessary support for themselves and their family.”

TENI’s Health and Education Manager, Vanessa Lacey, welcomed the new resource for trans people and their families: “Considering the exponential rise of families of trans people currently seeking support it is heartening to know that this resource will facilitate resiliency in families.”

The Website

When visiting GenderEd.ie for the first time, browsers who are over the age of eighteen and have a trans family member are invited to take a survey before they begin the eight part education programme.

The programme consists of the following educational topics: Gender Identity Basics, Family Basics, Life Stage Issues, Social Transitioning, Health & Wellbeing, Schools & Other Education Settings, Legal & Admin Issues, and The Future.

The educational website uses subtitled videos to explain how to get the most from the resources available, as well as to impart information upon visitors, making it easily accessible to people of all ages

Do you think the website and the information it holds is easily accessible? Is there anything that could be done to help improve it? Let us know in the comments below.