What service is provided?

Your transition journey starts with a referral from your GP, which leads to an appointment being made for you to come to the clinic for an assessment.

Following your assessment, we will advise you about the options available to you to achieve your goals.

For those who decide to begin their transition journey, we will help them to prepare and gain the confidence necessary for that first step. Others may already have begun their journey before their first visit, and we support and encourage everyone who decides to make the change and live a life in the social role that is appropriate their gender identity.

Throughout your social role transition, you will be offered on-going support, and  regular counselling or psychotherapy, and contact with relevant members of the clinical team.

Our medical team, using clinical judgment and best practice standards, work to the UK Intercollegiate Good Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Adults. Advice on hormone therapy will be offered when it is appropriate to your individual circumstances.

We wish to protect your well-being and keep you safe, so an assessment of your general health, in collaboration with your GP, will precede treatment.

Some of the effects of hormone therapy are irreversible, so, in order for you to give consent to treatment, it is important that you understand the changes that you might experience. Some clients may need breast reduction and chest reconstruction surgery to live comfortably in their new social role; depending on your individual needs, this may be offered to you at around the same time as hormone therapy. Voice and communication, and hair reduction therapies may also be offered.

The Good Practice Guidelines recommend other that people live in a gender identity-appropriate social role and use continuous, appropriate hormone therapy for at least a year before they are referred for genital reconstructive surgery (GRS). There are other eligibility criteria but these are the principal ones.

Remember, there should never be a one-size-fits-all approach to your journey of self-discovery; everybody is different and things will proceed at a pace that is right for you.

A range of regularly-held support groups, led by one of the therapists, is available throughout your care with us. You will always have the support of the medical team.

You will be kept up to date on what you can expect from your GP and have discussions about other treatments provided within our wider clinical network, such as surgery. We have long-established working relationships with expert surgeons and other specialists around the country and our clients report positive experiences of their treatment with them.