Healthcare crisis for trans and non-binary youth

A number of leading youth work organisations have called on the government and the HSE to urgently address the absence of gender-related healthcare services for trans and non-binary young people living in Ireland.

BeLonG To, Foróige, Youth Work Ireland and the National Youth Council of Ireland, along with 70 youth workers nationwide, have expressed serious concern abut the current state of adolescent gender-related healthcare services and the potential impact this could have on the mental health and wellbeing of trans and non-binary youth.

They pointed out that with the halting of referrals to the UK Tavistock Clinic in January 2021 – an NHS-run clinic that specialises in gender identity - adolescent gender-related healthcare in Ireland has essentially collapsed.

The gender identity adolescent service in Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin closed to new referrals in December 2020. This means that for trans young people who are not already received medical advice, they have nowhere to turn.

Prior to its closure, there was a waiting list of over three years for trans young people to access this service. Once adolescents turn 17, they are referred to the adult service but the waiting list for that is projected to be 10 years long, the youth organisations claimed.

According to CEO of BeLonG To, Moninne Griffith, the past 18 months have been “incredibly difficult” for trans and non-binary young people living in Ireland, as well as the youth workers who support them.

“Prior to the halting of referrals to the UK Tavistock Clinic, Belong To and youth workers across the country had long been dealing with the distress inflicted on trans and non-binary young people and their families by waiting lists of up to three years to access adolescent gender-related healthcare.

“The situation is now at breaking point. Trans and non-binary young people who have sought gender-related healthcare since January 2021 are being referred to a service that simply does not exist,” she commented.

She said that the impact on these young people and their families has been “devastating”.

“These young people are turning to their youth workers for advice and support, where there is no good news to provide. We have seen the impact this has on our youth workers in Belong To, and youth workers across the country, as they struggle to safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of trans and non-binary young people in their youth groups, while suffering second-hand or vicarious trauma as a result of these young people’s experiences,” Ms Griffith said.

The youth work sector is calling on the Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman, the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly and HSE chief executive, Paul Reid, to discuss the status of the multidisciplinary gender identity service for children and adolescents that was due to be put in place by December 2020, and the interim measures to be put in place pending the establishment of this service.

Despite commitments made by the government and the HSE to improve access to healthcare in the National LGBTI+ Youth Strategy, the National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy and the HSE’s final report on the Development of Transgender Identity Services in December 2020, trans and non-binary young people are still suffering as they wait to access healthcare.

The youth organisations have said this is a “matter of urgency”, adding that as youth workers, they are “not equipped to deal with the hopelessness and disappointment caused by the current state of gender-related healthcare in Ireland”.