Gender-affirming clinic bringing 'a lot of joy'

Its services are still being developed, but a gender-affirming clinic in Charlottetown is making a huge difference in the lives of members of P.E.I.'s trans community.

"There's a lot of joy in this clinic. It's joy that's coming out of relief," said Bruce Davison, a social worker at the clinic.

"Who doesn't want to be part of a process where people are becoming what they're meant to be?"

The clinic was established in February 2020 at Four Neighbourhoods Health Centre in Sherwood, and is open a few Wednesdays each month. It provides not only medical care but social care, such as assisting with legal name change for people who are transitioning.

It's the kind of care Jay Gallant, a member of the trans community and Health P.E.I.'s gender-affirming care steering committee, wishes he had.

"For myself, it was difficult accessing this care because there really wasn't something really well established on P.E.I. in terms of gender-affirming care, so I had to seek it off-Island," said Gallant.

He said he was fortunate to have a supportive family doctor, but some services weren't covered and were too expensive for him. In particular, he ran into a lot of problems with gender-affirming surgery.

'Needed to do better'

The establishment of the clinic was part of three-step process, which included establishing gender-affirming surgery as an insured procedure, and the creating of the gender-affirming care steering committee.

"While we've always had pockets … of very supportive clinicians in the province, we knew we needed to do better in that area," said Davison.

And being supportive is not always enough, said Davison. Primary care providers may not have the specialized knowledge required to care for members of the trans community. The clinic works to not only provide direct care to patients, but also to partner with their primary care providers.

Gallant came out when he was in his 30s, and without gender-affirming care on the Island it was a difficult road.

"Trying to deal with that gender dysphoria that many trans and non-binary people feel about their bodies got so intense that I actually developed a serious eating disorder," he said.

"I was hospitalized for years with anorexia off and on, and self harm, and eventually a suicide attempt. So the psychological effect of being a person who's gender diverse and not having access to timely gender affirming care can be very serious."

The clinic is still developing its youth services.

Patients as young as 16 are being referred to the clinic but what their care will look like is still being worked on. It will include a plan for supporting families of youth.

The wait time after referral is one to three months, but Gallant said that is a huge improvement on the situation before the clinic opened.

"What's so important, I think, about this clinic, is hope that it brings," he said.

"As long as people know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, that they're going to get the care they need, that they're being looked after, that gives them hope."