A new online education resource to help families of gender diverse children and transgender young people has been researched and designed by academics in Trinity College Dublin’s School of Nursing and Midwifery in conjunction and with the support of Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) and BelongTo.
The website GenderEd.ie aims to provide families with accessible, relatable, and reliable information to help them support themselves and their transgender family member.
It is hoped that this will add to greater wellbeing for the transgender young person and the family as a whole.
The website was developed following community-based participatory research with professionals, family members of transgender young people and trans young people around Ireland, by Irish Research Council PhD Scholar in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity, Danika Sharek.
The online education programme contains eight ‘modules’ or learning sections on gender identity basics, family basics, life stage issues, social transitioning, health and wellbeing, schools and other educational settings, legal and administrative issues and the future.
Dr. Edward McCann, Assistant Professor of Mental Health at Trinity said: “The project is timely and adds to the knowledge base and supports available to families of people who identify as transgender. It is an important and useful educational resource.”
