2009 Annual Report | The Gender Centre Inc.

The Gender Centre is committed to developing and providing services and activities, which enhance the ability of people with gender issues to make informed choices. We offer a wide range of services to people with gender issues, their partners, family members and friends in New South Wales. We are an accommodation service and also act as an education, support, training and referral resource centre to other organisations and service providers. The Gender Centre is committed to educating the public and service providers about the needs of people with gender issues. We specifically aim to provide a high quality service, which acknowledges human rights and ensures respect and confidentiality.

Goals & Objectives

To provide medium term accommodation, in a safe and supportive environment to people with gender issues who are homeless, distressed or otherwise in need.

To provide accurate information and referrals for people with gender issues in relation to legal, education, health, housing, welfare and employment services.

To liaise closely with other legal, health, housing, welfare and employment services that may be of assistance to people with gender issues.

To encourage community understanding of the interests, concerns and needs of people with gender issues.

President's Report

The Gender Centre is one of the few voices for our most marginalised citizens and is not only a place for distributing advice, information and other services, it is an advocate for us all. An essential voice and presence speaking out to the media, government, public service and to the public as a whole.

The Centre continues to consolidate its services to the transgender community, with the upgrade and expansion of residential accommodation.

Our standards for service delivery, financial reporting and accountability continue to be of very high quality as shown in all recent audits and assessments and more than meet our delivery requirements for our level of funding. The integrated and holistic delivery of services continues to provide a level of case management and through-care that will provide the best quality service to our clients possible.

I would again like to extend my personal thanks to Phinn and all the staff for their hard work and dedication and to acknowledge the commitment of the members of the Management Committee. Thank you all.

2.0 Manager's Report

Overview

I take pleasure in providing the following report outlining the events that have occurred over the last financial year and the endeavours and contributions of the Centre and its staff to promoting the health, well-being and human rights of all members of our community.

The good reputation of The Gender Centre has continued to grow and it is held in high regard by the many agencies and organisations that we deal with. My commendations to all the staff members for their efforts in promoting the Gender Centre's positive and committed approach to the transgender community, and for promoting a positive image of the centre to the wider community.

From July 2008 to June 2009 the Gender Centre had a total of 2,504 transgender client's accessing the service in a variety of ways either by appointments, through our drop-in service, support and social groups, educational programmes run in conjunction with T.A.F.E. at the centre at our barbecues or via the outreach service. This was an increase on the 1,440 clients that accessed the Centre during the previous financial year.

All visitors entering the Gender Centre are entered onto our database, which enables us to accurately reflect the numbers of clients accessing the service for support, this year the service received 1,765 clients.

Clients accessing the Gender Centre via the telephone enquired about the following:

1,584 total telephone calls;

17 phone calls relating to hormone use and information;

83 calls regarding housing;

382 calls enquiring about counselling;

65 calls regarding medical information;

112 calls requesting resource information;

215 calls requesting support; and

736 calls requesting Case-Management

As you can see from the statistics above that hormone inquires are relatively low, this is due to the fact that clients access the website for this information in kit form.

Again this year the Gender Centre needed to find some extra dollars to continue the refurbishment of the refuge houses and this was made possible through several small grants, the task of maintaining the refuge houses is always ongoing.

In November of 2008 the Gender Centre celebrated the Transgender Day of Remembrance with a small memorial service. Twenty 10 G.L.B.T. youth service kindly provided the Gender Centre with access to their Aurora room to hold the event. While not many people attended the event all the people who did join in the service commented on the value of such a commemorative event. Workers from several services attended as well as people from the transgender community, youth workers, social workers and the N.S.W. Police Force were represented in the cross-section of people who attended. The event was a quiet affair with a non-denominational service conducted by Pastor Robert Clark from Granville Metropolitan Community Church. He spoke beautifully about transgender people and his own friendship with a transgender woman.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes. In contrast with the public media it raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgendered people, and publicly mourns and honours the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be overlooked. The Day of Remembrance also reminds non-transgendered people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers, and gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorialising those who have died by anti-transgender violence.

In February of 2009 the Gender Centre facilitated a debate for the Mardi Gras Festival on the topic of "Where does the T. fit in G.L.B.?" held at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts. This attracted more than 100 people and the audience included the Honourable Penny Sharp M.L.C. and Superintendent Dona Hay from the Surry Hills Police Centre. The presentation was by Julie McCrossin and the entire debate was filmed and will be uploaded onto the Gender Centre website so that the community, and/or anyone interested in the matters debated can watch it.

This year the Gender Centre had a stall at the 2009 Mardi Gras Fair Day in partnership with the Inner City Legal Centre, as well as a stall at the Surry Hills Markets again with our "partners in crime" the staff and board members of the Inner City Legal Centre.

In June of 2009 the Gender Centre held an event at the Stonewall Hotel on Oxford Street celebrating Transgender Pride, with guest speakers Dr. Tracy O'Keefe and Roberta Perkins speaking on the advances for transgender people in Australia. We have to say a great big thank you to Bruce from Oz Harvest who supplied the music for the night.

Policies & Procedures

This year the Gender Centre was approached by the Women's and Girls' Emergency Day Drop-in Centre to develop specific policies and procedures for City of Sydney services willing to accommodate and work with transgender clients. The entire project was funded by the City of Sydney Council. The result was a 15 page document called "Its Not Rocket Science". These policies and procedures are now on our web site for all services to download and incorporate into their own policies and procedures.

We are in the process of developing training around these policies and a possible video to be linked to our site.

The Gender Centre has conducted extensive training sessions over the period of 2008/2009. In May of 2009 the Gender Centre started to provide training for the Community Welfare Training's Training Calendar, which was a major step for the Gender Centre on Working with Transgender Clients.

The Gender Centre held a number of forums for clients and training sessions for T.A.F.E. and University students during the year and supervised three student placements at the Centre.

We have continued to provide training to the N.S.W. Police Force as well as N.G.O.s, Government organisations and private employers. We provided in-service training for the Department of Community Services C.P.O.s, Sexual Health Clinics, and to the Kirketon Road Centre. We provided in-service training to Centrelink counter staff working with transgender clients. In-service training was provided to the staff of Liverpool Hospital Brain Injury Unit working with our clients.

In August of 2008 the Inner City Legal Centre started to provide a monthly legal advice clinic at the Gender Centre. All appointments are made by staff at the Gender Centre, and a room is made available to conduct these sessions in private. To date all sessions are completely booked in advance. Some of the issues have included family law, domestic violence, discrimination, debt and neighbourhood issues. As well as accessing advice at the Gender Centre a solicitor from Inner City Legal Centre is also available over the phone for our clients who need urgent legal advice. The Inner City Legal Centre is a community legal centre situated in the Kings Cross area, which operates a state-wide legal advice service for transgender people within New South Wales.

The Gender Centre's Case-Management Service was asked to provide a comprehensive case management service in partnership with the Kirketon Road Centre, in their premises at the fire station in Kings Cross on the second Thursday of each month, from 6:00pm until 10:00pm, for the purpose of accessing all transgender clients and sex workers working and living in the area, many of whom are confronted with a range of health and safety issues. It was thought that these clients would access Kirketon Road Centre more readily if it were publicised that professional staff from the Gender Centre were on hand and would assist in the provision of relevant services.

This additional case management service has been agreed to by both Kirketon Road Centre and the Gender Centre and is scheduled to commence in August, 2009.

The Gender Centre now has its own You Tube and Twitter sites linked to the Gender Centre's web site where we can upload videos and articles relevant to the transgender community, some of which have been produced by the Gender Centre.

Our Partners

The Gender Centre maintains and fosters partnerships with a wide range of external organisations to further promote the rights of the transgender community. While these are many and varied the ones listed below are just a few of those with whom significant partnerships have been established.

Inner City legal Centre

The Gender Centre has developed a very strong and positive relationship with the N.G.O. staff. We have a formal Memorandum of Understanding in place that cements our relationship from the sharing of stalls to participating in events, providing legal advice and to a member of the Gender Centre being on their board. We look forward to working together on a number of projects in the coming year.

The Women's Housing Company

In the latter part of 2001 we entered into an invaluable partnership with the Women's Housing Company which provided the Centre with additional exit housing for our residential clients. In the partnership we gained six additional units and hope that in the not too distant future we will be gaining a few more units to expand the service. The units and tenancies of these properties are managed by the Women's Housing Company with all the support to the residents being provided by the Gender Centre. This arrangement means that eligible residents of our refuge program will be able to enter the units for a further twelve months after they have completed their stay at the Centre.

S.A.A.P. Inner West Interagency Meetings

These meetings are designed to bring together the wide range of skills and talents of a collection of homelessness agencies, their managers and staff for the purpose of pooling and sharing expertise and support.

The Hon. Penny Sharpe M.L.C.

The Gender Centre continues to develop a strong and ongoing partnership with the Hon. Penny Sharpe M.L.C. Penny has a strong passion for social justice, within the transgender, gay and lesbian Communities.

N.S.W. Attorney General's Crime Prevention Division

The Gender Centre has continued to meet with representatives from the Attorney General and other community stakeholders on the G.L.B.T. Community Advisory Committee. The primary aim of the committee is to address the issue of crime, particularly crimes of violence, to which G.L.B.T. communities are subjected.

Ryde T.A.F.E.

Ryde T.A.F.E. has shown a commitment to providing an appropriate range of services to our community in employment courses run for our community. These courses have been very successful in client participation.

Samaritan House

We have developed a positive working relationship with Samaritan House and our clients are now being accepted into their accommodation.

G.L.L.A.M.

We have continued our ongoing representation on our local council. The Gay and Lesbian Liaison at Marrickville meets every two months to respond to community needs, plan events and provide advice on a range of council programs. Marrickville Council has shown a commitment to providing an appropriate range of services to our community and we are pleased to continue our involvement with them.

R.P.A. Sexual Health Clinic

Over the past twelve months the centre has referred a number of clients to this service. As health care providers they have been excellent in creating a safe and non- judgmental environment for our clients. It is so extremely important that there should be a culturally appropriate sexual health service for this client group. Our clients need allies in any clinic, especially those that will advocate on their behalf.

S.S.W.A.H. Interagency Meetings

These meetings are designed to bring together the wide range of skills and talents of a collection of health agencies, their managers and staff, for the purpose of pooling and sharing expertise and support.

Women's and Girls' Emergency Day Drop-in Service

We have formed a strong and positive partnership with the Women's and Girls' Emergency Service and we hope that this will continue into the future for the benefit of our community.

Kirketon Road Centre

This year the Gender Centre started working closely with the Kirketon Road Centre on a number of projects with the introduction of the Gender Centre's Outreach Case-Management service being positioned at the Kirketon Road Centre on Thursday nights from 6:00pm until 10:00pm. We hope to make the Centre accessible to all transgender people living and working within the inner city area and to link them in with our services and those of the Kirketon Road medical services.

2.0 Service Report

I would like to begin the service report by commending the staff of the centre for their hard work and commitment to quality service provision for our clients. The Gender Centre has developed a very solid reputation for the work it carries out and is held in high regard by the majority of our clients, our funding bodies and external agencies and organisations with whom we deal.

We have maintained our normal programmes over the year in the residential service and in harm minimisation and education, details of which appear throughout this report. We have also:

continued our strong and positive relationships with a wide range of agencies and organisations including local councils;

worked in close collaboration with our funding bodies to improve services and maintain strong standards in service delivery;

conducted extensive training sessions to a variety of external organisations;

continued to examine the ways in which services are delivered to ensure the relevance of the programs and publications to our community;

continued to advocate on behalf of the community across a wide range of issues and with a special emphasis on issues facing transgender people in prison;

continued to promote the issue of equity in employment for transgender people particularly with the New South Wales Public Sector;

continued to promote policy development in external agencies with regard to transgender access and equity;

continued to update our range of resources;

significantly improved the presentation and content of Polare;

re-designed and continued to improve our website;

continued to provide placements for students; and

worked closely with the Management Committee and through Polare to ensure every opportunity for community input.

The Gender Centre is constantly striving to improve service delivery with the implementation of Quality Management Services to ensure ongoing quality improvement in the provision of all services provided by the Centre.

The following report provides details of the service achievements over the 2008/2009 financial year:

2.1 Funding Bodies

The Gender Centre would like to thank our funding bodies, The Department of Community Services (Supported Accommodation Assistance Program), and Sydney South West Area Health Service for their financial and ongoing support during the past year. We look forward to continuing these partnerships to enhance and improve service delivery to the transgender community, in the future.

2.2 Management Committee

No service can function well without an effective and committed management committee I would like to thank all our current members that served on the committee in 2008/2009 who freely volunteered their time, for the support they have given to the staff of the service and the service itself. As Manager of the Gender Centre I would like to thank the Management Committee for the support they have demonstrated towards me, to the staff and the Centre itself. I look forward to many more years of committed and dedicated Management Committee members assisting the service to function effectively. I would also like to thank all members, new and existing, for the ongoing and vital support their membership provides. We extend a warm welcome to you all for the coming year and I would like to introduce these Board Members.

Col Eglington: President

Col grew up in rural N.S.W. before moving to Sydney. In Sydney he studied geology and worked as a geologist for five years then commenced leatherwork and building work. In 1981 he moved to the Blue Mountains and continued on with leatherwork and building until he was asked to teach at Lithgow T.A.F.E. Then in 1988 he moved back to Sydney to take up a fulltime position in T.A.F.E. and has been the Outreach Coordinator for the past twenty-one years.

He transitioned over twelve years ago and has been on the Gender Centre's Management Committee for most of that time. During this time he has occupied the position of President and over this period the Centre has continued to evolve in order to meet the needs of the accessing clients. This has sometimes meant reorganisation, at other times a shift in focus of the activities of the Centre, in and through all of this he believes that it is the duty of a Management Committee to:

ensure that the centre meets all obligations for which it is funded;
support staff and their well-being;
at all times keep in mind the transgender community as a whole and respect its diversity and try to meet this diversity at the Centre; and
advocate on behalf of the most vulnerable and marginalised members of the transgender community.

As a transgender man employed in the adult education sector, both his personal and professional experiences are of benefit to this community.

Lesley Findlay: Vice President

Lesley has served on the Gender Centre Management Committee for many years now and is keen to continue to serve the transgender community.

As an individual, she freely gives her personal time and support to other individuals who need support. She have strong views on social justice for everyone, and I believe that a committee made up of differing, but positive views, gives us the ideal way to show the strength of the Gender Centre.

Kimmi Everson: Treasurer

As a Transgender woman living and working in Sydney, she, like many other transgender women, know that many people think of transgender as street entertainment and react with everything from sniggering to verbal abuse or worse. Confronting issues of isolation, discrimination, vilification and marginalisation on a daily basis, as well as lack of access to employment, education, health and housing, life for many transgender people becomes a battle for the right to be accepted as a human being. These issues can lead a person to suffer feelings of worthlessness low self-esteem, anxiety as well as depression.

As a member of the committee she will fight for the rights of all transgender people to be treated as fairly and equally as the rest of the human race.

Maggie Smith: Secretary

Maggie was born in Brisbane and grew up on Stradbroke Island and moved to Sydney some thirteen years ago. She has been a nurse for over twenty years and is currently working as a clinical nurse specialist in sexual health and H.I.V. services. Through this role I was introduced to the transgender community and the specific, specialised and often under-resourced area of health care and education. She is committed to improving access, knowledge and skills in health care to the community especially within sexual health and is especially passionate about raising awareness within the medical and nursing field of the need for improved health services to the transgender community. As a member of the Committee she assists the staff and Manager in developing health services through her knowledge of the health care system.

She currently lives with her partner, her new baby boy and her chooks.

Elizabeth Riley: Committee Member

Elizabeth is probably well known to most of you unless you have only recently become involved with the Gender Centre. She filled a number of roles at the Centre over the ten years she worked here and for the most part was either Coordinator or General Manager. However, for personal reasons she decided to resign in 2007 and moved out of Sydney to quieter pastures.

However, she retains a great affection for the Centre and the important work it achieves and wanted to continue her involvement as much as possible. The many years that she worked at the Centre provided her with a wealth of experience, particularly in respect to management obligations and funding requirements, and I was keen to make that experience available to Phinn and the Centre when needed.

So, apart from the occasional phone call or email consultations and the regular Management Committee meetings, She is enjoying the quiet life, travelling a little and playing golf a lot.

Joanne Holden: Committee Member

Joanne's background is in nursing and health administration. She was the Manager of the Sex Workers Outreach Project for four years and currently works for N.S.W. Health in the area of Hepatitis C prevention. She is committed to working with marginalised communities and is particularly concerned with the issues of stigma and discrimination that affect both the transgender and sex worker communities.

She has been a member of the Management Committee for two years and is really happy to be a part of such an effective and committed organisation.

2.3 Staff

Our successful funding submissions to the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch of the N.S.W. Health Department and the Department of Community Services S.A.A.P. means that we have maintained staffing and service levels during the last year. I take this opportunity to thank the staff for their continuing commitment to community development and in raising the perceptions of clients and other services regarding the Gender Centre.

Our current staff as at 30th June 2009:

Manager: Phinn Borg;
Financial Administration: David Burke;
Counsellor: Gaye Stubbs (part-time);
Residential Worker: Paula Hartigan (part-time);
Outreach Workers: Dash Gray (part-time) & Ekarach Thirapat (Birdie) (part-time);
Case Management Workers: Elizabeth Ceissman (Senior Manager) & Dominique Khoury (Residential Case Worker);
Reception: Rusty Nannup (part-time); and
Resource Development & Polare: Katherine Cummings (part-time).

2.4 Staff Training & Development

Staff have attended the following training seminars and forums during 2008/2009:

S.A.A.P. Interagency Meetings;
S.A.A.P. Interagency Meetings;
C.C.W.T. Training;
DoCS Training;
Smart Training;
Supervision Skills;
Case Management;
N.S.W. Police Policy Committee;
G.L.B.T. Carer's Support Group; and
Client forums.

2.5 Education & Training for Service Providers

The Gender Centre has continued to deliver educational sessions to a number of N.G.O.s, educational facilities, health providers and so on. 535 people attended training provided by Gender Centre staff over the course of 2008/2009, as well as delivering a number of training sessions in workplaces that have requested support while a staff member transitions.

Our workplace training, sessions range from one hour to a complete day on various issues and includes training around the Anti-Discrimination Legislation as well as Guidelines for employers and employees. The education sessions are generally 1-2 hours in length and offer staff members an introduction to gender issues and assist in providing adequate and correct information on issues such as discrimination and equal opportunity.

The Gender Centre delivered a number of training sessions to the N.S.W. Police department both here in Sydney and at the Goulbourn Training academy, and Jackie Braw, Senior Programs Officer with the N.S.W. Police Force wrote "A new component of Police Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officer (G.L.L.O.) training, introduced in April/May 2008, is a session conducted by the Gender Centre on understanding the transgender community. In 2008/2009 Gender Centre staff have trained sixty police officers, located in both metropolitan and regional areas, to identify and appreciate some of the key concerns and issues facing transgender people when they come into contact with police. These sessions are some of the most popular sessions in the G.L.L.O. training."

Another participant said in his evaluation, "Very informative. Great information. A definite to keep in the course.". For many officers the information is totally new. "Many issues arose that previous training has never covered", "Very relevant". As G.L.L.O.s these officers are more likely to respond to transgender people who may request a G.L.L.O. because they believe a G.L.L.O. might be more understanding. The G.L.L.O. is also more likely to be relied on by other police officers because of their specialist training. It has therefore been invaluable to include information about transgender in their G.L.L.O. training.

This year the Gender Centre received over ninety welfare students from Sterling Collage on four separate visits to the Centre. These students were provided with complete in-service familiarisation with the Gender Centre.

Training provided in 2008/2009:

Sydney Hospital x 2;
Nirimba T.A.F.E. x 3;
Macarthur T.A.F.E. x 2;
Sterling College x 3;
Albion Street Lodge;
N.S.W. Police Training Academy Goulburn;
Sydney Police Centre x 2;
Sydney Police Centre Parramatta x 2;
Northern Rivers Police Force;
S.W.O.P.;
C.C.W.T.;
Kirketon Road Centre;
Department of Housing Broadway; and
Department of Community Services C.P.O.s.

In May of 2009 the Gender Centre started delivering training to the Centre for Community Welfare Training (C.C.W.T.) on Working with Transgender Clients, and we hope to be providing many more training session with C.C.W.T. in the future. C.C.W.T. was set up in 1987 to provide cost effective and accessible training opportunities for people working across the community welfare sector in New South Wales. C.C.W.T.s stated purpose is "to deliver professional learning that transforms people and communities for a better society".

2.6 Committees & Consultation

Staff have maintained their representation on or liaised with a number of committees, interagency groups and working parties that address issues of priority to the client group of the Gender Centre these include:

Inner West S.A.A.P. Interagency Meetings;
N.S.W. Police Committee;
Inner City S.A.A.P. Interagency Meetings;
N.S.W. Police Committee;
G.L.B.T. Carer's Support Group;
A.C.O.N. G.L.B.T. Ageing Forum;
Marrickville Council's G.L.L.A.M. Committee;
Attorney General's Crime Prevention Unit;
Inner City Legal Centre Management Committee;
Kirketon Road Centre;
Attorney General's Crime Prevention Unit N.O.G.A.;
Inner City Legal's Safe Relationship Project;
City of Sydney Council's Transgender Working Party;
S.S.W.A.H. Interagency Meetings;
S.S.W.A.H. Domestic Violence Screening Tool; and
Transgender Day of Remembrance.

2.7 Agency Networking

Gender Centre staff are continuing to network with a wide range of services. The following services are those with which we have a formal liaison strategy in place:

Anti-Discrimination Board;
Kirketon Road Centre;
People Living With H.I.V./ AIDS;
Positive Living Centre;
Bobby Goldsmith Foundation;
Sex Workers Outreach Project;
ACON;
Langton Centre;
Liaison re: Case Management and advocacy for clients at Department of Housing;
Redfern Community Health;
Ashfield Mental Health Crisis Team;
Marrickville Mental Health Crisis Team;
The Missenden Unit;
P.F.L.A.G.;
Y.W.C.A.;
Social Workers at the following Hospitals - St Vincents Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital, Concord Hospital, Liverpool Hospital Brain Injury Unit;
Department of Probation and Parole at Newtown & Burwood;
Department of Corrective Services, Correctional Institutions at Mulawa, Long Bay, M.R.R.C., Junee, Kirconnel, Bathurst & Silverwater;
Metropolitan Community Church;
C.R.C. Broadway;
I.C.H.O.S.S.;
B. Miles;
Vincillan Village;
Samaritan House;
Foster House;
Homelessness N.S.W.;
Office of Community Housing;
Marrickville Council;
City of Sydney Council;
Aurora;
Inner City Legal Centre;
Marrickville Legal Centre;
Newtown N.E.S.P. (The Gender Centre is a secondary N.E.S.P. service for the Newtown area);
Department of Housing Client Services Teams at Broadway, Surry Hills, Burwood;
Albion Street Centre;
Women & Girls' Emergency Centre;
City Women's Hostel;
Twenty 10;
Sydney Sexual Health Community Health Clinics;
Hepatitis C Council of New South Wales;
Department of Corrective Services;
Stepping Out;
Marrickville Youth Centre;
Oz Harvest; and
Street Smart.

2.8 Media Liaison

The Gender Centre has enjoyed a good presence in the media and in public resources with the following contributions:

SX;
Sydney Star Observer;
Sydney Morning Herald;
S.B.S. Radio; and
Channel Nine: "Missing Persons Unit".

2.9 Donations

I would like to thank all the individuals and organisations who kindly donated their time, effort, patience, money, goods and services to The Gender Centre throughout this financial year. Your efforts and assistance are highly appreciated. Listed below are a few of these:

City of Sydney Council;
Marrickville Council;
Aurora Group;
Inner City Legal Centre; and
Oz Harvest.

3.0 Services Provision

3.1 Residential Service

A total of 11 clients were continuing their residence as of 1st July 2008

The database for residential clients has been analysed as follows:

Residential Service Statistics 2008-2009
Event	2006/2007	2007/2008	2008/2009
Total Number of Ongoing Clients	13	11	11
Total Bed Days Available	4,380	4,015	4,015
Total Bed Days Utilised	4,003	3,289	3,763
Occupancy Rates	90.0%	81.9%	93.7%

The occupancy rate of 93.7% represents a high overall occupancy rate for a S.A.A.P. service.

Clients in residence receive a high degree of support in applying for public housing and many of our ex-residents have been successful in securing long-term public housing.

The service is divided into three separate parts, each with its own level of support and responsibility. Clients entering the residential service are inducted at the first level and progress to the third level during their stay. The first level offers the highest level of support, the second level is medium support and the third level, in our exit units, is the lowest level of support. The third level of the program is the level that most reflects independent living and assists clients to make a smooth adjustment into independent living when they exit the program. All residents attend case-management as part of their residence with the Gender Centre and develop individual support and case-management plans. Residents are also encouraged to attend workshops designed to facilitate their progress.

3.2 Residential Case Management

Case-management is provided to all clients who access the Gender centre, whether they are residing in accommodation provided by the Centre or living in the wider community.

The role of case management is to assist and empower people to resolve issues that impact on their quality of life. In case management a comprehensive client assessment is used to develop a case plan which encompasses seven key aspects to an individual's life. The case plan may involve referrals to other service providers with the Case Manager coordinating and monitoring the process. The seven aspects cover a diverse range of areas including independent living skills, employment/training, accommodation, health, self-esteem/identity, recreation/leisure and social supports. Case management involves assessment/risk management, planning and the implementation of service arrangements, and co-ordination of supports both formal and informal.

A large number of community clients have accessed the case management services of the Gender Centre while remaining in their own homes and addressing their issues, particularly in housing issues, this indicates that clients that saw the case management workers as being very pro-active in addressing their issues, as they were not coming to the Centre in a crisis situation but were seeking support long before their issues became critical.

While the Case Manager was not always able to resolve the issues, the outcomes for many clients ensured they did not need to enter crisis accommodation, and were either able to stay in their homes or find suitable and stable accommodation in other locations. One of the most exciting things that has come to the role of the case worker is diverse interagency networking which enables the Case Manager to attend a number of diverse events.

This year we were able to employ a second part time case worker whose primary role is to manage our clients housed within the Gender Centre. With the addition of the new case worker, we were able to provide added support to the Gender Centre's growing number of community clients which substantially increased over the past year, as shown in the statistics below. Following are the statistics for the in-house case worker (for all residential clients of the Gender Centre and all Gender Centre clients in our exit housing program):

221 case-management meetings with in-house clients;
112 case-management meetings with clients in exit-house program;
40 episodes of case-management with in-house clients via telephone contact; and
44 episodes of case-management with exit—house clients via phone contact.

Following are the statistics for the Case Manager (all community clients within the borders of New South Wales):

201 community clients;
60 homelessness prevention;
87 community awareness;
105 early intervention; and
35 post-crisis.

The case-management team will continue over the coming year to network with a wider variety of service providers, so that the issues of people who access the Gender Centre are better understood. In this way a greater variety of quality resources can be made available to anyone who seeks help at the Gender Centre.

3.3 Service Magazine - Polare

The 80th edition of Polare was published in June of 2009 and this marks Katherine Cummings 40th edition as Editor of the magazine. Polare is now entering its sixteenth year of publication. There are currently 600 names on our mailing list and copies of Polare are delivered to twenty-seven outlets across Sydney.

3.4 Resources

Library

Thirty-eight books were added to the collection in 2008-2009, five were purchased and thirty-three were donated.. The library collection will continue to be selected in order to maintain a balance between fiction and non-fiction lay writing such as autobiographies, and professional books relating to gender studies.

Information Kits

The addition of information kits to the Gender Centre's website has greatly improved access and many enquires are now satisfied by referral to the website from which kits and individual handouts can be downloaded, as can selected items from all issues of Polare.

The following kits are available specifically targeting individual needs:

Training Kits;
Transition in the Workplace Employee Kit;
Transition in the Workplace Employer Kit;
M.T.F. Information Kits;
F.T.M. Information Kits;
M.T.F. Surgery Kits;
F.T.M. Surgery Kits;
Student Kits;
Intersex Information Kit; and
Professionals Kit.

3.4 Resources

Website

The website continues to be a very valuable source of information, as it is available to the wider community and provides information that might not otherwise be available in hard copy form. It contains much of the current information relevant to the Centre including articles from Polare, kits and fact sheets, what's on and what's happening at the Gender Centre on a week to week basis. This information has been invaluable in providing assistance and support by reducing the sense of isolation felt by those with gender issues.

Over the course of 2008/2009 the website statistics show that a large proportion of the half a million plus visitors to it each year are located within Australia and a large proportion of them are from New South Wales. The site also serves as an essential way to promote events and workshops to clients who access the Centre. As is the case with all websites the Gender Centre website creates the capacity for a number of Gender Centre resources to be available worldwide.

3.5 Counselling

The Counsellor, Gaye Stubbs, had another very busy year on the counselling front from clients accessing the service and from other service providers. Clients and potential clients access the service by phone, email or in person. The Gender Centre's Counsellor provided 955 counselling contacts throughout the year 2008/2009. Below are the statistics of counselling sessions as well as inquirers provided to the community.

262 face-to-face counselling sessions;
170 telephone counselling sessions;
523 email counselling sessions;
231 telephone enquiries;
70 new clients;
25 clients under the age of 25; and
50 clients aged between 25 and 30 years of age.

Throughout the year the counselling service has had many enquiries from other service providers. A number of these service providers have contacted the counselling service requesting information, consultation and referrals in order to better assist their clients.

The Gender Centre Counsellor provides consultation, information and supervision on a regular basis to school counsellors working with young transgender children as well as counsellors working in the community. This recognises factors such as the constraints of time and distance, that can make it difficult or impossible for people living at a distance from our Centre to access the service in person.

Clients access the service for concerns regarding gender or for assistance in making a change in their lives. Many clients attending sessions have multiple issues and are in need of access to more than just the counselling service. When necessary and with agreement from the client concerned, clients are linked up with other services provided by the Gender Centre as well as other service providers.

Clients who most commonly access the counsellor are those in the process of exploring their gender issues, through a range of presenting issues. The more critical issues including suicide ideation, family rejection, transition depression, isolation, and sex reassignment surgery. The following table indicates some of the issues that were addressed in the counselling sessions for the period of 2008/2009:

Cross-dressing;
Harassment / violence;
Transition;
Financial;
Passing;
Accommodation;
S.R.S.;
Relationships;
Drug & Alcohol/Gambling;
Family;
Suicide;
Health;
Sexual assault;
Anxiety / fear / depression;
Sexual issues;
Mental Health;
Isolation;
Religion;
Employment; and
Information.

By issues addressed we mean that the client actually discussed the issue directly or the issue was the reason behind the client accessing the counselling service even though they may not have discussed the details in that session. It is obvious from both observation and client feedback forms, that clients gain enormous benefit from the Gender Centre's counselling program.

The educational role of the Gender Centre's counselling service in providing information, supervision and assistance to other service providers is enormous. Listed below are the service providers that accessed the counselling service throughout the year July 2008 to June 2009 for information support and supervision:

Better Life Solutions;
Brain Injury Unit Liverpool Hospital;
Brisbane Gender Clinic;
Psychologist (outside of Sydney metropolitan area);
Resident Doctors (in rural New South Wales);
Seahorse Society;
Sexual Health Clinics;
Social Workers at various hospitals;
Youth services;
Various community health centres;
General Practitioners;
Wellbeing Clinic;
Accommodation services;
Childcare centres;
Community nurses;
Counsellors at High Schools;
Counsellors at Primary Schools;
Counsellors/Therapists;
Mission Australia;
Department of Ageing, Disability & Home Care;
Child and Adolescent Mental Health centres;
Mental Health Workers;
Parole and Probation officers; and
a Psychiatrist.

Supervision And Training

The Gender Centre Counsellor attends regular supervision sessions and is a clinical member of the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Association of N.S.W. (C.A.P.A.). She is a member of W.P.A.T.H. (formerly known as the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association). This is an association for the provision of quality health care and best practice standards for service providers providing a service to the transgender community worldwide.

Counselling Student Placement

During the course of 2008/2009 the Gender Centre successfully placed a student counsellor from the Jansen Newman Institute and this student is still with the Centre. As usual the placement was challenging and an interesting learning experience for both the student and the supervisor.

3.6 Outreach Services

The outreach education services are an important avenue for the Gender Centre to take its services out into the wider community. Outreach is delivered to sex workers working on the streets or in parlours, to prison inmates and to transgender people confined in hospital or in their homes. Outreach services to prison inmates and those confined to their homes play a major role in reducing the levels of isolation experienced by these individuals. At other times they may involve accompanying an individual to a medical appointment or advocating for inmates who feel they are being unfairly treated.

The successful employment of Birdie, our Thai speaking outreach worker has enabled the service to communicate effectively with Thai street-based transgender sex workers. Birdie has delivered educational programmes on safe sex and harm minimisation. These sex workers in the past have had minimal contact with the Centre because of language problems. Outreach to sex workers, while delivered in a casual manner, has a more practical motive. Over the course of 2008/09 the outreach worker's and front-of-house distributed more than 16,000 condoms and 1,625 tubes of lubricant to sex workers and clients to help minimise the risk of spreading infectious diseases.

The outreach team see ten to fifteen street-based workers per outreach shift. The team knows most of these workers and offers a range of services, as well as providing information on services offered by the Gender Centre on health, accommodation, counselling and case management. Private transgender sex workers also contact the outreach team for safe sex supplies and information and all requests are answered.

Below are the Outreach Service statistics for the past financial year.

36 episodes of outreach visits to gaols;
577 face-to-face outreach contacts with street-based sex-workers; and
486 episodes of providing health and medical related information to outreach clients.

This year the outreach team delivered education and information to over 1,437 clients on a range of topics including safe sex, safe injecting, H.I.V., Hepatitis C, mental health and alcohol and other drugs. They also dealt with housing, health, discrimination and legal issues.

Outreach is an integral part of the Gender Centre's service plan. It continues to provide services to a wide range of clients who may have difficulty in accessing the service. The Outreach team conducted a number of health workshops in-house in accordance with our health funding requirements as well as regular health reports in Polare. Four Health workshops were held at the centre regarding Hepatitis C and H.I.V./ AIDS.

3.8 Community Support Services

As always the social and support events for the year continue to be a success. The following statistics provide an overview of the events conducted throughout the year:

In-house events attended by 1,019 people;
Barbecues attended by 130 people;
Off-site events attended by 135 people.

Drop-in

Drop-in on Wednesday night continues to run smoothly with a mixture of regular and new clients and an average of twenty people attending. For new clients drop-in is often the first point of contact with the Gender Centre and with others who have gender issues. The quality and variety of food provided by Oz Harvest receives positive feedback every week.

Youth Group

Again this year the Gender Centre ran a number of youth groups for 18-25-year-olds. Topics covered were Gender 101 - ideas and experiences of gender norms and gender warriors, transitioning games, hormones, surgery, as well as sexuality, interaction between genders and dealing with family and friends.

Female to Male Group

This year the Gender Centre ran a number of Female-to-Male support and information groups. Topics covered included the changing of documents (conducted by Yasmin Hunter, a lawyer from the Inner City Legal Centre), the effects of hormones on the body and what they do (led by Leo Turner from the Endocrine Unit at Concord Hospital). These sessions will continue in the 2009-2010 year.

4.0 Service Evaluation

All staff of the Gender Centre have continued with the aims of providing optimum service to our clients, and in developing a strong and positive relationship with other agencies and our funding bodies. The success in achieving the service's objectives has been monitored throughout the year by a range of processes including:

Residential data collection and analysis with particular reference to occupancy rates;

Strengthening focus on case management practices;

Analysis of reasons for discharge;

Monitoring data relating to attendance at in-house groups, resident meetings, number of clients contacted and referrals through outreach;

Monitoring of circulation levels of print publications and resources;

Collateral feedback from other agencies and service providers;

Data collection relating to referral patterns;

Level of demand for participation in key national, state and local mechanisms, strategies and activities;

Increased awareness and focus on O.H.&S. issues; and

Ongoing commitment to engaging in Quality Improvement across all programs.

2008 - 2009 Annual Report

Mission Statement

Goals & Objectives

President's Report

2.0 Manager's Report

Overview

Policies & Procedures

Our Partners

Inner City legal Centre

The Women's Housing Company

S.A.A.P. Inner West Interagency Meetings

The Hon. Penny Sharpe M.L.C.

N.S.W. Attorney General's Crime Prevention Division

Ryde T.A.F.E.

Samaritan House

G.L.L.A.M.

R.P.A. Sexual Health Clinic

S.S.W.A.H. Interagency Meetings

Women's and Girls' Emergency Day Drop-in Service

Kirketon Road Centre

2.0 Service Report

2.1 Funding Bodies

2.2 Management Committee

Col Eglington: President

Lesley Findlay: Vice President

Kimmi Everson: Treasurer

Maggie Smith: Secretary

Elizabeth Riley: Committee Member

Joanne Holden: Committee Member

2.3 Staff

2.4 Staff Training & Development

2.5 Education & Training for Service Providers

2.6 Committees & Consultation

2.7 Agency Networking

2.8 Media Liaison

2.9 Donations

3.0 Services Provision

3.1 Residential Service

3.2 Residential Case Management

3.3 Service Magazine - Polare

3.4 Resources

Library

Information Kits

3.4 Resources

Website

3.5 Counselling

Supervision And Training

Counselling Student Placement

3.6 Outreach Services

3.8 Community Support Services

Drop-in

Youth Group

Female to Male Group

4.0 Service Evaluation