Manchester, UK

[Squircle]

I live in Manchester, and it's a very inclusive and accepting city, but one thing that has struck me is a lack of support groups for people who are transitioning. The groups that are currently there, especially on the mtf side, cater mainly for cross dressers, which is fine, but it would be good to have a group that could focus more on transitioning and negotiating the process with the NHS. If anyone, mtf or ftm has any ideas, then please let me know, I'd be interested in possibly getting something set up.

Thanks!

[alena]

Hi Squircle,

This wiki page may help with groups in your area http://www.gires.org.uk/tranzwiki/index.php/Main_Page#UK-wide_Support_Groups. I've heard that Manchester and Birmingham have good support groups and you get Sparkle which is held in Manchester year http://www.sparkle.org.uk/ 

[Squircle]

As I said though of the ones in Manchester, they often seem to be aimed more at crossdressers. There used to be Trec but that closed down, so now it's mainly Manchester Concord or Transforum. Both are highly commendable for what they do but my preference would be for a support group that focused purely on transitioning and the challenges of that.

Sparkle is very much aimed at crossdressers with little provision for transitioning people. It's very popular and good at what it does but its not really something I enjoy. That's not to say it is wrong in how it's set up, it's just not all that useful for me and some other people I know.

I'm just trying to gauge what interest there would be at the moment anyway

[Richygirl]

Hi I`m Richygirl,just joined this Forum today.I live in Macclesfield and have just started the path to m to f transition.I almost went to the Transforum group yesterday but had no money to get to Manchester and back.
Why don`t you and I start a more relevant group for full transforming m to f? Or f to m too? What do you think?
You can contact me here or on Facebook.

Richyg.

[Beverly]

As I said though of the ones in Manchester, they often seem to be aimed more at crossdressers. There used to be Trec but that closed down, so now it's mainly Manchester Concord or Transforum.

I attended TransForum for a number of years and most of the attendees were MTF TS people with only one regular CD that I recall.

I agree with your comments about Sparkle. Most of the events and stalls cater to CD/TV folk. I have no need to buy breastforms or go on makeovers to be a woman for a day.....