I mentioned here a little while back that I had an appointment to go and see a GP about getting a referral to a Gender Identity Clinic, and I had that appointment yesterday, and it went a lot better than I thought it would. I had assumed that it would take me at least a couple of appointments before they went ahead and did anything, but he's already referred me to the Community Mental Health Team to ask for a psych assessment so that he can apply for funding to get me sent to a GIC. I didn't think that you needed to go through that step any more, but I wasn't sure enough to say anything, and I will willingly jump through their hoops if it gets me to where I need to be. If it's wrong then hopefully things will be sped up even more, but for now I'm more than happy to wait for their appointments.
He said that he was going to refer me to Charing Cross, but when I asked if he was able to refer to other places he seemed willing to, especially when I explained the situation with other places being nearer home, and were likely to have shorter waiting lists. I don't know if it's likely to make any difference at all, but he made a note that I'll be moving again in June, so at least he understands that there's some time pressure for me, which might help.
Basically, I just wanted to share with you that things are starting to look up for me now in terms of doing something about this, and that although the first step is the hardest, it's not as bad as you think it will be. I was feeling pretty emotionless about the whole thing until I was walking around the side of the building, and then the nerves really kicked in. Luckily they were running on time so I didn't have to wait for ages, and the doctor was, although I got the impression he was testing me a little to begin with, better than I ever thought it would be. Things are never quite so scary with hindsight.
