For anyone who has read my many depressing posts over the last few years i'd like to say thank you, I offer this tale to show you all that i'm not always a grump.

For those that don't read to the end i'll give the moral of this tale in advance "Things work out in the end"

I came out over 3 yrs ago, it ended an 8 yr relationship & I lost lost most of my friends as they felt they had to support my ex "the injured party".
I lost my job through the loophole of redundancy even though it was clear me being trans was the reason, I then lost my home within a month & spent 2 months sofa surfing & a further 9 months in a hostel.

Here's where things improve, life at the hostel was hard but believe it or not it was easier & safer for me as a trans person than it was for the other tenants, being trans gave me a personal shield harder than the one used by the Enterprise. I had a few incidents but far less than most people.
I've been in supported housing for a year now & was so gratefull for all the help the homeless charity had given me that I joined a volounteer group to advise on ways to improve the hostels, this led to me attending a directors meeting early this year where I raised the point that the LGBT service for Bristol was not up to the standard of Londons, a few months later I was invited back to London for an LGBT AGM where I was given a budget of £1500 to set up a group!!

After months of work I can now announce that my first meeting for LGBT homeless people is tomorrow, YAY!!
It's early days but we have at least half a dozen people attending when we were warned that many first meetings are a no show so i'm chuffed.

Through contacts made in setting this up I now have someone trying to get me funding to set up a trans support/social group for my home town, if I get this next group off the ground it will follow the fine example set here by Susan's Place & be open to anyone who identifies as non-binary. I refuse to set up a group that caters only to FTM or MTF as I firmly believe as a minority we should be coming together for support & not splitting our numbers further (SPLITTERS!!).
The rule of thumb will be if you're welcome at Susan's you're welcome in this group.
It will take many months to get this off the ground but i'll get there.

So you see, things do get better, triumph has been snatched from the jaws of defeat (or any other upbeat saying that springs to mind)

Wishing you all the best

Jayne & Poopie

Good for you

Glad you got something set up to help back in the community.

Need more people in the world like you to step up and do things like that.

And in reading your posts i feel you are truly not a grump, but a caring person who has struggled just like the rest of us.

Hugs

That's great news, congratulations. And good on you for doing something to help trans people in need. Hope that it goes well and that things are turning around for you.

Well done,glad things are looking up

Wow! Good on you Jayne!
Love to Poopie,
-ellie

Happy for you.  Keep moving forward.  And good call on actively supporting unity rather than division:

Quote from: Jayne on August 20, 2014, 04:12:37 PM
if I get this next group off the ground it will follow the fine example set here by Susan's Place & be open to anyone who identifies as non-binary. I refuse to set up a group that caters only to FTM or MTF as I firmly believe as a minority we should be coming together for support & not splitting our numbers further (SPLITTERS!!).

Fantastic post.

You are an inspiration!

Congrats Jayne & Poopie

Congratulations!  I'm glad to see that things are looking up.

And well done on getting your support group set up.

life is still a puzzling thing, insisting on making things work out no matter how little or much you believe.
the beginning of your story looks awesome, i hope it continues that way.

Wow, that is fantastic. Now that is how you turn set backs into stepping stones. More power to you and good luck !

Nikki

Now that we've had the meeting & a follow up meeting to discuss how the meeting went, phew! I can give a reasonable update.
We we're warned that most meeting groups fail at first but you shouldn't give up & right now the group was advertised for people using this charity or working for it in Bristol. 11 people attended & my home made cakes went down well not a bad start in my book.

We have things that need to change but our next meeting is just over a week away, we're learning plus i'm getting training soon
I'm also sitting in on a training day for keyworkers to give a former clients perspective, you can be sure i'll be furiously taking notes all day. I may do a seperate post about that.

They say the devil makes work for idle hands

Jayne

Is it possible to hijack your own topic? If it is then i'm about to do it. . .sort of 
I missed a meeting for setting up the trans group due to personal reasons so need to get a proposal sent off asap.

My wish is for the group to use social media to connect trans people in & around the area & then move on to facilitating social events through this. The social events could range from:
Just meeting at a secure, safe place for those still trying to untangle this riddle of gender
A public meeting if new members felt comfortable going out, possibly all chipping in to rent a pubs function room (it will have to be funded as a charity)
Getting the council to help arrange a trans swimming session or other indoor sports.
Group cinema visits

etc, etc. .. .

I'd like to see this idea spread, if you don't have a support group in your area then ask to speak to your councils LGBT rep (insert whatever the local title is  ) and ask them about support setting a group up.
I'm WAAAY out of my depth here (it's quite fun jumping in at the deep end), i've got bigger plans in reality but these are baby steps so if anyone has any suggestions then feel free to post here.

Thank you to all who read this far

Luvs ya all

UPDATE

Wow, it's been 5 months since I posted that, i'm concentrating on the lgbt group whilst experienced  people set up the trans group, it's a cases of biting off more than I could chew I finks   
I was really depressed 2 days ago after being turned down for facial hair removal then my Mammy gave me the money to get an Xbox1 & GTAV, I'm as happy as pig in poo. She said it was cause her & my stepdad have helped all other relatives but I never ask for anything much so they wanted me to have something before they have to tighten their belts.
My gp has phoned & said he's found a way to get funding for electrolysis through a different route

Jobs a good 'un. COOL BEANS!!