Quote from: AussieSteph on February 10, 2016, 01:14:38 AM
Hi all
So I'm pretty new here and I e just recently started to question my gender identity. I'm living in Melbourne and I'm just wondering about a few trans friendly places I could head to. I'm looking for a gender therapist so if anyone can recommend anyone in the city area that would be great. I'm still taking baby steps so I'm keen to find a trans friendly hairdresser if anyone know one. Also, I'm keen to have permanent hair removal so if anyone's done this then I'd love to hear from them. Any other cool places to try would be appreciated. Or just drop me a line and say hello 
And another friendly welcome from Melbourne to you!
We have a few different options for gender therapists in Melbourne. The old-fashioned route would be to go through the Monash Gender Dysphoria Clinic (Southern Health) and see either Fintan Harte or Jaco Erasmus, both of whom are psychiatrists. There is a significant wait, though. I was told back in July when I first made my referral that the public waiting list was 12 months, and growing. You are offered the opportunity to see them in their private offices, but it will cost you out of pocket. The first consultation is between $270 - $300 although your follow-up sessions will be around $200 - $230. Fortunately, there is a Medicare rebate, which you can claim on the day of consultation, so you would expect to pay around $80 out of pocket each time. You would also expect to see Fintan and Jaco for approximately 4-6 sessions before they would write the letter enabling your GP or endocrinologist to prescribe hormones.
Fintan operates out of the Albert Road Clinic and has an approximately three-month wait for all new referrals. Jaco's offices are in West Melbourne (Jeffcott Street), and his waiting list was at five months, although this was back in July. If you are referred to Fintan, always try and book more than one appointment at a time as his calendar fills up
fast, so there is often a one-month gap between sessions. Jean-Luc (Jaco's receptionist) will book you in for four appointments, usually two weeks apart, when you are first referred to him, however.
A number of girls also see Ben Callegari or Claire Weightman at Northside Clinic in Fitzroy North. Ben and Claire are both clinical psychologists who are willing and able to assess people for HRT. The main benefit of seeing either of these two lovely psychologists is that the GPs at Northside are more than happy to use their letters of assessment for prescribing hormones, so it's a great alternative route to going through Monash. Ben has a longer waiting list than Claire, unfortunately.... The last I heard, it was a couple of weeks to a month, but I've heard of a few girls getting in to see Claire in a matter of days after ringing up. Again, you would expect to see the psychologist for 4-6 sessions. Why 4-6 sessions? It's so that they can write up a complete mental health assessment and be sure that you are making a properly informed decision about commencing hormones.
With Northside Clinic, new patient appointments are made available on the first working day of each month for transgender people to see their GP's. You will need a referral from a GP in order to get the Medicare rebates for seeing a psychologist, so if you aren't very comfortable with approaching your regular GP, this is one of your options. Appointments are snatched up very quickly, so you will need to call in the first fifteen minutes once they open. If you are lucky to have a referral from another GP, you shouldn't need to follow this process... I'm pretty sure you can call up reception and make a direct appointment with the psychologist, but I'm not 100% certain about this.
Any GP can write the referral letter to your psychologist or psychiatrist of choice. If you're waiting to get into Northside, you can always go and see Dr. Sven Strecker at the Prahran Market Clinic. He sees a lot of transgender people as well, and is also registered with ANZPATH (Australian and New Zealand Professional Association for Transgender Health), so you can't go wrong with him. By the way, one of the admins here, Cindy, is on the Executive for ANZPATH.
Beata Geddes (clinical), Naomi Overton, Jonathan Tandos (clinical) and Vikki Sinnott are all registered psychologists based in Melbourne who also specialise in GLBTI issues. However, I don't know if they are willing and able to write a letter of assessment for HRT, and whether or not the GPs at Northside or Dr. Strecker at Prahran Market Clinic will accept it. You would have to do a bit of research into this first.
As for hairdressing services, I've read on the TransgenderAU sub
>-bleeped-< that Bella Rouge Hair in Narrawong is trans-friendly, but I haven't seen her. Razor Dolls Hair Salon on Chapel Street (Windsor) was providing free gender-affirming haircuits for trans and gender diverse youth late last year, so you couldn't go wrong with getting your hair done there. I've only been growing my hair long from a Number 3 cut since April last year, so when I needed to have it trimmed for work, I just went into my usual hairdresser and told them I was growing my hair long and needed it cleaned up. Didn't mention that I was transgender because long hair for males is back in fashion, ha ha. Think man buns and the like.
For permanent hair removal, if you have dark facial and/or body hair, then laser hair removal (
not IPL) is your best friend. Laser only works on dark hairs, so if you are unfortunate enough to have red, blond, white or grey hairs, then you will need to consider electrolysis. Without any reservations, I recommend Vic Laser in the CBD, although they have locations in Hawthorn and Mt. Waverly, as well. The technicians are all wonderful and do see a number of transgender clients. I've also been told by the ladies there that they have also treated a lot of cis men for facial hair removal, including the owner himself, who does the odd treatment here and there.
Electrolysis treatment is a lot harder to find for facial hair removal in Melbourne. You also have to find someone who has experience in treating male facial hair rather than a technician who only turns on the machine once or twice a week to remove the odd hair or two from a cis woman's face. Fortunately for the transgender community, Grace Kubicki owns and operates GK Hair Removal from her home salon in Vermont South, offering both electrolysis and laser. She has worked extensively with the community, and comes
highly recommended by, well... pretty much everyone, ha ha. She offers both electrolysis and laser, by the way.
Now, on to support services... We have a lot more places you can go to for support than most people realise. Minus18, Rainbow Network Victoria and YGender are social groups for transgender and gender questioning youth. There's the Zoe Belle Gender Collective, which specialises in online resources and support as well as Seahorse Vic, another support group for transgender Victorians but for all ages. We also have the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard, which provides a free support hotline for the Victorian and Tasmanian GLBTIQ community.
And I almost forgot, but the Alphabet Soup (LGBTIQ) support group meets the third Tuesday of every month at the Denn Cafe in Northcote.
*phew* I hope this helps!
