Wait, wait, don't help me!
The NHS is kinda like NPR, but not funny.
In the UK, as I have discussed previously, there is a wait list for trans-related health care that is so long, that the average child who signs up at age 13 or 14 is never seen by youth and adolescent services. They simply wait until they’re 18 and then are transferred to the adult waiting list, where it appears (though I have been unable to confirm this) that they start over at the end of the adult list, which itself is years long.
Given the deep need for services and the NHS denial of all help, support, and especially treatment, independent groups decided that they would mind the gap between signup and services by holding a waitlist support group. It sounds pretty good:
Waiting List Warriors can offer a lifeline to those feeling worn down by never-ending waiting lists, as well as a direct link to other trans people with experience of navigating these systems.
They didn’t remain static, either. As the program of non-profit Gendered Intelligence was warming up, they asked participants what WLW should look like. The consistent answer was: not just another place to complain and feel helpless. While WLW is a support group, it’s not merely group talk-therapy. They do advocacy, and older people or people who have been in the system longer answer questions from people who need information about how best to navigate what can seem like a hopeless maze.
So of course, after Gendered Intelligence got WLW up and running, you can guess what happened next, can’t you? Yep. The waitlist support group developed a waitlist.
Don’t blame the Waiting List Warriors, they’re all volunteer and doing the best they can. And how they’re doing seems pretty damn good, actually. The one notable shortcoming besides staffing (and, yes, that’s a pretty big shortcoming) is that it’s currently open only to over-18s who are currently on a waitlist for one of the over-18 clinics. From the information available so far, it’s not immediately clear what the hurdles might be between we they are now and where they would need to be to add help for under-18s to the options.
That’s sad, since we know that trans teens are at high risk for suicide and that this risk increases markedly when children who never made it off the waitlist turn 18 and find out that they’re going on another waitlist without help. Even if the Waiting List Warriors only started accepting people at the age of 17 that would at least make sure that someone would be talking to these youth that feel lost and invisible and unloved. While we can’t know until we try, resources like this might even reduce the spiking suicide rate for trans adolescents and young adults.
The NHS won’t help, so someone’s gotta. If you’re in the UK and want to get involved, contact Gendered Intelligence through their website. If you’re not there but you have spare cash, you can also go through the website to get details on how to contribute so that more adults, and eventually children too, can benefit from programs like Waiting List Warriors.
Previously!
The waiting list to get on the waiting list support group already hoping to avoid another waiting list…just about takes the cake!
Rather than wait for mainstream media to find an acceptable angle here, I’d like to see Saturday Night Live give it some publicity with a twist.
Isn’t this story just made for them or some other social commentary artists?
Thank you for the wake up call.
There's at least one GIC that takes time already spent on a waiting list into account when transferring from youth to adult services. I can't speak for the others.
Thanks for telling me about this, off to see how I can help.