The Sprout

Mermaids

WE AIM TO SUPPORT CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS UP TO AGE 19, WHO ARE TRYING TO COPE WITH GENDER IDENTITY ISSUES

In support of this one aim, we also intend to:

Offer support to parents, families, carers, and others

Raise awareness about gender issues amongst professionals (e.g. teachers, doctors, social services, etc.,) and the general public

Campaign for the recognition of this issue and the increase in professional services.

What we offer:

Information, support, friendship and shared experiences

We will support individual young people, with or without support from their families, whether they are out or not

We will try, where possible, to help their families understand and accept their child's gender identity issue

We will also offer our help to family members, professionals and others who are worried about a child or young person

We will offer our support via telephone, email and snail mail, and wherever possible, meetings, although at present we are only able to have meetings approximately every other month, in North London

Active Mermaids members are mainly parents or young people - some of our children are transsexual, some are not. Some of our children have attended the Gender Identity Development Service of the Portman Trust, two of whose clinicians are in an advisory position on our Committee.

Please, browse through our pages to learn more about Gender Identity Issues in young people - the problems, and the heartaches that often accompany them. One of the biggest problems in families where there is a gender variant child can be misunderstandings, and difficulties in being able to talk to each other about the issues and feelings involved - we have tried here to address these particular issues, so please, read through as much as you can. Parents may find an insight into their children's feelings by reading some of the personal stories, and perhaps young adults may gain an insight into their parents' feelings by reading some of the articles that at first glance appear to be aimed at the parents only. Follow through some of the links to other sites, and you will gain a wider view of the subject.

Perhaps also it might go some way towards explaining transgender issues in adults, such as transvestism, and transsexualism - each adult transgendered person was once a gender.

For further information on Mermaids visit theSproutdirect, Click here