This week, Gillian and Jenny share a couple of announcements about events taking place soon.

The first is an Open Mic evening being held in Southampton on September 26th to celebrate a range of Queer talent - come along and strut your stuff…! The evening will also host the first annual celebration of the Paul Draycott award for Trans+ and Allies of Significance.

It’s not too late to nominate anyone, just go to the Beyond Reflections website to buy a ticket or make a nomination. The winners of the awards will be live streamed in case Southampton is too far away - links will be provided soon.

Gillian and Aaron discuss the launch of a new group called "Pathway to Parenthood" for trans individuals seeking to become parents.

Aaron shared his personal motivation for wanting to become a parent and the challenges he faced due to lack of support and inadequate healthcare services. He expressed his intention to establish a new group to provide a supportive space for trans men who are trying to become parents, either through pregnancy, adoption, or surrogacy. The group aims to partner with healthcare providers to offer emotional support and healthcare services. Dr. agreed with the importance of linking the group with the NHS and acknowledged the significant challenges faced by the trans community.

Aaron discussed the formation of mixed, and non-binary support groups. He explained that each group would have a guest speaker for the first half hour, followed by a supportive environment for attendees to share their experiences and support each other. The groups would be facilitated by Aaron and a co-facilitator with experience in running support groups. The goal is to create an open, inclusive space for individuals to be themselves.

The group, offering access to various services, will launch on September 27th and run every fourth Friday of the month. Aaron confirmed that people could join at any point and that the group would be a regular, rolling feature, with progress monitoring conducted every six months. He also suggested that after the first year of parenthood, individuals seeking continued support could transition to other groups, such as the emotional support groups.

Hope you enjoy and find this useful.

You can donate to support the work on the podcast or to help build the ‘hardship fund’ at @BeyondReflections - to help those who are financially challenged but still need support

You can submit questions to gillianrussell77@yahoo.com