Support group for trans, non-binary and gender-expansive people

This is a friendly open, drop-in, therapeutic support group, which runs monthly, online for 1.5 hours, for trans, non-binary and gender expansive folk anywhere in the world, aged 18+. New attendees will always be welcome.

Why monthly, group and online?

• Groups are preventative mental health care in a world that focuses on getting help when things are already far gone.
• Accessible to people who may be far away from trans communities.
• An affordable option for those unable to fund 1:1 sessions.
• Groups allow for sharing of hard-won wisdom from real lived experiences.
• Queer safer spaces in the pandemic are more difficult to find yet more valuable.
• Frequent sessions allow for connections to build and grow over time.

Each group will have a small energising introduction, a question of the month on a topic, and an optional well-being suggestion for the month ahead. A working agreement will be produced at the start of each session to bring a sense of safety, confidentiality and comfort.

Aims and hopes:

• Weaving hope together, being alongside with despair.
• Peer support and encouragement.
• Sharing ideas on sustaining wellbeing.
• Supporting collective compassion, increased belonging and community resilience.
• Talking in the spirit of togetherness and solidarity.
• Cultivating knowledge of creative forms of everyday resilience on overcoming the storms of life.
• Mapping our people, tribes, chosen family, bubbles and teams around us.
  Attendees will also receive a tool kit of resources, tools and strategies for responding to troubling times, which will grow over time for others.

Ethos

The group has a spirit of peer facilitation, with a professional facilitator on hand to lean in at the start, end and where useful. Communities are super important in sustaining mental health and wellbeing and the ethic is to create a compassionate emotional holding of one another which builds over time.

Discussion themes

• How to sustain ourselves when things are triggering in media and society
• What would preventative mental health care look like?
• What makes a good ally?
• How do we promote and demote folk in our chosen families, tribe, bubble or team?
• Who helps us get ready in the backstage of our life?
• Self-Care vs. Collective-Care: is there a shift happening?
• How do we recharge our head, heart and body batteries?

Attendees

The group is capped at a maximum of 12 attendees per session and a minimum of three attendees and tickets are on a first-come-first-served basis. If less than three attendees sign up automatic, refunds will be given and you will be notified of the next group.

How do I attend?

When you get yourself a ticket, you will be emailed a link for the group and a reminder email closer to the time. Tickets can be purchased at narrativesofus.co.uk