SAGA hosts second Transhealth session
On December 14, 2023, SAGA (ARHS’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance) hosted representatives from Transhealth in Northampton, in English teacher Amanda Lewis’s room (162) during Flex Block.
Ten students gathered to hear about the services and programs this organization offers at a time when not just gender-affirming care, but anti-discrimination laws that protect transgender people, are under threat across the U.S.
As suggested by its name, Transhealth is an organization run by trans staff and entirely dedicated to providing health care, community support, advocacy, and more to transgender and gender-diverse individuals and their families.
Three representatives from the Northampton-based clinic came to talk to ARHS students not only about the services that their workplace offers but also “issues in current trans healthcare,” said Lewis.
This is the second year in a row that ARHS has hosted Transhealth staff members.
Run by CEO Dallas Ducar, Transhealth offers a community room, open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The room offers a community closet with supplies ranging from makeup to winter gear to gender-affirming clothing. Their products are free to anyone who needs them.
Transhealth also encourages peer support groups for individuals of different age groups. Meeting on the first Thursday of every month at 6 p.m., the organization hosts a support group for teens aged 13-18. The group is hybrid, with some members meeting in person and other members joining through a computer.
Alongside these peer support groups, they also offer a wide range of services including primary care, specialty care, surgery evaluation, mental health services, hormone therapy, and their new narrative therapy program. They also host workshops for their clients and the larger community, including a name-change clinic that they introduced this past year.
These clinics and community events are a chance for individuals to come and talk to other people, and learn from their experiences, even if they are not Transhealth patients. While their organization is focused in the Pioneer Valley, some of their patients hail from states that do not offer or outright ban gender-affirming care.
Transheath can often be found at Pride festivals and marches around the Pioneer Valley as a part of their community outreach and advocacy efforts. As part of their Advocacy pillar, they aim to “continually fight for a more just form of healthcare.”
The slideshow ended with messages on how ARHS as a school and its students as individuals could stand up to transphobia and hate directed toward gender-diverse individuals.
The presentation lasted for all of Flex Block with time for questions afterward, asked both anonymously and publicly by students, and most certainly shared one part of the vision of Transhealth, “[to transform] the world so that trans and gender-diverse individuals are empowered and celebrated.”
