Trans* Thriving: Mind, Body, Spirit
Trans* people deserve to lead happy and healthy lives and find supportive communities. This is the central principle of the Trans* Thriving project which is creating opportunities for the trans* community to thrive – in mind, body, and spirit. By ‘trans*’ we think expansively about a spectrum of gender diverse identities, primarily transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people.
Our starting point is our understanding that many trans* people experience barriers to accessing safe and appropriate services that can help them stay fit, active, and healthy. Over three years, this project will work with the trans* community in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland to harness their strengths and passions, and create new opportunities for them to connect with each other and, through that, overcome the negative consequences of potential social isolation.
Our Aims
The Trans* Thriving project aims to create safe, inclusive, and supportive spaces for trans* health and wellbeing by:
- Listening to the experiences, needs, and desires of local trans* people in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland through dedicated listening events and 1-2-1’s.
- Equipping trans* people to take the lead in the creation of safe spaces for social, fitness, and healthcare support.
- Arranging taster session events in activities based on feedback from listening events and community engagement.
- Creating five new trans-led social and support groups to support and sustain Trans* Thriving across Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland.
Community Listening
Listening campaigns are a key tool used within grassroots community organising to hear and gather experiences and concerns from local people and groups. These insights are then used to shape community-led direct action and to drive social change. With expertise and training from Citizens UK, key staff and volunteers will be equipped with essential community organising tools and processes that will underpin the work of the Trans* Thriving project. You can read more about Citizens UK here: www.citizensuk.org
The Trans* Thriving project uses a mixture of 1-1 listening meetings with trans* individuals and community listening events across Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland.
How we’ve been hearing you
Listening 1-1s
Meeting with individual local trans* people across Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland on a one-to-one basis to hear directly about their experiences of accessing spaces for their health and wellbeing, what they would most like to see change, and what new groups/activities they would like to be able to access.
Listening Events
Listening events will also be held to draw together key representatives from existing trans* inclusive groups, communities, and key organisations with an existing trans population. Groups are identified across Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland. These communities can range from Universities, existing trans social communities and support groups, local schools, trans inclusive religious communities, and various staff LGBTQ+ networks.
Why an *?
The Trans* Thriving project exists to support a full spectrum of gender expansive and diverse people. This means we aim to support the spectrum of transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, agender, gender queer, and generally non-cis gender people. We recognise that it would be very difficult to represent this full spectrum in the title of the project so instead have opted to use Trans*.
The Lottery Community Fund
Trans* thriving has been generously supported by a £267,520 grant from the National Lottery Community Fund.
Project Timeline
Year 1
- Listening to the experiences, needs, and desires of local trans* people in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland through dedicated listening events and 1-2-1’s.
- Sustained outreach and network building across existing trans* community organisations across Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland, as well as wider LGBTQ+ organisations involving large numbers of trans* people.
- Recruit and train a dedicated group of volunteers.
- Conduct 15 listening events across the City of Leicester and the main towns in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland, to identify the key types of social support and fitness/activity groups desired by the trans* community.
- Conduct two taster events based on feedback from the above listening events and community engagement.
Year 2 and 3
- Initiate five new trans-led social/support groups to support and sustain trans* thriving across Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland.
- Conduct four more taster events, connecting the community with supportive and inclusive fitness and wellbeing services locally.
- In addition to monitoring participation in the project and the impact it makes, we will publish short working papers to highlight learnings and best practice from the project for LGBTQ+ charities and mainstream services that aspire to be more inclusive and affirming for trans* people.