Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Wellbeing and Student Support

Transgender or Trans

transgender

gender identity
gender expressiongender roles
gender transition

Dealing with your concerns

Many trans people worry about how other people will react and how they'll treat them once they find out that they’re trans. For example, they may fear rejection or hostility from their family, peers or colleagues. 

Trans people often experience difficulties because people perceive them to be a different gender to the one they identify as. This can result in others using incorrect gendered language for them, such as pronouns and forms of address (e.g. ‘Sir’, or ‘Miss’). Some people may also exhibit transphobic behaviour towards trans people, such as harassing, bullying or excluding them for being trans

Some trans people feel clear about their gender identity from a young age whereas for others it’s less obvious, and how they feel about their gender may shift over time. Acknowledging how you feel about yourself may sometimes involve overcoming feelings such as shame, guilt, or fear of disapproval. 

Lewis Hancox - filmmaker, comedy writer, aspiring actor and trans advocate – wrote an article for Ditch The Label with some helpful tips on coming out as trans. 

Support available from Wellbeing Support services

Examples of what you may come to Wellbeing and Student Support for: 
  • Support coming out to your department, family, friends 
  • Support for dealing with the impact of repeated misgendering 
  • Coping with dysphoria 
  • Support when you are considering a referral to a GIC 

Emotional /psychological support for students:

  • If you feel persistent distress, disturbance or discomfort relating to aspects of gender and you would like to explore this and work through your feelings then counselling may help. The Counselling and Psychology Intervention Team (CAPS) are available for face-to-face counselling, email counselling and group therapy (You can also ask your GP about what help is available in your area). 
  • CAPS is also available for, and welcomes anyone identifying as trans who would like to explore other emotional and psychological difficulties not necessarily related to gender identity. 
  • For some students, mentioning their gender in an initial consultation can be helpful, for others, being asked explicitly about their gender is not helpful. The therapist will take your lead. Before your therapy appointment you can mention that you would like to discuss your gender in a message on he wellbeing portal to your therapist when you confirm your appointment if you would find that helpful.
  • All staff have training in working with gender-related issues.
  • We are aware that there are sometimes some misperceptions about therapy. Just to be clear, we will NEVER practice any form of 'conversion therapy' or reparative therapy practices. We will not tell you that your identity is something that can be 'cured'. We will not practice any form of therapy that aims to change a person's sexual orientation or suppress a person's gender identity. Also, to manage expectations, we do not offer or prescribe any form of hormone therapy, you will need to speak to your GP/medial doctor for this.
  • Just to reiterate, CAPS is a confidential service.
  • Many students who talk to CAPS about their issues find it really helpful. Consistently (year on year), more than 95% of respondents who give feedback say they would recommend CAPIT. We offer a brief therapy model predominantly and 85% of respondents indicate that they felt the number of sessions they had was about right to meet their needs.

Visit the Counselling and Psychotherapy Services (CAPS) webpages where you will find further helpful information 

Practical support for students

  • For those who would like practical support relating to transitioning (or being trans) at Warwick, Wellbeing support is available to offer advice and liaise with other departments on your behalf where required (e.g. in relation to accommodation needs or issues relating to student records). If you identify as trans and also have a mental health condition then Wellbeing Support can also support you. 

Other support available 

Warwick Pride, the Student Society for LGBTUA+ members of the university community, has an active trans community. To contact the Society’s Trans Officer, email trans@warwickpride.org. More information can be found on their website at www.warwickpride.org 

Here's the details for the Students' Union trans community support group: https://www.warwicksu.com/campaigns-communities/communities/trans/communitygroup/  

colourful photo

 
Helpful Links: 

The University of Warwick cannot be responsible for the content of other websites or the content of other websites.