In March, Principle 17 invited several small trans groups to a meeting about good trans health care. The aim of the afternoon was to get to know each other more and to know what each of us is doing. It was really good to get closer together!

With representatives from Trans In Eigen Hand, TransZorg Nu, T-RRReny, T-RREx and of course Principle 17, the group was manageable in size. A number of others had opted out, but are indeed involved from a distance. The afternoon was very inspiring: the synergy was evident! Everything indicates that this will be the start of something new. There will be another meeting in June.

Self-determination

One of the concrete results of the day was that it is important that we use the same language wherever possible. That is why from now on we will talk about ‘full self-determination‘. That is much clearer than the concept of ‘informed consent’, which everyone understands differently.

The various trans groups are in principle for full self-determination. After all, not having self-determination is the major exception in medical care: only for people who are not competent. Advocacy group Transvisie is much more reserved in this regard and is not (yet) in favour of complete self-determination. Sadly enough, most Dutch gender teams have not yet reached that point either. Fortunately, there are now clinics that do what they can – within the current possibilities. Like the Trans Clinics in Amsterdam and Utrecht.

TZN Strategy Day

A month later, in April, the collective TransZorg Nu (TZN) organised a strategy day. Principle 17 was present, as were many of the other attendees in March. On this day, TZN asked all participants to think about the goals of TZN. The result of the day was the setup for four good actions. A beautiful harvest! This day will also be continued in June.