About the Monash Health Gender Clinic

The Gender Clinic is a state-wide service that provides individualised, person centred care for the trans, gender diverse and non-binary people, their families, partners and community.

Our principal aim is to improve the health outcomes and wellbeing of all our consumers. We accept all referrals for individuals who are aged 16 and above who reside in the state of Victoria. We also provide support, information and education for health care providers as well as community and advocacy groups. Our Consumer Advisory Panel is regularly involved in decision making about how to improve our services. Gender Clinic welcomes sistergirls and brotherboys from our indigenous communities.

Our vision

To become a center of excellence by going beyond assessment and provide therapeutic and social support. We strive to be up-to-date with developments in trans, gender diverse and non-binary healthcare whilst providing an excellent clinical service. We aim to be a great teaching facility and create strong partnerships with universities and key international stakeholders to advance the understanding of gender diversity. Above all we aspire to minimise all barriers to accessing trans affirmative care and to ensure that consumers are at the forefront of all key decisions.

Our staff

Monash Health’s Gender Clinic team

The Gender Clinic is a multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, peer workers, a social worker, project/research worker, research officer and administrative staff. Additionally the Gender Clinic have partnerships with Royal Children’s Hospital Gender Service, the La Trobe University Voice Clinic and other key stakeholders experienced in transgender health care. Individuals in the Gender Clinic are members of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and/or the Australian Professional Association for Trans Health and are committed in our involvement with these key organisations.

Consumer Advisory Panel

The Gender Clinic Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP) was established in 2016 to empower consumer co-design in planning, implementation and evaluation of health interventions that influence TGDNB people’s lives. The CAP consists of up to 12 community members and meets bi-monthly along with Gender Clinic staff members to discuss important issues, to provide feedback about services and influence policies and decisions.

What Monash Health Gender Clinic offer

Our core role is to:

Provide a safe space to explore gender identity
Educate about the diversity of gender identities and expressions
Assess experiences of gender dysphoria in accordance with international guidelines
Explore various medical and social interventions relevant to transgender health
Identify other mental or physical health issues that need to be managed prior to medical interventions
Refer, where appropriate, to experienced private or public clinicians
Provide additional social work support or connecting with relevant social services when required
Support the gender transition process
Offer discretionary financial support for private surgeries.
Advocate for access to health services

Gender Clinic is not an emergency response service for mental health conditions. Should urgent action be required, please call 000 or find your local Psychiatric Triage Service. If in the Monash Health area, call 1300 369 012.

Through our partners we also provide:

Hormone assessment and prescription.
Surgeries
Laser hair removal
Fertility preservation
Peer support
Advice on presentation such as make-up.
Speech therapy

Procedures within the clinic are consistent with the latest Standards of Care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and endorsed by the Australian Professional Association for Transgender Health (AusPATH).

Gender Clinic history

The treatment and study of gender dysphoria was pioneered in Melbourne in 1975 by Dr Herbert Bower and Dr Trudy Kennedy. The conservative Queen Victoria Hospital was approached with the idea of starting a “Gender Dysphoria Clinic” promoting the view that gender dysphoria was not an attitudinal thing or a life choice but biological. By 1976 the first gender affirmation surgery had occurred at the “Gender Dysphoria Clinic”, little is known about the early stages of this clinic as the service had to operate in semi-secrecy mainly due to attitudes of fellow health professionals but also in response to broader community expectations of the time.

Following the amalgamation of Queen Victoria Hospital, Jessie McPherson Hospital and McCulloch House in 1987 the clinic relocated to Monash Medical Centre in Clayton where it continued to undertake assessments and surgery to a limited capacity mainly due to the strict criteria imposed upon the service.

Certainly the “Gender Dysphoria Clinic” was not without its controversy and in 2009 the clinic risked being shutdown following an internal review of processes and fallout from litigation procedures. The clinic however persevered and evolved its practices in keeping with contemporary views of gender diversity and shifted to provide individualised, client-centred care for all trans, gender diverse and non-binary people.

In 2016 the Victorian Government showed commitment towards improving accessibility of health and support services for all trans, gender diverse and non-binary people. The clinic responded by establishing a Consumer Advisory Panel in recognition that consumers have a pivotal role in improving health outcomes for the community. The panel consists of members from the trans, gender diverse and non-binary communities and provide a consumer and community perspective to help inform, plan and develop Gender Clinic services. The clinic also changed their name to “Gender Clinic” in order to de-pathologise the service the clinic provides. Through this funding increase Gender Clinic were able to expand the service from two days a week to five in order to improve the service accessibility and reduce waiting times. The Gender Clinic also introduced the public provision of endocrinology, laser hair removal and facilitated access to gender affirmation surgeries.

In recent years there has been a shift in the model of care, with more trans, gender diverse and non-binary health care being provided in primary care settings. The Gender Clinic therefore aims to support primary care providers in managing more complex cases.