This article is written by the Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) in conjunction with Ms. Terri O’Sullivan of Cork Counselling Services. It received input from the HSE and was sponsored in 2018 by a grant from the Community Foundation for Ireland. There is a useful glossary at the end.

This article is intended to support counsellors working with transgender people and their families to provide informed and sensitive care to their clients. Transgender people are individuals whose gender identity or gender expression is different from the sex assigned at birth. Gender identity is the internal sense of being male or female, neither or both. We all have a gender identity. Some transgender people may medically transition and undergo hormone replacement therapy and/or surgery to align their bodies with their gender identity. Transgender people have a variety of needs relating to their healthcare including access to mental health, medical transition and primary care services that are sensitive to their identities and experience.