The Tavistock Centre has seen a huge rise in referrals in the past decade and a new Channel 4 documentary seeks to discover why.
Kids on the Edge – The Gender Clinic explores the treatment of complex issues in the nation’s children and young people.
It looks at the consequences of living with gender dysphoria, as well as the impact it can have on young people as well as their parents.
Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) is the only NHS-funded service working on gender issues in young people in the UK.
The first episode explores the difficult decisions faced by children when they feel like they’ve been born into the wrong gender and their treatment by GIDS staff.
The clinic has seen a 100% increase in referrals in the last year.
Eight-year-old Ash, who lives as a girl, and 11-year-old Matt, who lives as a boy, are two of the children who regularly visit the gender clinic.
Matt lives with his mum Rachel, they have been visiting the clinic for three years.
Rachel explains: “I’ve never encouraged it but I’ve supported it. You just want your child to be happy but it’s not that easy.”
She adds: “When we’re out and about and I have to call her Matt or if we are around people and she’s saying call me he, but then in the house she is fine with being called she and Tils and I’m confused by it.
“I’m not quite ready to lose Tils.”
You can see a preview of the series below:
