Sky's Transition Fund
Donation protected
Hello everyone, my name is Sky Jackson and I’m a 22 year old trans woman from Suffolk, UK. I’m seeking financial aid to help me move forward in my transition.
TL;DR - I’m a trans woman on low income needing to secure a consistent cache of HRT and the opportunity for facial laser hair removal because the waiting list for transition treatment in the UK is still years away for me.
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I’m currently on the waiting list at the Tavistock and Portman Gender Identity Clinic, and have been since 2018, but it’ll still be almost another year and a half before I am able to schedule my first appointment with a gender identity specialist. Then on top of that, it would still be up to a year or later that I would actually receive an official prescription for hormones. This does not include testosterone blockers, which I would, again, have to wait another year for due to restrictions on how the prescriptions are given out. Further, any cosmetic items such as laser hair removal or access to voice training will be months or years apart before I can have covered access as well.
I currently buy hormones without a prescription online and it’s costing around triple the price it would be with one. I’ve been on HRT this way for the last year and a bit but I’ve found myself off them more than I have been on them throughout 2020 because I can’t afford them. Clearly, as a trans woman this is a struggle for me as it’s incredibly important to my health that I am able to stay on hormones as consistently as possible.
Navigating the process of transitioning under the current state of the NHS as a trans person in the UK is extremely challenging as the service isn’t set up to accommodate us as well as we need. It is inundated with other trans people trying to receive their own care, spread between very few, understaffed and underfunded clinics throughout the country. Waiting times have drastically shot up in the last 5 years and under our current government, things do not look like they’ll get any better any time soon. This is why it is crucial that I am able to consistently afford hormones because right now I cannot rely on any form of insurance for quite some time.
In addition to hormones, a great source of my dysphoria is my facial hair. Like I said, receiving care from the NHS as it is for this, is a long and arduous process, so currently I am looking into paying for laser hair removal.
I am currently on low income and in major debt. I am lucky to be able to live at home with cheap rent but with food, and other necessary expenses my cost of living margins are very slim.
If I can gain access to have a consistent cache of HRT, as well as laser hair removal, it will not only help greatly with my mental health and self confidence, but it will be much easier for me to be able to pass so that I may find work and be able to access these things myself. I’ve calculated the estimated costs for everything I need with a realistic time frame in mind of when I would start to receive the care I need myself, which is roughly 3 years time, at £2500. This would pay for my own HRT treatment for the next 3 years as well as 8 sessions of half face laser hair removal.
Any extra money I don’t spend, or money in excess of my goal will be spent on transportation to get to and from these services, and any general or miscellaneous cost of living items.
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, to anyone who donates or shares this. Being able to work on finding better income and making a life for myself with the knowledge that I'm not going to be without the hormones I need would genuinely be life saving . Your generosity means the world to me. Thank you for reading.
-Sky <3
TL;DR - I’m a trans woman on low income needing to secure a consistent cache of HRT and the opportunity for facial laser hair removal because the waiting list for transition treatment in the UK is still years away for me.
-
I’m currently on the waiting list at the Tavistock and Portman Gender Identity Clinic, and have been since 2018, but it’ll still be almost another year and a half before I am able to schedule my first appointment with a gender identity specialist. Then on top of that, it would still be up to a year or later that I would actually receive an official prescription for hormones. This does not include testosterone blockers, which I would, again, have to wait another year for due to restrictions on how the prescriptions are given out. Further, any cosmetic items such as laser hair removal or access to voice training will be months or years apart before I can have covered access as well.
I currently buy hormones without a prescription online and it’s costing around triple the price it would be with one. I’ve been on HRT this way for the last year and a bit but I’ve found myself off them more than I have been on them throughout 2020 because I can’t afford them. Clearly, as a trans woman this is a struggle for me as it’s incredibly important to my health that I am able to stay on hormones as consistently as possible.
Navigating the process of transitioning under the current state of the NHS as a trans person in the UK is extremely challenging as the service isn’t set up to accommodate us as well as we need. It is inundated with other trans people trying to receive their own care, spread between very few, understaffed and underfunded clinics throughout the country. Waiting times have drastically shot up in the last 5 years and under our current government, things do not look like they’ll get any better any time soon. This is why it is crucial that I am able to consistently afford hormones because right now I cannot rely on any form of insurance for quite some time.
In addition to hormones, a great source of my dysphoria is my facial hair. Like I said, receiving care from the NHS as it is for this, is a long and arduous process, so currently I am looking into paying for laser hair removal.
I am currently on low income and in major debt. I am lucky to be able to live at home with cheap rent but with food, and other necessary expenses my cost of living margins are very slim.
If I can gain access to have a consistent cache of HRT, as well as laser hair removal, it will not only help greatly with my mental health and self confidence, but it will be much easier for me to be able to pass so that I may find work and be able to access these things myself. I’ve calculated the estimated costs for everything I need with a realistic time frame in mind of when I would start to receive the care I need myself, which is roughly 3 years time, at £2500. This would pay for my own HRT treatment for the next 3 years as well as 8 sessions of half face laser hair removal.
Any extra money I don’t spend, or money in excess of my goal will be spent on transportation to get to and from these services, and any general or miscellaneous cost of living items.
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, to anyone who donates or shares this. Being able to work on finding better income and making a life for myself with the knowledge that I'm not going to be without the hormones I need would genuinely be life saving . Your generosity means the world to me. Thank you for reading.
-Sky <3
Organizer and beneficiary
Sky Jackson
Organizer
England
Cher Jackson
Beneficiary