November Updates!
Kia ora koutou,
Welcome to our November Updates!
This month we celebrated Trans Week of Awareness (TWOA) with some educational and exciting events happening throughout the regions. We also joined the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti in different regions throughout the motu to show our support and stand in solidarity. Here's a recap of everything we achieved during this month!
Trans Health and Wellbeing Webinar
We kicked off TWOA with an insightful webinar focused on trans health and wellbeing. Aimed at professionals, parents of trans and gender-diverse youth, and anyone interested in learning how to better support trans communities. The event featured a diverse panel of speakers; experts in psychology, mental health, medical fields, and our own support workers shared their knowledge and experiences.
The webinar was a tremendous success, with over 30 attendees joining live via Zoom and more than 100 people registering to receive the recording. Our incredible support workers Basil, Shomudro, and Taongahuru ensured the event ran seamlessly from start to finish.
Community Partnerships and Events
The generous team at Colleen offered free haircuts to trans and gender-diverse folks for one evening, creating a space where everyone could feel affirmed and celebrated. RY Taranaki partnered with ART104.4FM to transform their ARTspace into an exhibition of artwork created by trans and gender-diverse rangatahi. This event highlighted the creativity and talent within our community while giving young artists a platform to showcase their work. On November 20th, RY proudly supported OUTLine’s Trans Day of Remembrance vigil to honor the lives of trans individuals lost to discrimination and violence. Although aspects of the week were heavy, we are overwhelmed by the strength of our community and our ability to stand together and support each other!
Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti
Our team hit the streets for Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti in Tāmaki Makaurau and other regions, standing together with tangata whenua to support and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It was amazing to see so many individuals and organisations coming together for equity and justice! We encouraged our young people to join us and opened our centres for sign making. They were excited to be part of something so powerful and meaningful, and showed up in force! It was a week full of love, solidarity, and community. TOITŪ TE TIRITI!
Hope you have a wonderful new month, we’ll see you in the next one!
