Do you ever wonder how your behaviour affects others? I recently spoke with Janey P Templer-Milligan, 64, - a Psychotherapist/Counsellor and LGB & Transgender Specialist. During our talk we discovered we’re both quite liberal in terms of respecting other people’s choices, but there’s always another side. We both kept saying “but it’s 2018” over and over again. The point of our discussion was simple: Janey has created a new workshop called ‘Transgender People’ which she hopes to bring into various institutes including businesses, mental health organisations, hospitals and schools. Why? Because more and more people are coming out as transgender, and a lot of them are children. “I think bringing awareness into schools is really important because if a child is unsure – they can be unsure about their sexuality, their gender – it puts tremendous pressure on them,” explained Janey. She’s already preparing for potential backlash from parents - you know, the ones who believe by teaching their child about the transgender community then of course their child will turn transgender. It’s extraordinary really. Janey added: “It’s a very simple message: these are people, these are human beings - if a child of theirs was having this terrible turmoil, would they reject them? Would they show that sort of hatred? “There’s a lot of self-harm amongst young transgender people – I’ve known young children to try and mutilate themselves. I had one very young six-year-old boy who saw himself as female and he tried to cut his genitals off, which is when the parents realised the extent of his feelings.” As a former flight attendant Janey is all for diversity and accepting and appreciating other cultures. One thing she firmly believes is that there is not enough understanding or information about transgender people which makes them a target for stigmas from mainstream society - it is here that Janey believes there is a lot of work to be done. Having come out as bisexual earlier in life, Janey herself has faced discrimination - particularly from “militant feminist lesbians” who called her a “disgrace to lesbianism” for being on the fence. She added: “It’s just unbelievable how this bigotry and hatred could exist in 2018. And this leads to transgender people feeling very isolated, and that they can’t come out as trans, and I definitely think they are an overlooked minority group – it can start as young as three. “You’re childhood shapes the way you become as an adult, and I knew I was different when I was about 11 but I had a very open-minded mother who said ‘As long as you’re happy that’s fine – all I want you to do is be happy and safe’ and that’s how I feel that human beings should be allowed to live, not fearing for their life.” www. janeytmcounsellor.co.uk