Support And Education For Trans Youth
SAEFTY is Ottawa's only independent youth group run entirely by and for trans and gender diverse youth. SAEFTY runs online events and works to offer up-to-date information to the community, including providing educational workshops. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, SAEFTY also ran drop-in programming and community events for trans and gender diverse children, youth, and people of all ages. Some past in-person events have included a t-shirt screen printing workshop and a human library.
Since January 2022, SAEFTY has provided $150 grants every month to help youth access legal name changes. Check out The MeFund for more information!
SAEFTY also has an advocacy team that is working to improve trans health care in Ottawa and beyond. Read our report on the CHEO Gender Clinic here. Additionally, facilitators have provided workshops to teachers, students, organizations, and providers on topics such as trans joy and improving the treatment of trans youth.
Events
In the past, SAEFTY has run free drop-in events twice a month. Due to COVID, SAEFTY has shifted to prioritizing online events that are more accessible to immunocompromised community members, such as our Halloween craft get-together and our TDOV Colour With SAEFTY event.
Advocacy
SAEFTY’s Advocacy Team is committed to listening to the issues in our community and making an effort to improve them. Facilitators have run workshops for schools, organizations, and more on topics ranging from trans and queer joy to knowing your rights at school, and how doctors and teachers can treat trans youth better.
In 2018 we surveyed over 50 trans and gender diverse youth and families and about their experiences accessing transition related health care at the CHEO Gender Diversity Clinic. We published a report on our results and recommendations and continue to advocate for better care for children and youth in our communities.
Resources
We know it can be hard to find community support, that’s why we have tried to compile as many resources as we can in one place. SAEFTY’s resource list provides information and links to community resources for trans and gender diverse people and their families across Ottawa and online.
“Youth leadership and solid research goals. Other agencies and groups could learn from [SAEFTY’s] work. It’s impressive.”
— Anonymous