Charity (no. 1160575)
Mermaids
"Mermaids supports transgender and gender diverse children, young people, and their families"
Charity (no. 1160575)
"Mermaids supports transgender and gender diverse children, young people, and their families"
Being transgender can be incredibly isolating both for the person and the family who support them. Don’t be alone, reach out to Mermaids who can put you in touch with others. Make new friends and share experiences.
Formed in 1995 by a group of parents brought together by their children’s longstanding gender incongruence, Mermaids has evolved and grown to meet demand and offer appropriate resources to young people, their families and carers, and professionals working with gender variant young people. Formed primarily as a support group, our focus has widened dramatically over the last few years.
Mermaids supports children and young people up to 20 years old who are gender diverse, and their families, and professionals involved in their care.
It is difficult to know how many people are affected, but the Equality and Human Rights Commission undertook a survey in 2012 of 10,000 people, which indicated that around 1% were dealing with gender variance to some degree.
Mermaids provides a helpline aimed at supporting transgender youth up to and including the age of 19, their families and professionals working with them. The helpline offers emotional support, a gateway to the parents and teens forums, information about current legislation and protections under the law, plus signposting to training and resources. The helpline is covered by volunteers, so we do not have a definitive schedule of when we can answer your call but aim to answer your calls between 9am and 9pm, Monday to Friday. Any voicemails will be responded to as soon as we can once received. If there is no-one available to talk to and your situation is urgent, please email info@mermaidsuk.org.uk
The Mermaids Helpline is open Monday to Friday, 9am - 9pm (times may vary on Bank Holidays)
It’s FREEPHONE and won’t show up on your phone bill!
We are currently piloting a new web chat service. If you wish to speak to an operator and the service is shown to be available, just click on the 'Let's Chat' button on our website. When there are no operators available, the 'Sorry our web chat is currently closed' sign will appear.