Our reflections on the first Trans Aware Cancer Care workshop

Where to begin?

It is always difficult to know what to expect in the early stages of a project like this. There are often so many unknowns – will people want to take part? Do we have everything we need? But we are feeling so inspired by the incredible people we met on Saturday, the stories that were shared and by the very lovely feedback we received. Some of the words used in the attendees’ feedback were ‘respected’, ‘supported’, ‘welcoming’ and ‘privilege’. Some also reflected on how nice it felt to have the rare opportunity to be part of a room of trans+ people.

Saturday’s workshop took place in Southampton’s SeaCity Museum, and ran alongside a Museum of Transology event – wow, do we feel privileged to have been a part of this collaboration. Excitingly, we were able to share a piece of art created by the Community Researchers within the workshop with them, for their archives!

We have reflected upon how naturally we all sank into our different roles throughout the workshop, and how this encouraged a very relaxed atmosphere. Each member of the team was able to have meaningful discussions, create purposeful art pieces, and develop a connection with each person who wanted to join the workshop. We also learnt a lot and have reflected as a team on how we will be able to make future workshops even better… So please get in touch if you want to get involved!

We would like to thank everyone who has been a part of making this project happen, and who was a part of Saturday’s workshop. It was incredibly humbling and has only reinvigorated our passion for this project, having seen the positive impact of providing safe and welcoming spaces for people to share their stories.

You can read more in depth reflections from one of our Community Researchers, here.

We are excited to share more as the project continues…