Donr Spotlight — Introducing: Mermaids
Tags: Nonprofit, Learning, Charity, Partnerships, Transgender

Mermaids’ national helpline has seen a dramatic increase in calls requesting support from young gender variant people. The charity plans to use Donr’s Text Giving service to help fund this helpline. Photo by Bogdan Glisik on Unsplash

This week, Rosanna Andrews, Fundraising Manager at UK-wide charity, Mermaids, talks to Donr Spotlight about her organisation’s work in supporting thousands of transgender or gender non-conforming children.

Founded back in 1995 by the parents of gender-variant children and young people, Mermaids was originally intended as a support group and has since grown to respond to need and now provides a much wider range of services.

‘Mermaids’ overarching aim is to create a world where gender diverse children and young people can be themselves and thrive,’ Rosanna explains. ‘Our goal is to relieve the mental and emotional stress of all those aged 19 years and under who are gender variant, as well as to promote education and awareness.

‘We offer information, support, friendship and shared experiences to young people and their families, as well as providing some local and national opportunities to meet others.’

In 2019, there is possibly a greater awareness of transgender issues across society than there has ever been before. Has this has meant a much greater number of requests for support from Mermaids in recent years? ‘Over the last three years, the number of emails and calls received [requesting support has] increased from 495 in 2013/2014 to just under 4,000 in 2016/2017,’ Rosanna confirms.

Despite this increased awareness of transgender issues in the UK today, Mermaids still report that young transgender people and their families face serious challenges in their daily lives.

‘Children and teens dealing with gender dysphoria and their families require support to cope with isolation, discrimination and prejudice,’ Rosanna says. ‘Gender variant young people are among the most vulnerable in the UK — almost half of transgender school pupils (45%) in the UK have attempted suicide; 1 in 9 of those pupils have received death threats, 8 out of 10 have self-harmed.

‘They (gender variant young people) experience bullying, both physically and mentally, by their peers, adults and even people in authority, such as teachers and local authority workers. Without adequate support, transgender young people are far more likely to drop out of school and are less likely to access higher education.

‘At a recent Mermaids residential weekend, we did a session with Stop Hate UK,’ Rosanna continues. ‘We asked how many of the parents in the room were frightened for their children and what they face in the outside world — they all raised their hands. We then asked the gender diverse teens and young people in the room how many had been subject to transphobic abuse — they all raised their hands.’

To add to these shocking revelations one young person even said of the charity: ‘I would probably be dead, if it wasn’t for Mermaids. Being able to meet other trans people has been invaluable for me. Being able to talk about things that I couldn’t discuss with anyone else and receiving positive messages, advice and feedback from admins and other members has also been invaluable.’

Clearly, in 2019, Mermaids’ work is absolutely vital, and they intend to use the money they are able to raise via their Donr Text Giving keyword to help fund that national helpline which has seen such a dramatic increase in calls requesting support in the last three years.

If you would like to help Mermaids continue to provide young gender variant people and their families with the support they need, please text ‘MERMAIDS’ followed by a donation amount to 70085. For instance, if you would like to donate £20, please text ‘MERMAIDS 20’ to 70085*.

To find out more about the charity, visit their website or email info@mermaidsuk.org.uk