Page 17 - QARANC Spring 2024

a colleague - well, we do exactly what we do in the NHS: we treat what we find.
“A female Private, said ‘we’re here for you’ which was very touching. The video had people in tears – people who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mistakes were made too, that’s okay, as ‘No one makes a mistake on purpose.’ Since living my true self as a trans woman, I have found my confidence grow. I have embraced and promoted diversity and inclusion through my career, and I felt that if I could not speak up, then who could?! Whilst it has not always been easy for others to adjust it has been proven to be the right thing to do.”
Steph’s story began in Essex, where she was born, and continued when growing up in Somerset. Steph’s dad completed his National Service in the Royal Signals and was “very proud” of his own grandfather who served in the Boer war and saw action in France and Italy in the First World War, before being fatally wounded three days before the Armistice, and now rests on a hillside in Italy. Steph was in the Royal Observer Corps as part of her Duke of Edinburgh Award and introduced to the Yeomanry while at polytechnic.
The Army has always a passion, but Steph’s career initially led her into computing, being part of the technology revolution in the 1980s and 90s. “It wasn’t really my forte,” concedes Steph. “Once I joined the Territorial Army, I found out what real teamwork is, as opposed to working with a group of colleagues for a profit-making company. Somebody suggested I try nursing and I landed in mental health in 1996.”
Various pieces of Mental Health legislation signalled the move away from caring for people in institutions and enabling them to be helped in the community and to “get jobs and live life, not stuck in asylums,” says Steph, adding, “It’s underfunded, sometimes vilified, and often not understood... It can scare people, but it is fascinating because mental health teams are holistic – you’re dealing with benefits one day, or crises the next day.” Steph has on occasion had to drop everything and go the side of a suicidal patient at home, talking through their concerns over a brew and exploring with them how to overcome their immediate and longer-term concerns.
Steph registered in 1999 and has worked in wards, in the community, as part of specialist psychosis teams, and with veterans. “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) rates in veterans is about the same as the general public, about 4% of mental health cases,” explains Steph. “Unfortunately, some veterans leave it a long time to seek help, they have tried to ‘suck it up’ and be brave. Then something changes in their life. It could be modest or significant, perhaps a spouse dying, or they’ve retired and have time on their hands. And the thoughts come back, and they start unravelling.”
She adds: “One I dealt with, entered a building on operations. His buddy was blown up and he came out physically unscathed. His mate got stacks of support and became a world class para-athlete, whereas he didn’t get support (or didn’t seek support) and ended up losing his house and his family before he stumbled across mental health services. There’s bitterness, pride, people fearful or appearing weak or they don’t want to come forward because they worry
Transgender people have been feared, ridiculed,
and vilified. Unfortunately, mainstream media seems to be intent on reinforcing negative stereotypes, associating trans women with socially unacceptable and even grotesque aspects
of human behaviour
it will affect their promotion. That said, mental health provision in the Forces is very much better nowadays, and improving.”
It was in December 2022 that Steph told her Commanding Officer she was questioning her gender. The Army has been fully supportive, but Steph believes it will take time for wider society to become comfortable with the idea of gender not necessarily being binary. She points out that homosexuality was still outlawed in the UK in May 1967 when she was born (it was made legal in October that year), and the Armed Forces only lifted the ‘Gay Ban’ in 2000, and for which the Prime Minster apologised only this year (2023). Even to be left-handed could see you ridiculed and made to change right up to the 20th Century (consider the effect on the collective mindset over centuries that the Latin for left is ‘sinister’).
“Transgender people have been feared, ridiculed, and vilified. Unfortunately, mainstream media seems to be intent on reinforcing negative stereotypes, associating trans women with socially unacceptable and even grotesque aspects of human behaviour. There has been a great deal of rubbish that’s been promulgated, which a certain demographic readily believes. So it’s a struggle sometimes. I’m anticipating being harassed as ‘one of those people’ – so I can ask if they mean a Registered Nurse or an Army Officer!”
As a diversity and inclusion practitioner, Steph has been “speaking up for the underdog” and this includes the 0.5% of people who described their gender as different to that on their birth certificate in the 2021 census (some 2.9 million people chose not to answer the question, so actual numbers may be higher). Steph thinks this could be between 400 and 2500 transgender people in the Army when compared with published numbers from the US Military.
As part of her presentation, Steph gave lots of information on trans health, mental health care, and dos and don’ts in a clinical setting. “You don’t need to take someone’s trans history if they’ve come in with a broken ankle for example,” she says. “A trans man I’ve spoken to turned up for a gynaecological appointment. He was sat there with a beard, and a female healthcare professional demanded, “What are you doing here?” He stood his ground because he had all the ‘bits and plumbing’ internally and had been called for a routine scan. What if he’d “bottled
The Gazette QARANC Association 17