Please join The Cairns Group GPs on 7 September for Trans and Gender Diverse Youth: Care in General Practice — A Cairns Perspective
Trans and gender diverse (TGD) young people present to general practice more often than many GPs realise, yet workforce confidence and training remain patchy — particularly outside metropolitan centres. This session offers a practical, evidence-based grounding in TGD youth healthcare for GPs working in Far North Queensland.
We’ll cover the current Australian standards of care, the role of informed consent and multidisciplinary models in paediatric and adolescent gender care, and how GPs fit into the broader care team alongside paediatric endocrinology, mental health, and specialist gender services. We’ll also address the evolving Queensland public health landscape around access to gender-affirming care, and what this means for patients and referrers locally.
The session will close with a practical map of local and regional referral pathways for TGD youth and families in Cairns and Far North Queensland — who to refer to, what to expect from wait times and intake processes, and how GPs can provide safe, affirming holding care in the interim.
Suitable for GPs, GP registrars, and nurse practitioners seeking a confident, up-to-date foundation in this area of care.
Presenters
Dr Katie Williamson is a General Practitioner at Kaleidoscope Clinic in Cairns and a freelance medical educator and supervisor. Katie is actively engaged in governance around transgender and regularly provides gender diverse healthcare at Kaleidoscope Clinic. She is a member of AusPATH and recently contributed to the RACGP:Check – Gender and Gender Diversity.
Dr Anja Ravine is a researcher at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), where she is a member of AusPATH and WPATH, an investigator with ARCTYC, and a RACP Fellow. Her recent work includes co-authorship of “Cass Review does not guide care for trans young people,” published in the Medical Journal of Australia in October 2025. Anja will present on her current research into gender exploratory therapy.
Dr Lauren Finlay is a Sexual Health Physician and General Practitioner at Cairns Sexual Health Service, where she provides clinical care spanning sexual health, HIV medicine, and trans and gender diverse healthcare in Far North Queensland.
Join us from 6.00pm for a light refreshment at JCU’s The Yeinie Building at 11-13 Charles St Cairns North.
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