W.E. Trans Support helps people struggling through transition

A Windsor woman has launched a new support group and help line for transgender people looking for guidance as they transition.

Jayce Carver's latest project W.E. Trans Support is operated by transgender people in order to offer help from people who have the experience.

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"There's a lot of stigma around being trans and transitioning," she said. "Often times people are too afraid to access service providers or even go to an LGBT centre when they know they're not going to be faced with a trans person to tell that story to the first time."

As the executive director, who also operates the help line, Carver says the phone has been ringing regularly with calls from parents and friends of people wanting to transition.

"We have a peer mentor go out and meet with the individuals and start looking at goals they want to identify and then start linking them to support providers who we feel are trans specific or trans friendly," she told CBC News.

The idea for the program was borne from her own experience transitioning. As a transgender woman, Carver has battled drug addiction and suffered from physical and sexual abuse while living on the city's streets.

After years of recovery, and going through transition, she's now a housing support worker at the Welcome Centre women's shelter, where she helps clients find stable homes.

Finding help from people who understood her during her transition was hard to come by, which is why she wants to be there for others.

"If an agency like this existed a couple of years ago when I needed the support I think I would have been able to take a deep breath," she said. "I think maybe some of the things I've had to endure over the last few years of transition wouldn't have happened."