Context & Challenge
In response to systemic barriers in healthcare, Transcend Australia partnered with the Queensland Mental Health Commission to undertake the Queensland Connected Communities Project. The initiative was established to research, design, and launch targeted resources aimed at helping trans young people, their families, and care networks navigate healthcare options.
Operating within a challenging legislative landscape (specifically following the statewide restriction on public hormone therapies for youth under 18) the project required a deeply empathetic, evidence-based approach to address urgent gaps in community support and access to gender-affirming care.
Strategy & Execution
Director of Q Inclusion, Parker Rettke managed the end-to-end delivery (from designing the research framework to prototyping the final tools) of this project, ensuring trans leadership was central. Parker worked with a Queensland-based partner, and a Lived-Experience Reference Group of 8 key local stakeholders to co-design a rigorous methodology that featured over 25 in-depth interviews and focus groups with trans Queenslanders, their families, and local service providers to map existing healthcare networks, uncover unmet needs and ideate potential solutions for inclusion in the toolkit. Parker led the development of several tool prototypes and then led several workshops with local stakeholders and the lived-experience reference group to ensure the toolkit was as impactful as possible.
Results & Impact
The primary output of the initiative was the Queensland Connected Communities Toolkit, a comprehensive resource hub designed to empower trans youth, families, and healthcare providers with actionable guidance. Officially released in June 2026, the toolkit immediately filled a critical information gap, securing thousands of views within its first few months. The toolkit had over a thousand page views in its first week, and amplifies the lived experiences of trans Queenslanders to increase visibility of trans needs and identities.
