Healthcare With A Heart

Joanne Lockwood speaks with Susie Green, co-founder and co-director of Anne Health, about what it takes to provide compassionate, medically responsible healthcare for trans people at a time when access is increasingly politicised.

Susie shares how becoming the parent of a trans child led her into advocacy and support work, and how early isolation and the search for community shaped her understanding of what families need. Together, Joanne and Susie unpack today’s hostile media narratives and the practical impact they have on real lives, including fear, burnout, and people being pushed into unsafe routes when healthcare is denied.

The conversation explores systemic barriers across the UK and beyond: long waiting lists, GP reluctance, the effects of policy decisions such as the puberty blockers ban, and why denying care is not a neutral act. Susie outlines why Anne Health was created, the model it uses to prioritise personalised care and access to real human support, and the organisation’s commitment to doing this work legally, safely, and with appropriate clinical oversight.

The episode closes with a call for empathy, informed practice, and sustained allyship, highlighting the importance of support networks and accessible, affirming healthcare for trans people and their families.

One-sentence summary

A mother who once searched in fear now stands immovable in love, refusing to let politics erase the child she knows and the dignity every trans person deserves.

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Synopsis

Susie Green did not set out to become a public advocate. She was a parent who knew nothing about trans lives until her four‑year‑old told her that “God had made a mistake.” For two years, Susie gently tried to steer her child back towards what felt safer, more familiar. But her daughter never wavered. The moment Susie picked up the phone to Mermaids and finally spoke to someone who understood, she describes “the relief was immense”. She cried through most of that first conversation. It was the first time she felt less alone, and the first step towards becoming the kind of parent who would not look away.

What she is trying to change now is simple and profoundly human: people should not have to suffer to prove who they are. She has seen families pushed into panic when care is withdrawn, young people told they must endure a puberty that feels like “torture”, adults forced to self‑medicate because systems have shut them out. She says, plainly, “Politics has no place in health care.” Through Anne Health, she is building something grounded in presence — real people answering the phone, doctors who actually speak to patients — because being heard can be the difference between despair and hope.

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10 Small, digestible concepts for easy learning

1. Love can turn ignorance into action.

Susie began knowing nothing; love for her child forced her to learn.

2. Children know themselves earlier than we think.

Her daughter never wavered — even when adults hoped she would.

3. Relief comes from being understood.

One empathetic conversation changed the trajectory of a family.

4. Denying care is not neutral.

Refusing treatment doesn’t pause life; it can cause harm.

5. Shame is a political tool.

Making people feel “wrong” weakens them before laws even land.

6. Healthcare requires humans.

Algorithms cannot replace reassurance or clinical accountability.

7. Access is about safety, not convenience.

When care disappears, people take risks to survive.

8. Authenticity isn’t contagious.

“Why would anybody choose this? It’s really hard.”

9. Visibility attracts venom — and impact.

Being publicly committed means absorbing hostility so others don’t have to.

10. Belonging is built through presence.

A helpline answered by a real person can steady a shaking family.

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The “why” in the story

What they believe is true about people

That most people simply want to “get on and live”. That children are not confused by default. That authenticity is not a threat.

What they cannot unsee

Parents crying in fear. Young people terrified their bodies will betray them. Families forced to choose between obedience to systems and protection of their child.

What they are no longer willing to tolerate

Conversion practices dressed up as care. Politicians using children as proof points. Healthcare decisions dictated by moral panic.

What they are trying to build instead

A healthcare space grounded in legitimacy and warmth — clinically sound, legally robust, financially fair — where no one is left speaking into a void.

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Narrative structure

1. The trigger

Her four‑year‑old saying she was a girl. The years of persistence that followed. The phone call that made Susie realise this was real — and that she needed to show up differently.

2. The tension

She stands in a public space where abuse is normalised. She sees laws tighten, rhetoric darken, and families grow more frightened. She carries “a constant state of rage”, tempered by the need to stay steady.

3. The insight

“To deny access to medication… is not a neutral act.” Doing nothing is a choice. For some young people, delay is harm.

4. The pivot

From searching as a parent to leading as an advocate. From relying on broken systems to building an alternative. She co‑founds Anne Health so that people can speak to “a real life person” and receive medically overseen care.

5. The destination

A future where trans children are not political symbols. Where adults aren’t waiting decades for treatment. Where healthcare feels steady, human and safe.

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Five key takeaways and learning points

1. Listening can change a life.

Susie’s turning point was being heard — and she now offers that to others.

2. Systems can retraumatise the vulnerable.

When care is delayed or withdrawn, it destabilises entire families.

3. Humour can be armour.

When mocked as Ursula, she replied, “Does my bum look big in this?” — reclaiming dignity through wit.

4. Access shapes outcomes.

Privilege determines who can pay, travel, or wait — and who cannot.

5. Hope is an action.

Building alternatives, however imperfect, is a refusal to abandon people.

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Ten distinct ideas explained

1. Early knowing

A four‑year‑old can articulate identity with clarity. Dismissing that knowing plants doubt and shame.

2. Parental awakening

Advocacy often begins in private kitchens and late‑night searches, not conference halls.

3. Isolation vs community

Thirty families on a Yahoo group once held each other together. Belonging reduces fear.

4. Rhetoric as harm

Public narratives seep into GP surgeries and classrooms, shaping how trans people are treated.

5. Healthcare withdrawal panic

The fear that one’s body will change against one’s will is visceral and destabilising.

6. Barriers create danger

When legitimate pathways close, unsafe ones open.

7. Politics in the clinic

When legislation overrides clinical nuance, patients absorb the cost.

8. Conversion through ‘care’

Steering someone towards being “cisgender” as the preferred outcome denies their lived truth.

9. The power of human contact

Relief floods in when someone answers the phone and says, in effect, you matter.

10. Resilience through conviction

Hostility loses its sting when you are anchored in certainty about your purpose.

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How people should change as a result

1. Think

• Move from seeing “an issue” to seeing a family.
• Understand that delay and restriction are active choices with consequences.
• Recognise that shame is often manufactured, not organic.
• Question narratives that target the smallest groups with the loudest accusations.

2. Feel

• Shift from suspicion to curiosity.
• From abstract concern to human empathy.
• From helpless anger to purposeful steadiness.
• From discomfort to compassion.

3. Act

• When someone discloses vulnerability, listen fully before offering opinion.
• Support services that provide safe, regulated access to care.
• Challenge misinformation gently but clearly.
• Ask your GP practice how they support trans patients.
• Check in on a young person who may be feeling isolated.
• Prioritise policies and leaders who separate healthcare from culture wars.

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One thing to remember

Denying someone the care that lets them live as themselves is not neutral — it is a choice with consequences.