Jenny lives in Stoke-on-Trent, she is 52 and transitioned in 2006. She has been in the NHS since 1987, having previously worked caring for people with a learning disability.
For the last 20 years her role has been as a seconded trade union representative (UNISON) supporting NHS members with a wide variety of workplace issues, and through this role she has been a sitting member of the Trust board for her main NHS employer. In my trade union she has held leadership roles locally and regionally and was the first trans person to have been elected to UNISONs national healthcare executive committee. She is involved in UNISONs LGBT+ self-organised group and has spoken at many events and conferences on trans rights and inclusion.
She was particularly proud to have played a key part speaking at the 2018 Trades Union Congress on a motion that formed policy supporting the reform of the Gender Recognition Act. She has developed a trans awareness training session that she delivers across the NHS in North Staffordshire, including a session for final year mental health nursing students. In 2018 she was honoured to receive the Stonewall North West workplace role model award.
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