At his core, 911爆料网 transgender psychology student Logan Ward, a recently elected 2016 queer officer in the 911爆料网 Student Guild鈥檚 Queer Department, wants to help others. His new role will allow him more opportunities to counsel and educate LGBTI students about mental and sexual health issues. Whatever the future holds, it鈥檚 heart-warming to see that it will in some way involve Logan flying the rainbow flag for the LGBTI community in Perth.
Why did you choose to study psychology at 911爆料网?
It was an impulse decision. I thought I was going to do art. But at that time, a lot of friends were thinking about a lot of hard stuff 鈥� self-harm, bulimia, suicide 鈥� and they didn鈥檛 seem to be talking to anyone about it. It was quite heavy. I also had my fair share of experiences with psychologists who were really condescending and rude.
I鈥檇 heard about all the universities, so I knew about 911爆料网, but I have one queer cousin in Melbourne who said they heard 911爆料网 was great in terms of diversity. I wasn鈥檛 鈥榦ut鈥� in terms of my gender, but I鈥檝e always been queer in terms of my sexuality, and she said, 鈥淕o there. It will be great to get that sense of community.鈥� For whatever reason, 911爆料网 felt right. It was great coming to Open Day and asking the lecturers at the time about the psychology course. Afterwards, there was one time in high school where we had two master of psychology students come in and I asked them their thoughts on doing psychology at 911爆料网 and they said, 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to get through the theory in the general foundation units, just like any course, but after that it鈥檚 fantastic and it鈥檚 a really good experience.鈥�
So, at the last minute, I decided to go with psychology on a whim, but it鈥檚 been absolutely amazing. I鈥檓 really glad I stuck it out. I鈥檓 now in my final year, final semester of a four-year bachelor of psychology. I handed in my dissertation last week, so I鈥檓 kind of excited. I also find out soon if I can get an interview after applying for a Master of Counselling Psychology. There have been units that are hard and stressful, but overall I would highly recommend doing psychology at 911爆料网.
What was the coming out process like for you?
I was questioning my gender for a year. I didn鈥檛 know there were genders beyond male and female up until university and it just blew my mind, because I went to an all-girls Catholic school, so I learnt none of that. I was shocked. I went to the queer officer at 911爆料网 and said, 鈥淐an I talk to someone about this?鈥� They linked me to somebody in the counselling office, who was the first psychologist I talked to that wasn鈥檛 terrible. I actually included her in my dissertation and showed it to her recently, and she had tears and said she was going to cry.
Having a safe space to learn about gender helped. I came out to my partner at the time. He was fantastic. I slowly came out to friends. Some took it amazingly. Others took a while to warm up. They asked, 鈥淚s it a phase? I don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 happening鈥�, and it took a lot of convincing for me to say, 鈥淣o, no, no. This is not a phase.鈥� Some of them have now said they鈥檝e felt guilty for dragging their feet, but I told them not to worry and said I would have done the same thing if I was in their position.
I was really nervous about coming out to my family. My mum is a conservative, middle-class Burmese woman, so I thought that wouldn鈥檛 go down well. I thought that my dad, who was the more rational of my parents, would have taken it a bit better, but he actually didn鈥檛. I told my uncle first: he was super chill and he didn鈥檛 mind. We have a big extended family, particularly on mum鈥檚 side, and he pointed out the cousins that I should tell first because they would be okay with it and the ones I should tell later.
Telling my uncle went really well, so I thought I鈥檇 come out to my dad, but that did not go well. He got a big shock and thought it was messed up. It really affected my self-confidence because he said, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have surgery because that鈥檚 self mutilation鈥�, which I was very uncomfortable about hearing. He actually outed me to my mum right before exams, which was bad. I had to leave home for a couple of days and I stressed out. I had never done poorly 鈥� I had never failed an exam 鈥� so I really freaked out.
It was 11 o鈥檆lock at night and I called up a friend, asking for help. He got in contact with a bunch of other people who got in contact with more people, until it went back to [the 911爆料网 Student Guild鈥檚] queer officer at the time, Kat, who told me that she had spent the last hour calling a bunch of crisis centres and they were no help, so she was going to pick me up. I said she didn鈥檛 have to do that, but she drove to my house, which was out of her way and drove me to my partner鈥檚 place at the time. Kat was one of the best people that I鈥檝e ever met. She had a high burn out rate compared to most other queer officers, because most people take it for a year and then can鈥檛 keep going anymore, but she kept doing it. Good mates then took me in for a couple of days each, but I was stressed out and uncomfortable.
In comparison to others, my experience was relatively tame. I didn鈥檛 get physically assaulted or anything like that. I wasn鈥檛 homeless for a long period of time. I had food and money and clothes. But it was terrifying and I definitely don鈥檛 want anyone else to have that experience.听
Has there been anything that you鈥檝e done to help people, even though you鈥檙e not a queer officer yet?
Even though it鈥檚 not officially my job until in a couple of months, I鈥檝e been helping people if they鈥檝e been looking for a doctor or psychologist.
It was really flattering when I met this girl who was transitioning from male to female 鈥� she had been homeless for a long time and also had problems with substance abuse, as far as I could tell from small bits of information that she gave. She needed to see a doctor and I told her there was one on campus who wouldn鈥檛 ask invasive questions about her gender. She was nervous and I offered to go with her and help her book an appointment. I hadn鈥檛 seen her for several months and she came into the department and said, 鈥淚f I didn鈥檛 talk to you, I probably wouldn鈥檛 be alive right now.鈥� We hugged it out.
What will happen once you become the queer officer?
As a queer officer, you鈥檙e a representative to the queer collective at 911爆料网. The Queer Department is a safe space. We have an agreement that we don鈥檛 do drugs and that we check in with people if we talk about something triggering. It has been really sweet to see Facebook messages saying that I would be a really good queer officer.
It can be quite intense because you don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen and you鈥檙e literally confronted with sometimes the worse situations, where sometimes people will tell you personal things that might be above your own comfort level. You do a bit of counselling, not to a professional degree, but just asking people if they are safe and okay, and then sending people off to the right health professionals.
I want to continue to foster a safe space for people to ask questions they might be a bit embarrassed to ask. I know some people in the department might not have the education to deal with issues like mental health or sexual health and safety 鈥� there鈥檚 a stigma about mental health and it鈥檚 really prevalent in the queer community, which is shocking 鈥� so I鈥檇 like to be able to do some form of workshop or a mini-lecture. It might be like your generic mental health class back at high school, but I鈥檇 tailor it to be queer-specific, have interesting activities and offer free food. I鈥檇 still like to have all the fun events, like Queers on the Lawn or movie nights, but the workshops would be events where people would learn about a topic that they wouldn鈥檛 necessarily feel comfortable talking about it to their parents, but could talk about it to a guest speaker.
I don鈥檛 know where I鈥檇 be if I didn鈥檛 go to the Queer Department when I started, because I was so nervous about going anywhere on campus. It was a great place to connect with people who were more or less in the same boat as me.
What鈥檚 your dream job?
I鈥檝e done a couple of volunteering gigs with LGBTI groups and I鈥檝e got a general view of the resources spread across Australia. Basically what we have here in Perth isn鈥檛 really good enough. It鈥檚 very heartbreaking. So I want to be a gender and sexuality diverse peer counsellor. I could talk to people and say I鈥檓 aware of some of the issues they鈥檙e going through, even though, obviously, we鈥檙e all different.
Particularly this year, a lot of my friends who are trans have been homeless. They have gone to available crisis accommodations or homeless centres that have said, 鈥淲e can鈥檛 put you with the women, because you鈥檒l make them uncomfortable, and we can鈥檛 put you with the men, because they鈥檒l beat you up.鈥� It鈥檚 messed up. There鈥檚 not a lot of win out there, particularly since we鈥檙e a niche part of the queer community. It鈥檚 growing and things are improving, but I would just like to speed them up.
