Dr. Anna Hutchinson, UK
“What if it’s not right to put young people – ten year olds - on puberty blockers? ‘It is mad’ was the reply. Hutchinson paused. When one of the leaders of a service that helps children to access powerful, life-changing drugs comments that what they’re doing is ‘mad’, there is clearly a very big problem. It wasn’t okay just to say the work of the service was ‘mad’, Hutchinson thought. What were they going to do about it?”
- Time to Think
Dr Anna Hutchinson is a London based clinical psychologist with twenty-five years of frontline experience. She is the co-director of an independent practice. Clinically, she specializes in adolescent mental health, gender and physical health.
Anna worked in the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at The Tavistock Clinic at a senior level between 2013 and 2017 where she witnessed unprecedented changes in the patient demographics, referral numbers and an emerging evidence base that challenged practice. Her publications document a shift in her thinking as a result - in 2016 she was writing from a gender affirmative position, by 2019-2020 she was discussing rapid/late onset gender dysphoria and detransition/regret. Her testimony alongside those of many colleagues, formed a key part of the narrative in “Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children," by Hannah Barnes.
Since leaving GIDS, Anna has been working with others to improve awareness of the complex needs of young people experiencing gender related distress. She continues to teach and write in the area, with a particular focus on the need for ethical psychotherapy for young people and families coping with issues related to gender.
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You can watch/listen to a 2023 interview with Anna on the Transparency podcast here.