Victoria’s Volunteer of the Year: Riley’s story

After living the previous 16 years on the other end of the spectrum, the happiness that came with feeling whole in a way he never had before was overwhelming. 

“With gender dysphoria, you feel discomfort and disconnect with your gender, and at the opposite end you’re so happy and conformable,” Riley said.

“When I first began taking hormones, I started feeling this euphoria.

“But as time’s gone on, I’ve realised it’s not even that, it’s just how you’re meant to feel.

“It’s the normal state of happiness we’re meant to experience as human beings – which until that time, I’d never really felt before.”

While Riley now feels “normal”, his achievements over the past four years have been anything but.

On Sunday the 20-year-old was named Victoria’s Volunteer of the Year for his work advocating for better rights and support for LGBTIQ young people.

He worked closely with Gateway Health staff, particularly Sarah Roberts, to build from a community forum in 2013 what is now the first gender service in regional Australia.

“It was Sarah who came to us and said ‘This is what I want you to do’ – she doesn’t get enough credit,” Riley said.

“I did a lot of ‘lived experience consultation’.

“I would speak to people and say ‘Okay, you’re transgender, what do you need? How do we make this a safe environment for you?’”

But Riley did much more than that – he helped design the service, right down to the language used on the forms; he was on the interviewing panel for staff; he pushed for Gateway to install gender-neutral toilets.

He also speaks to young people, and one of his biggest goals is getting them the right help early.

“Everyone says you’re going to be okay, but until you’ve got living proof in front of you, it’s hard to believe,” he said.

“We didn’t get a referral until after I had a mental health crisis and ended up in hospital.”

Riley was 13 when he told his parents he was transgender. 

“I’d been on computers all my life, so I was doing my own research in the background and figuring out my identity,” he said.

“It was a lot of googling things like, ‘I think I’m a boy’, ‘I feel like a boy’, ‘Can I be a boy if I’m a girl?’.

“It was talking to people online who had gone through it and asking them questions.

“I wanted to make sure it was okay – I think I always knew that it was – but because I’d never heard of this before and then experiencing the stigma around it in some of my social groups, I just wanted words to prove to them they were wrong.

“It was all fine at home, but not when I walked outside.”

The Briese family have backed Riley 100 per cent of the way, with mum Kerri taking action following the initial conversation. 

“We had to self-educate and try to be one step ahead of where Riley might be,” she said.

“We sought help from GPs and health services, and nobody was able to offer us any information.

“A lot of them had just never dealt with a transgender person before.

“It was frustrating knowing we couldn’t do anything within our power to make Riley’s life easier.”

It was two years and six professionals later before Riley was being seen at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

It was another two years before he was old enough to start hormone therapy – though it was what he’d wanted from the start.

“There was a lot of repetitively talking to the psychologist, responding to pieces of paper asking ‘How much do you like this part of your body, how much do you like being called that?” he said.

“It was making sure there were no other mental issues going on that would affect the decision I was making.

“It was nothing that didn’t need to be done, it was just tedious and there were better ways to go about it, and they are doing that now.”

While Riley was solely focused on moving forward, other areas of his life took a hit – travelling to Melbourne every month took time away from school and friends.

Now, a majority of these consultations can be done in Wodonga, and more importantly in Kerri’s mind, support is closer.

“As a parent, you can be quite fearful of what lies ahead and it’s a pretty daunting time when you just don’t even know where to look for the answers,” she said.

“When a child is going through a pretty tumultuous time, parents need someone to help them too.

“Having the service here, it’s much easier to speak to the whole family to make sure support is in place.”

Riley’s next goal for the service is to have long-term funding secured, and one day he hopes to work there.

“We still don’t have an adult service,” he said.

“One of the other things we need is an endocrinologist; it's the one specialist we're missing out on.

“Young people have to go to the RCH, but as an adult you still have to go to Melbourne as well.”

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Riley will also continue to work to quash misconceptions by raising awareness.

“Parents aren’t forcing children do to this; a lot of the time the child knows what they want from a young age and the parents are being dragged along,” he said. 

“Puberty blockers are not going to prevent a child from ever going through puberty; it just presses the pause button and gives everyone time to breathe.”

Riley has observed attitudes improving even within the last few years and holds great hopes for the future.

“I’m having less rude questions and more people saying ‘good on you’ and wanting to know more,” he said.

“I haven’t changed as a person, the way society perceives me has changed and that’s what I needed – for everyone else to see me in the way I see myself.”

Riley Briese, his family and Gateway Health staff knew there would be demand for a gender service for people aged under 18 – they just didn’t know how much.

Now, as the service is almost a year in, the numbers are coming through.

The service nurse responded to 125 individual enquiries in 2017, most from parents of trans and gender diverse young people.

Currently 22 young people and their families are clients of the service and that number is steadily growing.

The service with a $10,000 donation from Riley, his award for receiving the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Trophy on Sunday.

WayOut Wodonga worker Sarah Roberts nominated the Wodonga man for the award.

“He has shown amazing resilience and courage in his short life time and our local service wouldn’t have been possible without him,” she said.

“I’ll be forever grateful for all he’s taught me and all those lucky enough to hear him speak about his experiences.”

The Gender Service is funded by the Gateway Health board until December and staff are currently advocating for more sustainable funding.

Riley Briese, his family and Gateway Health staff knew there would be demand for a gender service for people aged under 18 – they just didn’t know how much.

Now, as the service is almost a year in, the numbers are coming through.

The service nurse responded to 125 individual enquiries in 2017, most from parents of trans and gender diverse young people.

Currently 22 young people and their families are clients of the service and that number is steadily growing.

There will be a further $10,000 for operation thanks to a donation from Riley, his award for receiving the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Trophy on Sunday.

Wayout Wodonga worker Sarah Roberts nominated the him for the accolade.

“He has shown amazing resilience and courage in his short life time and our local service wouldn’t have been possible without him,” she said.

“I’ll be forever grateful for all he’s taught me and all those lucky enough to hear him speak about his experiences.”

The Gender Service is funded by the Gateway Health board until December and staff are currently advocating for more sustainable funding.