The Kana Story- Hannah and Kayla

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The Kana Initiative is a program designed to bring affordable and easily accessible LGBTQIA + and mental health education to small to medium businesses and community organisations. Founded by prominent athlete, business woman and transgender spokesperson Hannah Mouncey, The Kana Initiative was built with a desire for all LGBTQIA+ people to feel as safe, valid and loved as she does by those closest to her.

From an early age, Hannah knew she was different. While to the outside world she was seen one way, on the inside she knew she was different. She knew she was a girl. Despite knowing this on the inside, the world wasn't quite ready for transgender people, let alone transgender kids, to be their true selves. Jerry Springer was THE go to for kids to turn on in the holidays when parents weren't around, and this was often the only example of transgender people anyone could see. At school, anything that was bad was "gay", and the less said about what you would find on the internet the better. These outside influences caused not just Hannah but countless LGBTQIA+ kids from that time not just to hide who they were, but be terrified of it. To be ashamed of that part of themselves, thinking that if anyone knew, they would be thought of as less than, get in trouble and be horribly bullied.

Growing up in the country, sport was a huge part of everyones lives, and as she grew older Hannah used sport as a way not just to distract herself from who she was, but to actively run away from it and to compensate for the feelings of insecurity she had. Whilst Hannah grew up playing cricket and Australian rules football, it was in 2009 she started playing Handball, a sport she had first seen and fell in love with as an 11 year old at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Hannah excelled at Handball, still pre transition and yet to come to terms with who she was, representing Australia for the first time in 2012. In subsequent years she represented Australia playing in Europe, Asia and Oceania, including competing at the 2013 World Championships and the Asian qualifiers for the 2016 Olympic Games.

It was during 2015 that Hannah realised she had run away as much as she could, sport was no longer the distraction it had been and her issues around her gender were becoming too much to bear. The terror of being transgender was something impossible to live with, the fear of rejection and embarrassment so strong she was barely able to function; except to go to the gym, to lift some weights and prepare for Handball. Handball; It still provided an escape of sorts, even if it was getting less by the day.

It was during 2015 that Hannah started training at the gym with a friend, another handball player. Kayla. She was a part of the Australian Women's Team and also based in Canberra, and Hannah and Kayla had for a couple of years travelled to and from Sydney for various trainings and club matches together when the schedules aligned. It made sense they would also train together.

It was during these daily gym sessions in 2015, that Hannah slowly started to open up to Kayla. Eventually using the word transgender for the first time. Slowly at first, testing the waters with different comments here or there that could be taken one way or another. Confusing for Kayla surely, but it never showed. Slowly gaining more confidence over more conversations sitting on plyo boxes and assault bikes, Hannah slowly came out of her shell to her friend sitting opposite her. It was their secret for the time being.

Slowly Hannah let more people in, a small circle at first before then sharing that she was transgender with everyone she knew in early 2016. But none of that would have been possible without that first friend, without Kayla, who listened, who never judged, who stayed, who supported and who unconditionally loved the person opposite her. Who through love and acceptance allowed the person opposite her to flourish. To this day, they are still best friends.

This is the meaning behind The Kana Initiative. Ka for the first two letters of Kayla, Na coming from Hannah. Every LGBTQIA+ person deserves a Kayla. Not everyone will get one. But at it's core, the Kana Initiative is designed to give as many people as possible the resources, education and understanding they need to provide the same space Kayla did for Hannah.