Gender-Affirming Care
Centralizing empowerment, self-determination, and self-discovery.
My favorite model I’ve come across of how to conceptualize gender is thinking of it as a galaxy. Gender is as vast and diverse as space itself. Your language and story about your experience of gender deserves to be respected, believed, and honored.
What is Gender-Affirming Care?
Gender-affirming care means centering your lived experience. It means identifying areas of distress and dysphoria, if that is part of your story. It means taking into account the ways your self-determination is limited or thwarted by the influences of systems of oppression and privilege.
And perhaps most importantly, gender-affirming care means naming and celebrating your resilience in embracing your authentic self—in the midst of forces in our lives that aim to dictate and disrespect who we are as trans and gender-diverse folks.
Solidarity
As a queer transmasculine person, I stand in solidarity with barriers and challenges to your own unique journey of transition and exploration of gender. I understand that many trans clients feel the need to educate their providers in order to receive competent care.
I strive to actively challenge methods of providing psychotherapy that are influenced by cis-centric biases. I openly encourage you to share with me the language you use to describe yourself and your experience so I may learn about you, with you.
Gender-Affirming Assessment & Referral Letters
I have pursued trainings and consultation to be able to provide knowledgeable, affirming assessments and referral letters for access to gender-affirming medical care, such as hormone treatment and surgeries. I operate under an informed consent model, which means I honor your dignity and freedom to make your own choices.
You do not have to “prove” your gender to me. Informed consent means I act a guide to help you understand your options, risks and benefits, and ways to prepare and explore feelings about different aspects of these medical interventions.