The Best Time to Learn About Trans-Affirming Care Was Yesterday

If you’ve been paying even cursory attention to the news for the past couple of years, you know it’s not a good time to be a gender-expansive child or adolescent – or a parent of one.

(For more context on my thoughts surrounding attacks on gender-affirming care for adolescents, check out this post.)

Even states like my home state of Maryland— that pledge to support trans people are not entirely safe for trans or gender-expansive folks.

That’s why it’s important for mental health providers in ALL states, even supportive ones, to have more knowledge about gender-affirming care. If you’re a mental health provider of any kind and you’re not providing your services to the trans and gender-diverse community, you should be.

And if you’re not sure how to provide for this community, I can help.

First, let’s dig into why gender-affirming care is so important and how deadly its restrictions can be.

Strained Systems Across Borders

When access to trans-affirming care is restricted, it has a ripple effect. Restrictions keep patients from getting the care they need to thrive, so they’re forced to leave their state and find that care elsewhere. That puts stress on existing systems that now have to make space for patients across a broader geographical range.

This hurts kids in both restricted states and protected states because trans kids (who are already twice as likely to attempt suicide) internalize the message that people in power don’t seem to care whether they live or die – and might rather see them dead than trans and happy.

According to an August 2023 article by Jeff McMillan and Hannah Schoenbaum, more than 89,000 trans kids aged 13 to 17 live in states with restricted access to gender-affirming care. Some have had to uproot their lives to find care elsewhere, only to face waiting lists of nine to 14 months.

Meanwhile, health care systems and programs that do provide trans care grapple with changing laws, bomb threats, and intense online harassment.

How Mental Health Providers Can Help

Mental health providers play a critical role in this battle for compassionate and affirming care. We all must advocate for trans-affirming care, educate ourselves, and oppose these harmful trends.

Though we may not be the ones prescribing hormones, we play a crucial role in buffering the toxic effects of this society and mirroring the validity and inherent worth of those who are suffering from widespread transphobia.

Safe and affirming adults provide trans kids with immeasurable benefits and help combat the shockingly high risks of suicide, self-harm, and other negative mental health outcomes.

We must monitor these trends, stay informed, and provide critically important support to a community in need of greater access to affirming mental health care.

As a trans mental health provider, I can tell you that most of us who are part of the community face a lot of complex and difficult feelings in this environment.

We can’t do all the heavy lifting in providing trans-affirming care. Here’s why.

1. There aren’t enough of us.

2. Some of us might also be struggling with this societal backlash because it’s an attack on us too. Laws restricting adolescents’ access to care stop just short of implying that trans adults are mentally ill, and that we’re free to mutilate ourselves however we wish as long as we’re 18+.

3. We might also be feeling echoes of homophobia we experienced growing up and facing our own internalized transphobia.

4. Supporting people who are struggling with this political environment is a difficult thing to do day in and day out. We need some cisgender providers to take the load off.

But we need to be able to trust you not to cause unintentional harm. We need to trust that you will not inadvertently hurt the most vulnerable members of our community in arguably one of their greatest times of need.

That’s where I come in.

If you’re a provider or a practice that hasn’t historically served this community but you want to help meet the need, it’s time for you to act.

If you...

• Want to help but are nervous about saying the wrong thing

• Worry you’ll get canceled if you make a mistake

• Feel like you need to learn more before you can ethically take on trans patients...

Please reach out to me. I’d be happy to support you.

I have an incredibly comprehensive course and mentorship program for mental health practices to learn everything they need to know to start providing this care. You'll also get a lot of support in how to run your business efficiently, so you're more likely to find success in venturing into this territory! 

It’s my mission to help you learn these skills in a safe environment where you can make mistakes, learn, and grow. I’m accountable to my LGBTQIA+ community and to you, so I’ll do everything I can to help you succeed at becoming truly trans-affirming.

For more information on the program and a free 1-hour training on trans-affirming mental health care, please go to https://www.mygenderiq.com/mentorship

And check out Them’s **great list of organizations that could use your support.

I’ll continue to post free resources on trans-affirming care in the meantime.

Sincerely,

Jess & the my gender IQ team