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2015-10-01 05:54 5011496 Anonymous First Therapy Session (1443353020888.png 1920x1080 1664kB)
So I finally got the guts to email a gender therapist. I sent her a bunch of questions and she answered back positively I think.. So... mtf here. About to schedule my first appointment with said therapist... Scared to death. Any advice, stories, or anything else concerning your first visit to a gender therapist? Anything I need to watch for, say, do , or keep in mind? I just want to make sure I can get hormones...

0 min later 5011498 Anonymous
These are the questions I emailed her btw: How many gender/transgender/transsexual patients do you have? How long have you been working with gender patients? What is your educational background? Do you follow the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care? Do you follow the WPATH standards of care for transgender individuals? What is your basic philosophy about how to treat gender dysphoria/ gender identity disorders / transgenderism? Have you ever recommended someone to receive hormones before? How long do you usually see patients before you might OK/recommend/refer them for hormonal therapy? Are you affiliated with any endocrinologists or plastic surgeons? Are you part of my insurance network (Blue Cross Blue Shield)? Would you be willing to classify our sessions as depression in order to meet insurance requirements? What length of session do you usually prefer? What are your hours? What is your hourly rate? Is there any information you generally seek prior to, or during, the first session that I should be aware of?

2 min later 5011510 Anonymous
And these are her answers: Not sure exactly how many currently. I have a monthly group which is free, and we usually have four or five people, sometimes more. I have seen something over 100 trans clients in almost 9 years. Haven't counted in a few months 2. It will be nine years in January. 3. I have a masters and PhD from -- University. Counseling/counselor education. 4. and 5. I used Harry Benjamin, than added WPATH. 6. I treat transgender clients like I treat all clients. With respect and genuine positive regard. We work together to achieve their aims. Gender identity issues are no longer considered a disorder. If you want details, ask something specific. 7. I regularly write letters for clients to doctors who prescribe hormones. 8. When I am convinced the client is truly transgender and can say honestly that they have no major mental illnesses, I can write a letter. Usually two or three sessions is enough. 9. I am not affiliated with anybody, but I refer clients to several doctors who prescribe hormones, and some of them refer back to me. I refer to surgeons and some of them refer to me. 10. I am part of the BCBS insurance network. In -- some policies don't pay counselors for counseling, so each policy has to be checked. 11. I won't be a party to defrauding the insurance company, but there are several conditions which typically co-exist with gender dysphoria, including depression and anxiety disorders. It is an individual decision based on clinical experience and judgment.

3 min later 5011516 Anonymous
12. My intake sessions usually last at least an hour and a half, and other sessions a little over an hour. 13. We have pretty flexible hours, try to accommodate our clients' schedules. We do have some evening and weekend hours. 14. We have a sliding fee scale based on household income. It ranges from $50 to $130. If you use your insurance, you pay the copay for a specialist. 15. The first session is just a typical intake, demographics, a discussion of confidentiality and exceptions to it, an agreement as to payment, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary. Counseling is counseling, regardless of the issue. Did that answer your questions? Let me know if you need more Hope to see you soon!

7 hours later 5012741 Anonymous
>>5011496 I've given this advice to anyone seeing a therapist, not only gender therapists or sexuality related: 1 - Make a list of what you want to accomplish. 2 - Make a timeline of when you want to accomplish these 3 - Share these lists with the therapist. Be flexible. If you have a goal and want to reach it in one month and the therapist has seen dozens with the same goal and it takes 6 months to reach that goal, be realistic about changing your timeline. 4 - Consult/review both lists frequently to make sure you are working towards the goals in the time you expect. Sometimes therapists just view you in terms of billable hours and will keep you coming to them with no regard of making progress. You have to steer the ship yourself.

7 hours later 5012752 Anonymous
>>5011498 She responded positively? You should be concerned that she even responded at all given your dodgy questions regarding insurance.

8 hours later 5012804 Anonymous
you're not mtf, you're just a confused little faggot and tgis "therapist" os going to set you up for a lifetime of invasive medical care because its trendy. just suck a dick and be girly and get on with your life, you're fine

8 hours later 5012838 Anonymous (tmp_24559-1443555323696-1571756736.png 360x439 16kB)
>>5011496 Why would you approach this complete stranger medical person with a conspiracy to commit insurance fraud right out of the gate? Are you retarded?

10 hours later 5013226 Anonymous
>>5012838 Not OP but all these questions were copied and pasted from some website (can't remember exactly where from, might be linked in a T general, but I recall coming across them months ago)... chances are OP didn't even realize how stupid of a question that was since some other retard has been recommending it for however long.

10 hours later 5013253 Anonymous
>>5011496 I'm sure you're already aware of this to some extent or have heard other people moan about it but don't expect your first visit's topic to consist of nothing but transgender shit.. If you're therapist is anything like mine (and I'd feel bad for you if they weren't) the first couple of visits will consist of them trying to get an understanding of where you're at with not only the T shit but a bunch of other shit in your life.. For me it wasn't until the third visit that we actually started to focus on T stuff (though it would've been the majority portion of the second session, if it wasn't for the fact that I have how many other issues that I couldn't shut up about and that my therapist was genuinely interested in)

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