Planned Parenthood has a program called Informed Consent. Therapy is helpful and needed for many to explore, sort through and settle issues but for those that know who they are and what they want and I personally think should have enough life experiences you can bypass the money sucking therapists. You can even do through telehealth and do it from home.
There are other places that support informed consent, but PP is the big one. I'm not sure what you can get beyond HRT, but for some folks, that's all it takes to get to a point that they feel like going on.
I'm also not sure if you can dictate what you want for HRT. If you local endo wants you on spiro and E, but you'd prefer progesterone, can you do that? Or decide on dosage levels? The HRT choice is not set in stone, and PP might give more options in that regard.
I hadn't heard of anyone doing implied consent until I ran across it by accident. They are certainly easy to deal with.
I believe I first heard about it from my therapist, of all people. And not to warn me away from it.
Informed consent has become more common in the last 10 years. It's certainly opened doors for trans folks. Good news that PP has adopted it.
WPATH Standards of Care used to require a psychological evaluation before treatment. The latest edition published in 2012 recognized the informed consent model. But it retained a strong recommendation on the need for evaluation. If you were to go to a clinician that follows WPATH guidelines, a psychological evaluation might still be required.
Personally, I know exactly who I am and where I want to be. I still see a counselor. I know it's beneficial. Some therapists I've seen have been better than others. But every one truly cared and wanted to help. I'd never characterize any of them as "money sucking".
That’s who I’m looking into going to (just easiest for me) but I am also going to therapy via Telehealth. I’m hoping to get on hrt soon but we shall see.
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Well I will let you know how it is in a couple weeks just booked my appointment for the 28th.
Cassie:
It could be that the people that you have experience with were not experienced in gender issues. After all, you don't see a dermatologist for an orthopedic problem.
There are a number of reasons why trans people see therapists. One of the more common reasons is to understand their situation well enough so that they decide on a course of action. When dealing with life-changing decisions, there can be significant Approach-Avoidance conflicts. Beyond the process of transition, other things come into play such as dealing with with family issues, employment issues, resources for employers (not every HR department has some idea of how to work with trans people), deciding upon transitioning in place or start with a different employer after transition and other issues. Also, while detransitioning is rare, it does happen. That makes me wonder if they didn't game the system in some way or worked with a therapist of lesser experience regarding gender issues.
