Finally got a therapy appointment!

[CursedFireDean]

My mom kept promising me she'd schedule me an appointment for a therapist, but after a while I began to really wonder if she'd do it. I started pestering her a little more about it, and now I've got an appointment for tomorrow! My mom told me last week she'd try to get something scheduled, but I had no idea she'd be able to get something soon, let alone before Christmas! It wasn't even scheduled until Thursday or Friday, but I'm so glad I got an appointment.

Hopefully this means I can actually begin transitioning this summer before college. 

This isn't my first therapist, but the one I went to before refused to discuss medical transition- instead she preferred to refer to another therapist. She gave me a reference and I learned online from some transwomen that the referred was a bit of a 'gatekeeper' (I've never heard that word from transguys before, only the women, do we have a word used more by our community?) so I looked for another one. Found three more, and this is both the closest to me and the seemingly most knowledgeable of the three, so hopefully this will be my last therapist!

[aleon515]

Oh yes I have definitely used the term gatekeeper, and it is used by guys (maybe just not the ones you hang with). I think that due to misogyny need to deal with it a bit more often. It refers to the whole process of therapists and so on deciding if you are going to transition and when.

--Jay

[Alexthecat]

Oh yes I have definitely used the term gatekeeper, and it is used by guys (maybe just not the ones you hang with). I think that due to misogyny need to deal with it a bit more often. It refers to the whole process of therapists and so on deciding if you are going to transition and when.

--Jay

So that's like one that won't write you a letter because they are "uncomfortable"?

[CursedFireDean]

So that's like one that won't write you a letter because they are "uncomfortable"?

I usually hear it in reference to therapists who have a 'trans enough' or 'not trans enough' attitude. They enforce gender stereotypes a lot of times- men can't have 'female' hobbies, women can't have 'male' hobbies and that type of thing.

I also avoided her because she used to be a WPATH therapist, but when they took away the year of therapy requirement, she was no longer listed on their site. And I can't be in therapy for a year because I'll be going to college in another state in September.

[Alexthecat]

Yeah a year is ridiculous. Even 3 months can be sometimes.

[aleon515]

I usually hear it in reference to therapists who have a 'trans enough' or 'not trans enough' attitude. They enforce gender stereotypes a lot of times- men can't have 'female' hobbies, women can't have 'male' hobbies and that type of thing.

I also avoided her because she used to be a WPATH therapist, but when they took away the year of therapy requirement, she was no longer listed on their site. And I can't be in therapy for a year because I'll be going to college in another state in September.

@AlextheCat: Yeah gatekeeping, refusing to write a letter because they are "uncomfortable" or
because someone is a WPATH therapist. WPATH does NOT even say that you need to be in therapy a certain length of time or anything like that.

A year is ridiculous, imo.

--Jay

[Simon]

Good luck with your appointment. Everything will seem like it's going at a snails pace and then once you get on T you'll be a year before you know it.

[CursedFireDean]

My appointment went great! She was really nice, and she seemed very open to my ideal timeline. She definitely seems to be able to accept when a patient knows what they want. I definitely trust that she'll be able to help me and my family how we need it.