How do we protect our vulnerable from bad therapists?

[suzifrommd]

I just read another yet thread about egregious treatment of a member of our community by an incompetent (or worse) therapist.

I personally have encountered a therapist who my insurance company claimed to be a GT but knew nothing about it, one who gave me blatantly wrong information, and two others that were patronizing gatekeepers.

How can we protect the vulnerable members of our community, especially those just starting out, from these practitioners? I wonder how many suicides have followed the sort of treatment that we routinely read about on these boards?

I'd love to see the professional community, WPATH e.g., have some sort of grievance procedure, whereby the bad apples could be weeded out or at least identified. It's probably the very best thing they can do for our community, but they don't seem inclined to do that. When I went to try to complain about awful treatment during a psych eval, I found there was no one to complain to. No one cared.

Is there some way the transgender community can take things into our own hands? Have a sort of Better Business Bureau for gender therapists?

How can we keep bad gender therapists from, very literally, killing people?

[Eveline]

Suzi, maybe we could start by creating a sticky topic with questions trans folks should ask when selecting a gender therapist.

One question might be whether they have some kind of gender therapy certification, like the one from International Transgender Certification Association (ITCA).

What do you think?

[JenniR04]

I believe I just read the same thread that your referring too, and it's such a shame as it happens far too often.

So many of us have limited resources to begin with, especially starting out with all the cost that are involved from therapy, clothing, make-up, wigs, hair removal, weight loss or gain, and so much more ...... We don't need to be spending ill-advised money on therapists who are going to use their personal prejudices and comments against our well-being, and not have our best interests in mind.

I know where I'm from - Minnesota in the USA, there is a State Board of Psychology where compliants can be filed and are used in assessing & renewing their yearly certifications & licenses for practicing therapy. My deranged soon-to-be ex-spouse tried to file a grievance many years back against a therapist I was seeing because she thought I was being mis-guided into believing she was directing me to have feelings of being transgender, rather than the initial point that I sought out her therapy on my own from the beginning because of my own gender dysphoria. The grievance was never file and logged as I blocked it.

I don't know if other states our countries have this option when it comes to licensing reviews and re-assessments for therapist based on specialties of care, but it might be worth looking into.

[Devlyn]

I'm sure there are avenues for reporting misbehavior of medical professionals.  I'm sure because I did some quick googling.  We don't need to invent a new system here, maybe just a list of reporting agencies?

Hugs, Devlyn

[Devlyn]

Also, Suzi, typo in title. 

Hugs, Devlyn

[FTMax]

I'd love for us to have something here about it. At the very least a sticky topic about mental health workers to avoid and why. Maybe we could make a basic template for people to follow and people could submit. I think it would be extremely helpful.

[ImagineKate]

I'm sure there are avenues for reporting misbehavior of medical professionals.  I'm sure because I did some quick googling.  We don't need to invent a new system here, maybe just a list of reporting agencies?

Hugs, Devlyn

Yes. I believe LCSWs are licensed by the state (US) in which they practice. Psychiatrists are also licensed, obviously. I am not sure how complaining to those licensing boards works though.

[AnonyMs]

There are already systems in place to report this sort of thing, and we can see how well they work. I don't think that's going to change. I don't think its limited to therapists though, I see a lot of really odd things about doctors and HRT. There's not even any standards for HRT. Its seems every doctor does their own thing, and some do the wrong thing.

There's not many doctors struck off every year in Australia, and yet there's a lot of incompetence. I have the feeling that when organisations get too big they start protecting their members rather than the people they serve.

I've not reported doctors because its not worth the effort. Unfortunate perhaps for others, but I still did did't do it. I'm sure there's all sorts of reasons it doesn't happen.

We could post lists of doctors to avoid here, but its probably endless, and there's always the possibility of lawsuits.

It's probably better is to build a comprehensive list of good ones, and link to reviews about them, and if they turn out bad, either show that or just delete them. Less lawsuits that way, and the list of good ones is probably pretty short.

There's still the problem that not many people will ever see the list. Not everyone comes here, and many never will. Many people don't seem to know how to use a search engine and would never find it.  Having some independent organisation do it would have many of the same problems.

[mrs izzy]

Complaints need to he done through the states attorney general who normally has the medical licencing through there office.

I would always start there and work outwards. 

Comes down to word of mouth.  I asked via my friends iI knew in my area and there therapists. 

Also they are on my dime.  I am paying them and answer to my health so if they do not help I would move on.

I know most of the time there is more helping support on the threads is you knew what to look for.  Just picking the help from egos and drama is hard.

Word of mouth is good but people have different personality and clashes do occur.