Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Next week wednesday my potential first therapist will call me at noon to talk for the first time on the phone. As a pre cursor for a potential first face 2 face session.

I never had a therapist before so what are questions I should I ask the therapist during this phone call to gauge if we would be a good match?

Congrats,

First steps and contact is always the hardest.

I feel the call will just see if there is a fit of you to the therapist services.

Ask about other GD patients and how he handles diagnoses and letters?

How he applies the WPATH SOC.

Also write down any question you have, we tend to go brain dead on early secessions.

Serenity

I think that if you see the therapist as a person who will help you to discover who you are and help you to understand the options that are available to you then this is a good perspective.  Be as honest as possible.  You need to access your fears, your feelings and your dreams.  They will ask questions to help them understand you and help you find your own answers and the best way forward.

The first session can be nerve wracking, the anticipation is the worst.  After this it becomes a whole lot easier as you build trust and confidence in yourself and in the process.

I look forward to hearing how it goes but feel sure that it will go well.

Safe travels

Aisla

Congrats on taking that huge first step!

As far as an initial consult via phone, it's going to be more of a general chat to introduce yourselves and seeing if your therapy needs fit with the therapist's skills and experience.  As others have mentioned, just be yourself, be honest (brutally honest - don't wait until the end of the call to whisper that you think you have gender dysphoria), and remember that a proper face-to-face therapy session will be far different, so don't come away from the call feeling disappointed that you didn't connect with the therapist as well as you had expected.

Questions to ask?  Hmmm.  I'd check the experience of the therapist - does he or she regularly deal with gender issues?  I'd also ask whether he or she has a go-to endocrinologist, because you don't want to get to HRT time and find out that the therapist can't get you in to see a good doc.  Be specific about your goals - if you want to transition, let the therapist know up front, just so there's no confusion about what you're hoping to get out of the sessions.  And the usual business stuff: how much per session, availability of appointments etc.

You're going to do just fine.  ;)

The phone call was short and efficient, mainly it was for introductions. I asked if she has experience with transgender people and the majority of her clients are trans. One of her family members is also trans. She sounded very welcoming and relaxed.

I booked the first face 2 face session next week :)

Quote from: SerenityTG on August 31, 2014, 07:26:37 PM
I booked the first face 2 face session next week :)

YAY!!!! Go baby, go!! You are officially on your way. Good luck and I hope you two click and get after it.  :)

Just got back from the first session, I felt very comfortable talking to her, we talked about my current relationship, my childhood and my family, we didn't go too deep in any of the transgender issues but I feel it went very well. Booked a second session 2 weeks from now :)

So glad to hear that it went well.  "Clicking" with a therapist is important, and you seem to have found a suitable match.  Are you looking forward to the next appointment?  (Or maybe it's just me who loves talking to a therapist...)

Anyway, congrats for surviving that huge first step. ;)