I'm gonna ask my dad to take me to therapy and I wanted to know maybe what you said to get the conversation started? Like do they ask you what brought you here or do they just talk to you about your life until it leads into gender? I'm just nervous and I have no idea what to expect.
I don't think I have any other mental issues other than the things that stem from dysphoria.
I scheduled my first appointment with a gender therapist and they knew ahead of time. Afterwards, it was a normal conversation. It's mostly a get to know each other session. A good therapist will make you feel comfortable and will approach the topics that come up. My therapist never made me "make the first move". I would bring up things that I wanted to address but mostly it just flowed like a normal conversation.
I didn't have any problems aside from my brain/body disagreement, so after I started hormones there was nothing left for us to talk about and she only had me do a few sessions so that she could write my letter for hrt.
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My therapist just asked general questions such as what brought me here, what do I want from this session which lead to her asking me how I found school, how long can I remember my GD being apparent, what's my job like, what's my support like. Simply a normal conversation, although she'd pause in between questions when emotional stuff came up to which I had to further explain my feelings. I found that annoying and after 2 sessions we didn't have really anything to talk about to eavh other; although I had to have 4 sessions with her.
What a therapist is really looking for is if you seem mature enough to start HRT as it's a huge change in your life. You've made the choice to see a therapist so I don't think you'll have any problems getting the go ahead for HRT if that's what you want.
I emailed in advance of therapy and said specifically that I was a FTM transgender person and was looking to be evaluated so that I could be referred for hormones and surgery. They sent back a long biographical form, which I filled out and sent back. They read over it before our first session and then asked all the usual questions you might expect - how long have you felt this way, what sort of impact is it having on your life, what sort of transition would you pursue if there were no roadblocks in your way, is there anything you think you will have difficulty with in terms of transition, etc.
I was told the purpose of the session, to ask questions to ascertain whether or not I experience feelings or mental states that are relevant to the subject of transsexuality, and to treating its problems. Which is a good place to begin. It was not to "diagnose" me as transsexual, but to prompt me to lay out my reasoning and experiences which had led me to believe that I was.
Then I was asked what it was that made me feel as if I was transsexual or transgender - and when I first noticed them.
I was asked about what it was I thought I would get or achieve from a treatment program.
I was asked what my relationships with various friends and family members are like. I was asked about sexuality. I was asked about my current situation and where I felt I was headed in life. I was asked about what sort of treatment I wanted.