Hey everyone.  The basic details: I have Kaiser health insurance, and I'm now in the market for a gender therapist.

The only issue is that Kaiser does pretty much everything in-house.  It works pretty well for regular medical care, but I haven't really dealt with their mental health establishment.  What I've read online isn't terribly encouraging.  Does anybody have any experience dealing with their therapists?

Am I likely to find anyone who has a decent amount of experience with gender issues?  And will I get any meaningful amount of time with them?

I remember a guy on this site who used Kaiser, and I knew a guy in town who did the same. They both wound up seeing a therapist only once a month. That's great if you need only a T letter after three months of therapy and you don't really have any other issues. It's not so great if you actually have other issues to deal with and want to see someone once a week.

I don't know whether some pushing would have gotten these guys more frequent therapy; I think both of them just wanted letters (or approval to start T). The thing is, the guy I knew in person really did seem pretty messed up to me, but his issues went unaddressed, and he stopped therapy after he got his approval for hormones. I'm not a doctor or therapist, but I wouldn't have given this guy a T letter on the fourth visit. I suppose he could have held back in therapy so that the therapist would think he was more grounded than he actually was, but isn't the therapist supposed to sniff out stuff like that? Of course, I have since lost track of this trans guy, so I don't know how he is doing now. He got his T, and he could be doing fine right now.

I know that my feedback is only secondhand, so I hope you get some more definitive replies from people who are actually Kaiser members. Do you feel that you need counseling, or just letters/approval for hormones?

Hey Kupcake,

I completely agree with the points Arch made about their structure of services and the importance of extended counseling for those who need it. 

I have KP (N.CA) and I had an incredibly easy time with them. My providers have been very helpful in every way. I probably just got stupidly lucky, but at the same time, I was clear about what I wanted, needed, and ready.

When I spoke to a general therapist, she said that they had staff who did gender identity disorder evaluations (required), but there wasn't someone specifically on staff for gender issues (to sort out things with). She recommended that if I felt I needed to talk, to contact an outside source and provided me with a list of professionals trained for it.  So, I'm not sure if it's regional in terms of specialty/staffing.

My physician is incredibly awesome (and specializes in trans patients). Not sure if it's frowned upon to publicly post her name, so I guess if you're in the same area, I can share that info?