The sad part Deanna is that yes, therapysts do cost money and when you are out of job for a while and do not have insurance, yes it can be expensive, much more then most can possibly afford till work is found. But take to heart that you have made the first step, you have decided what you want to do.
Consider that you may have to try more then one therapyst to find one that will or can work with the subject, and when you do find one that you like, trust and can communicate with, you will want to stay with this person throught the process. It is not a matter of one visit, an agreement that you should be on hormones and a hormone script issued. You most probably will have to attend several sessions at least before a script is issued and you should see the therapyst on a regular basis for however long it takes to achieve surgery if that is what you wish. Dealing with the GID part is the least of it in reality. The real work is on your feelings about yourself, how you have been treated because of it and what you plan to do with yourself after surgery.
In time you will discover that most of all the things you thought were true about yourself have variations on input and impact on you and it is these things that truely need to be worked out. As a fully insured person I have two Psychiatrists and one Psychologist. While all are Transsexual experienced, each one treats me for different things which have developed over a lifetime of transsexualism, very little of the attention given me has to do with Gender exactly, but with compensations, actions etc.. caused by the exposure to elements and environments I gravitated towards trying to escape the need for transition. It is likely you will find the same in some ways. It all needs to be addressed to free yourself of the feelings developed over a lifetime.
One of the basics of transition is to figure out what you want in life and step by step work toward it. Transition has many faucets, there is the hormones, getting used to people seeing and talking with you as female, finding work that will accept or tolerate you and learning to build a new life from basic scratch.
expense wise you will be looking at therapy, electro or laser, hormones or HRT, and being seen and living as a female in RLT, where you must actually live, communicate and associate as a full time woman. All this cost more money then a luxury automobile, so definately the Job is your most important concern in the beginning. You could be looking at thousands for therapy, several or more thousands for electro or laser etc. Hormones arn't all that expensive, you can get by for a few dollars a day on that one. If you go to surgery, depending on where you go it can come to less then 10k to close to or more then 30k, so look for work first and look closely at big companies with good insurance programs. Most will not cover surgery, but again, most will cover therapy and hormones. The electro or any plastic surgery will have to be paid for out of your own pocket though for the most part.
To begin with, think about how you will live and what you can live without, you will need every dime you can get your hands on for perhaps years in order to get it done. At your stage and position I myself would put all emphasis right now on the best job you have skills to obtain and establishing an excellent work record with that company. The next step would be therapy. From there there would be HRT and electro/laser and learning to spend as much time as possible in female role, even at work if you can. as that goes on, keep putting money into savings. It may only be 50-or more a month, but put away all you can and do without all you can to put more money away so that when you have developed as well as you can you will be ready for the surgery.
During all this, stick around, listen and talk as much as possible here at susans and/or other places that can provide advice and information rather then in "play" places which teach you nothing and gain you nothing.
Take care deanna and ask questions, read articles and check out the Wiki. Good luck to you.
Terri
