Assignment: Gwen's Transition To Counseling

Imagine, you go to work in your dress shoes, black suit, buzz-cut hair, red power tie, and nobody pays you a second look. But, the second you get home, you kick off your shoes, and don high-heels, the suit is replaced with a dress, your short wig is taken off, and you let your long curls fall, and your tie is in the closet, with a necklace in its place. Such hiding of true feelings is not an unheard concept in the transgender world. Millions of transgender people will never express their true feelings in their lifetime. This is similar to The Intruder by Andre Dubus, Kenneth Girard a

When working with individuals with physical disabilities the TTM model can vary according to how the individual’s culture recognized their disability (Boston, 2015). Gender roles can also affect the process of change (Boston, 2015). The helper needs to empathize with the disabled person to understand how they feel about their disability and the cultural belief system of the client, in an effort to assist the client (Boston, 2015). When a counselor is working with a transgendered person, the helper needs to adjust the model to include the client’s level of social acceptance (Carroll, 2002). The social situation with a transgendered client may not be one of tolerance, therefore the helper needs to be aware of this and balance between the clients needs and the social environment the client occupies (Carroll, 2002). Finally, when working with clients from various populations, the experience should be unique and the therapist should work to help the client feel accepted and understood, the various models can be modified or adjusted to better fit the

Scholars have been critical of the medical establishment’s and state’s involvement in constructing and policing of transgender identity. These kinds of pressing issues have occupied the small existing literature. There is not much information and studying what is being done on transgender in traditional areas, family studies research, such as their dating behavior and formation of intimate relationships in adulthood. There is little research on the issues around being parents, their children’s experiences with having transgendered parents, as well as relationships in the family as a whole, and relationships in work and school.

The main setting of Trans-Sister Radio is within the small town of Bartlett, Vermont. The primary focus is set on Dana, a chromosomal-male college professor who is in the process of transitioning into the female gender. As a male, Dana is well-received by her community, even though she is perceived as strange and effeminate. She forms normal romantic relationships with women, has a fulfilling career, and is admired by those surrounding her, however she still feels incomplete. Unfortunately, what is missing from Dana is not externally noticeable, it is intrinsic happiness. From a young age, Dana suffered from gender dysphoria, a mental disorder that causes individuals to experience serious distress due to frustration with the sex and gender assigned at birth (APA, 2013). To alleviate the traumatic pain that has burdened her for decades, Dana makes the bold decision to partake in complete gender reassignment surgery. Trans-Sister Radio challenges the prototypical ideologies of character growth, morality, and relationships through its descriptive insight on transsexuality and thus gender.

The reading in this assignment made me understand and appreciate the lives of others. Transgender are just like you and me. They have the same goals and inspirations. However, their hardships are more drastic then normal. I got the chance to be educated on trans 101 with this assignment. I have taken so much away from these readings. It has helped me be more understand of what transgender go through. Having the opportunity to have the two articles side by side to make my notes and analyzing. Finding the connections between the two and disconnect from society to transgender communities.

One interview was with a woman named Grace Stevens who transitioned at the age of 64 and is a leader in the transgender community (Nelson, 2015). She had a degree in engineering, but her marriage of 25 years ended she earned a degree in counseling and works with individuals struggling with issues around gender (Nelson, 2015). She described how she gradually would let “Grace” out in certain areas of her life (Nelson, 2015). Stevens said that if you want to help individuals who are transitioning, simply ask them what you can do to support them (Nelson, 2015).

Diana is an Asian, Vietnamese 15 years-old female, presently live with her 2 older brothers and both parents. Diana is currently taking summer classes so that she may graduate sooner than her classmates (encourage by her academic counselor). Diana displays high enthusiasm to attend UT of Austin to be a pediatrician upon matriculate into college.

For many individuals in the LGBTQ+ community, finding healthcare professionals who understand their identities and are receptive to their needs can be difficult. Many in the community feel that they have difficulties finding a practice that will respect their identity and provide them with effective and reliable care. For those specifically in the transgender community, these difficulties can increase exponentially, as many doctors are not properly trained to address the specific health needs that transgender individuals can often require. By his senior year, recent Keene State College graduate Kennedy Redden had noticed that both the staff of his school’s health center and the nearby Planned Parenthood had a distinct lack of knowledge about the needs of transgender students. Because of this, Kennedy decided to write a Transgender Health Manual for the school to use in the general education of its healthcare professionals as his senior capstone piece in Community Health.

Sophia Burset is a 37-year-old transgender, African American women who is seeking career counseling. Sophia is unemployed her pervious career was as a firefighter in Alabama. Sophia reports that she was terminated from her job when she started to transition. Sophia’s treatment plan will include how to build a strong therapeutic alliance, an assessment of Sophia’s career goals along with an exploration of her desires. Once she has stated her goals Sophia and I will determine both short-term goals, and long-term goals to then implement in the action phase of treatment. Other important topics include ethical, legal considerations, referral resources, follow-up planning, and how

Hue is a fourteen year old African-American and Asian transgender female to male, self-referred to the agency for depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideations on transgender suicide in the media. Hue is a 9th grader in high school, and he describes satisfactory academic progress. He lives with his mother, and visits his father in the summer in Michigan. Hue reports three friends he is close with and one being his best friend for eight years. Hue’s mother does not approve of his friendship with his best friend due to the verbal abuse in the past, but Hue reports that the disagreement was in the past and they have rebuilt their relationship.

Lacey is seeking counseling at this time because her primary presenting issue is her feelings of uncertainty in regards to completing her graduate studies. In addition to her primary presenting issue, it is important that we explore Lacey’s underlying issues that she may be feeling as well. Lacy is feeling anxious, down and has expressed feelings of insecurity in large part due to the cultural differences amongst the students and faculty at the university as well as the new predominately White community that she has become a part of. She is in her mid-sixties so I wonder if the feelings she has expressed are related in some part to feelings of oppression or inferiority in past educational settings growing up in the era of segregation. Lacey also is experiencing some pressure because she is the first in her family to attend graduate school. Lacey seems to be stressed and depressed.

As a counselor/educator for WIC, part of Jennifer’s responsibility is to counsel her clients and then provide them advice to better direct them to the right resources for their needs. For the most part, Jennifer’s clients are willing to accept counseling and other services that can be provided to them, however, there has been an issue with reluctant clients on several occasion. According to Jennifer, she had clients in the past that are reluctant to take advice and refusal of drug screening. “Resistant clients may come more or less willingly but fail to carry through or participate actively in the helping process.” (Woodside, McClam, 2012) Jennifer’s next option is to refer clients who refuse to take drug screening to her WIC director. Jennifer

Identity markers will be placed around the room and participants will be invited to place themselves within the gender and sexuality galaxy. Movement and self-witnessing will be used to deepen the experiential. By using this imaginative approach, participants are able to see that there is no hierarchy of identities within gender and sexuality. Participants will also be able to see that there are infinite possibilities and it is our job as therapists to support any client’s identity no matter where it falls in the

Feminist therapy's comprehensive understanding of gender makes it a solid choice for people who are transgender or gender variant (Corey, 2016). When a person's gender identity or expression differs from the gender assigned at birth, or when a person's gender is not easily identifiable, stigmatization and discrimination often result (Corey, 2009). Many individuals have been traumatized by harassment, violence, and human rights violations (Corey, 2009). These experiences may lead some to seek therapeutic support in order to address these issues, as well as any mental distress they may experience as a result, and explore their gender identity in a safe environment (Brown,

A close friend of mine faced an extreme gender identity crisis at age 14, where he realized that he did not belong in a female body and longed to dissociate from a female identity as well. When he first came to me about this, I was overfilled with joy that he had finally accepted and found his true self but, a part of me worried for how outsiders and even others close to him would react to his transition. He is an ambitious young man, but he lacked self worth and constantly dehumanized himself for others entertainment. I was never fond of who he associated with as I saw they had an extremely negative impact on his behaviour and mental health, when he decided to come out as a transgender male to them, my heart stopped. As soon as the phrase “I am not a girl” left his lips I felt the negativity pour from the group, and a sinister smile grew amongst all of them. It wasn't long before they started to jokingly call him “he-she” or “she-male”, which he laughed along with but I knew it killed him inside. He stopped coming to school, at first he would miss a day, maybe two at most but suddenly his appearance became once in a blue moon. He finally decided to show his face at school where he felt limited to nothing more than a joke, but he seemed different. His “friends”, him, and I all shared the same english class, I