Gender reassignment involves a fundamental lifestyle change. While many clients seeking gender reassignment have a clear understanding of when they first felt uncomfortable in their birth gender, and have a clear expectation what life will be like for them after gender reassignment surgery (GRS) the gender reassignment process might uncover challenges they might never have thought of.

Gender reassignment has been described by some as a selfish experience, the client’s husband/wife/partner; family and friends will be impacted by the clients gender change. How much has the client considered this? There will also be people in their social and working life who will in some way or another be involved in their gender reassignment journey.

The clients hope is that gender reassignment will improve the quality of their life, but for some they may have more to lose than they hope to gain.

Facilitator Profile:

Lynda Quick has recently retired as a counsellor, psychotherapist and supervisor. She has 14 years’ experience working with clients with gender dysphoria/gender identity in a NHS Gender Identity Clinic, and a further 4 years in private practice. She is also an international speaker.

Event Description:

The workshop will provide an in-depth understanding of why some people seek to change their gender, and the challenges they face during their gender reassignment process and the impact it has on them and those nearest and dearest to them. Some of the clients I worked with during my 14 years as a counsellor, psychotherapist, lead psychotherapist and supervisor at The Laurels Gender Identity Clinic described their need to change gender as a “selfish need”, when what they were seeking was to achieve gender comfort.

Transgender

The term “transgender” refers to a person whose sex assigned at birth (i.e. the sex assigned at birth, usually based on external genitalia) does not align their gender identity (i.e., one’s psychological sense of their gender). Some people who are transgender will experience “gender dysphoria,” which refers to psychological distress that results from incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. Though gender dysphoria often begins in childhood, some people may not experience it until after puberty or much later. (American Psychiatric Association)

Gender Dysphoria:   

Gender Dysphoria may be experienced in varying degrees, but in its profound and persistent form, individuals may need to ‘transition’, to live in the gender role which is consistent with their gender identity. This degree of Gender Dysphoria may be described as transsexualism.

Everyone is unique and so too are our experiences. Some people notice the misalignment between the sex they were assigned at birth and their gender identity when they’re a child. For others, it happens later when they’re a teenager or adult. The medical term for this mismatch is gender dysphoria, or gender incongruence.

Many people with gender dysphoria have a strong, lasting desire to live a life that “matches” or expresses their gender identity. They do this by changing the way they look and behave.

Some people with gender dysphoria, but not all, may want to use hormones and sometimes surgery to express their gender identity.

Gender dysphoria is not a mental illness, but some people may develop mental health problems because of gender dysphoria (Gender Dysphoria NHS)

Gender Reassignment:

Gender reassignment involves a fundamental lifestyle change. and refers to individuals, who either:

• Have undergone, intend to undergo or are currently undergoing gender reassignment (medical and surgical treatment to alter the body).
• Do not intend to undergo medical treatment but wish to live permanently in a different gender from their gender at birth.

Goals of psychotherapy for adults with gender concerns

The general goal of psychotherapy is to find ways to maximize a person’s overall psychological well-being, quality of life, and self-fulfilment.

Psychotherapy is not intended to alter a person’s gender identity; rather, psychotherapy can help an individual to explore gender concerns and find ways to alleviate gender dysphoria, if present (Brockting et al., 2006; Brockting & Coleman, 2007; Fraser, 2009a; Lev, 2004). Typically, the overarching treatment goal is to help transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming individuals achieve long-term comfort in their gender identity expression, with realistic chances for success in their relationships, education, and work. For additional details, see Fraser (Fraser, 2009c).

Therapy may consist of individual, couple, family, or group psychotherapy, the latter being particularly important to foster peer support.

Psychotherapy for transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming clients, including counselling and support for changes in gender role. Finding a comfortable gender role is, first and foremost, a psychosocial process. Psychotherapy can be invaluable in assisting transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming individuals with all of the following:

(i) Clarifying and exploring gender identity and role,

(ii) Addressing the impact of stigma and minority stress on one’s mental health and human development, and

(iii) Facilitating a coming out process (Brockting & Coleman, 2007; Devor, 2004; Lev, 2004), which for some individuals may include changes in gender role expression and the use of feminizing/masculinising medical interventions. (World Professional Standards of Care (WPATH SOC Ver. 7)

Price: CaPPP Members £65.00, Non-members £75.00

Places are limited and must be booked in advance by 12.00 on Wednesday 16th November.

Registration & refreshments: 9.30 to 10.00 lunch and refreshments are included in the price

Venue: Quaker Meeting House, 300 Gloucester Road, Horfield, Bristol BS87 8PD