Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Gender Health Training Institute (GHTI) blog! Each month we will provide clinicians with tools, resources, and information for providing accurate, compassionate care to their trans and gender-diverse clients.
In our inaugural newsletter, we wanted to provide a brief overview of the Provider’s Gender Journey, and introduce a Phase 1 of the journey: Gender Informed.
What is the Gender Journey?
As therapists, our work is rooted in helping clients lead healthy, authentic lives. The Gender Journey is a framework that outlines six phases of growth for becoming a gender-affirming therapist—one who can genuinely connect with and support trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse clients. This journey is essential for ensuring that all clients receive the care they deserve.
One of the most common concerns shared by members of the trans community is the experience of seeking help from a therapist or medical provider who doesn’t understand their needs and experience. For some, this lack of understanding manifests as being treated as though their gender identity is a problem to be solved rather than an integral part of who they are, or worse a reason to deny them help.
As clinicians, we rarely enter this field with an explicit goal of harming our clients, yet our own histories, beliefs, and biases can unintentionally create barriers. We all navigate complex layers of privilege and marginalization that shape how we view the world, approach our work, and connect with our clients. These dynamics influence the questions we ask, the assumptions we make, and the possibilities we envision in our practice.
For many of us, gender bias is not something we anticipate encountering in ourselves—especially if we don’t initially expect to work with trans, non-binary, or gender-diverse clients.
Yet the truth is that we are all on a journey with gender, whether we consciously recognize it or not.
Often, our Gender Journey begins with a pivotal experience—a moment when a client or someone close to us comes out as trans, nonbinary or gender diverse or a moment when we recognize how our lack of knowledge could negatively impact our work. These moments can feel uncomfortable or even awkward, and while we may sense that something went awry, we might struggle to pinpoint why or how to help.
Unpacking the “why” or making sure we are working within our scope of knowledge is what propels us into the first phase of the Gender Journey: becoming Gender Informed. This phase involves more than acquiring knowledge about the construct of gender or the lived experiences of trans individuals and their families. It requires deep, personal reflection on our own gender journey—both in life and in our clinical work.
Understanding our personal relationship with gender is not merely an intellectual exercise; it is an ethical imperative.
Becoming Gender Informed demands that we develop self-awareness and a commitment to ongoing growth, so we can avoid harm and create an affirming space for all clients.
As we continue along this path, our understanding and competence expand, and we begin to cultivate the skills necessary to specialize in working with trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse individuals. This process leads us toward Phase 3: becoming a Gender Experience. At this stage, we are equipped to provide not just affirming care but to confidently provide deeply informed and effective support tailored to the needs of this community.
A few of us may feel called into Phase 4: becoming a Gender Specialist, where we engage in teaching, research, and advocacy to advance the care for and lives of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse people.
The Clinical Gender Journey is not a quick or easy path, but it is a profoundly meaningful one. Each step we take strengthens our ability to empower clients in living their most authentic lives—and isn’t that the heart of why we chose this work?
As Gender Informed clinicians it is important that we are aware of the personal and cultural experiences of the trans community, this is especially important in our current political context. Right now as you are likely well aware, the trans community and the providers who support them are quite frightened. As a community that is highly traumatized, I find we are each reacting to the incoming administration with our natural trauma response: fight, flight, freeze. Do you recognize these responses in yourself? I certainly recognize mine.
In service of supporting you on your journey and helping you support your clients, I wanted to share some highlights from a toolkit I recently created for the trans community and ourselves navigating 2025 and beyond (see Tips for Clinicians here).