Gender-affirming support
NEW Gender Support Group for CA Residents!
✨ Please fill out this Google form to join a future cohort and I will follow up with you. New members can apply to join anytime, and will be admitted at every new cycle beginning. The next cycle will start in Fall 2024.
✨ An inclusive group for anybody whose gender identity exists under the trans umbrella. This includes but is not limited to folks who identify as transgender, gender-expansive, nonbinary, gender fluid, gender non-conforming, gender questioning, or any other point along the gender-expansive spectrum.
✨Once per week on Zoom, next group time TBD
✨ Sliding scale per session $0-100
✨ Members are asked to commit to the 10-week series in order to build trust and community amongst group members.
✨The group will provide a gender-affirming space to give and receive support, make connections, and talk about emergent topics group members are dealing with, such as pre and post gender-affirming procedures, intimate relationships, situations at work and school, family dynamics, body image, etc.
✨ About the facilitator: I am a cisgender, white-identified, Jewish woman (my pronouns are she/hers). I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and have had a trans-centered psychotherapy practice based in Oakland, CA. I am a registered member of WPATH (The World Professional Association of Transgender Health). I was formerly a mental health clinician at Planned Parenthood Northern California, where I worked collaboratively with their gender department. I am also a Certified Sex Therapist through AASECT. I am dedicated to continuing my education on providing trans-centered healthcare via trainings and consultation groups.
✨ Why did I choose to lead a transgender support group? Firstly, I believe strongly in the power of groups + connection! And secondly, I was introduced to gender-affirming support groups when I co-led one at UCSF Alliance Health Project in the Castro of San Francisco during my second Masters of Social Work internship in 2015. Once I received my license to practice therapy, I decided that I wanted to resist gatekeeping and other harmful actions against transgender people in the field of psychology and healthcare; in 2020 I began to dedicate a portion of my practice to pro-bono letter-writing for folks seeking gender-affirming procedures through the Gender Affirming Letter Access Project (GALAP). As I worked with more and more gender-expansive clients and trained more in trans-centered health care, I realized that there is a major lack of trans-affirming and trans-health knowledgeable mental health clinicians. I hope that my group can fill a need of providing information, connection, and care to those who need it.
I have a passion for providing gender-affirming care for clients identifying at any point on the gender spectrum. I have helped numerous clients from teens to older adults explore their gender identity. I am not only a therapist, but an advocate for my clients.
I am a member of WPATH - The World Professional Association for Transgender Health and donate time writing letters to medical providers/insurance companies for gender-affirming procedures through The Gender Affirming Letter Access Project. I fully believe in GALAP’s mission to resist the harmful practices of gatekeeping and use an informed consent model where clients can affirm their gender identity without a psychiatric evaluation.
In addition, I worked as a staff therapist at Alliance Health Project in San Francisco, where I co-facilitated the transgender support group.
BEWARE of any therapy advertised as Therapy First, the new name for the "Gender Exploratory Therapy." Gender Exploratory Therapy may attempt to present itself as a harmless exploration of one's gender identity, but in reality, it is nothing more than a repackaging of conversion therapy. Conversion therapy refers to any emotional or physical treatment that aims to "cure" or "repair" a person's sexual attraction, gender identity, or expression. The abusive nature of conversion therapies has been widely recognized and condemned by reputable mental health organizations across the board.
By disguising itself as Gender Exploratory Therapy (and now Therapy First), this harmful practice seeks to deceive those who may be seeking support and understanding in their gender journey. Their goal is to withhold any gender-affirming treatment and instead find an explanation that is convincing enough to persuade a trans person to delay their transition. They especially pray on youth and their families.
"Much like how a crisis pregnancy center steers pregnant people away from abortion, GETA’s (Gender Exploratory Therapy Association) strategy is to sound cautious and helpful while promoting a very specific view of how people should live their lives, which is as the gender they were assigned at birth." –Slate article, 2023 (Hey, therapists! Feel free to paste this on your website as well to get the word out!)
resource list for california residents
Voice Coaching:
Jordan Ross Jakomi
SF Voice
Voice apps:
- voice tools (free)
- pitch perfect (free)
- tiny piano ( free)
- voice analyst ($10)
Legally Changing Name/Gender:
GENDER CHANGE ONLY: You do not need a court ordered recognition of gender change to change your California driver's license, social security card, or U.S. passport. You also do not need a court order to have a new birth certificate issued reflecting a change of gender (for California birth records); you can go directly to the State Registrar office and follow the process there. More info here.
NAME CHANGE: You DO need a court order for a change of name. If you need to change your name AND gender, you can follow the instructions below, or you can instead change your gender with the State Registrar (without a court order) and separately get a court order for a name change only. To do that, visit our name change section.
Otherwise, for both name and gender change click here.
Therapy Covered by Medi-Cal + Support Groups:
UCSF Alliance Health Project
Click Here for Website
415-476-3902
Accepts Medi-Cal
Support groups: Trans and Gender Support
Pacific Center for Human Growth
Click Here for Website
510-548-8283
Accepts Medi-Cal
Many support groups: click here
Queer Life Space
Click Here for Website
415-358-2000
Does not take insurance, sliding scale
Therapy starts at $30
Hormone Replacement Therapy:
See below, or check out the websites Folx and Plume. Planned Parenthood also provides trans health services, including HRT!
Lyon Martin Community Health, San Francisco
Services include:
Primary care
Cancer screenings
Lab Appointments
Gender affirming care (hormones, voice, surgery, etc.)
Sexual & reproductive health
Gynecological care
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Mental health services
Care coordination
Takes MediCal or sliding scale
(415) 565-7667 or email: info@lyon-martin.org
Medical Care Serving the Trans Community:
TransVision through Bay Area Community Mental Health, Fremont
Services include:
Access to clinical services such as primary care, hormones and surgery referral
Name and Gender change assistance
Free hormone needle exchange/disposal
Safer Sex Supplies: condoms, lube
Informed Consent Model
STD screening
Confidential HIV testing, care and treatment
Non-Alameda County Residents have access
Takes MediCal, most private insurances + sliding scale
(510) 252-5818 or email: TransgenderServices@bach.health