Having Medical (Medicare) And Wanting Therapist (HRT)

whens your 18th birthday? If you're in a bad financial sutiutain maybe you can start hormones for a month too get your body used too them when you hit 18 the therapist idea might be a bad idea because they'll be concerned and want too know what its about

 

Hi

So I'll bold where I give you a direct answer to your question but I'd really like to ask you to stay with me through the whole post.

As far as Medicare, I can't really help there yet but it's a good question and it would help me to research it.

As far as getting help without alerting your parents. I have some ideas with regard to that. But before I lay those out, I want to let you know that I have seen a lot of transitions fail and a lot of people end up in very painful places because they didn't have support at home.

I'm one of them. I can honestly be friends with my honestly I'm not just saying it to be nice supportive ex now, but that's because she is my ex and not my girlfriend, and we have been living apart for most of a year. But every. Single. Day. That those two things were not true were hell. When I was in the closet, well you've experienced that. When I was out of the closet, she... did not take things well, and things got even worse.

So I'd like to ask you to come up with a strategy to tell your parents one day, or if that is really not an option and you know that for a fact, it's not just what if fear and think about how things would be three years from now after they have had time to get used to your being trans, but like every day will just be awful and you're stuck depending on them anyway, then at the very least I'd like you to come up with a strategy to get supportive people in your life.

This just plain doesn't work if you try to do it yourself.

So that said, there is always a risk they'll find out. But if you think you can trust your regular doctor (a lot of us call this your GP or General Practitioner), I would start there. Your regular doctor is going to be part of things anyway if you get HRT. You may even be like me and need a specialist doctor called an endocrinologist that they refer you to. Your therapist is not trained in knowing what your blood hormone levels are.

If you want a therapist as well, but can't afford to pay one on your own, I'd also like to suggest Planned Parenthood, and if your city is like mine and has a queer center like our GLBT center, I would check there too. Both of those resources will be discrete. If you are really lucky some cities like Chicago have places like the Howard Brown clinic which specializes in people like us.

A therapist really has two roles in all of this. They can be that supportive person I was talking about, helping you deal with being trans, and they can advocate for you. That second role is why most people associate "therapist" with "HRT". They can write you a letter of recommendation which does help you get HRT, but they usually can't prescribe it directly. So I'd like you to keep that in mind when you make the decision whether to get a therapist. I got a therapist - two actually - and I'm happy I did. I also want to mention that part of that first role might be getting you help coming out to your parents.

If you do decide to get a therapist, the reason I told you to start with your regular doctor is that they might be able to find one discretely without telling your parents for you, and get you sent there invisibly. That really is the best way if you have to keep everything a secret.

But if you can't, your next best option is to try to get a job, and find a therapist on this list Therapists . I know a lot of therapists don't take insurance, any insurance not just Medicare. So don't restrict yourself to just therapists that take insurance. If you can set aside $75 a paycheck, you can afford therapy once a month; if a therapist is charging more than $150 a session find a different therapist. Many work on a sliding / ability to pay schedule so be prepared to negotiate.

Best of luck hon. You know EC is always here too.