top of page
Image by Adam Winger
Resources for Mental Health Professionals

This website wishes to provide mental health care workers and other professionals with accessible information regarding the transgender and non-binary community. This section will provide general information regarding gender diversity as well as expectations and further resources to aid when working with those within this trans community.

Guide To: Gender Diversity

This section serves as a guide for general information regarding gender diversity, including but not limited to definitions, proper use of pronouns, and ways to ensure that your workspace is trans-inclusive.

Guide to: Providing Trans-Affirmative Care

This section will provide a list of guidelines provided by the American Psychological Association based on the ways that mental health professionals should work with clients who identify as trans and/or non-binary. Along with this list, there is a section with explanations available regarding rationales for these guidelines, ways to utilize these guidelines in practice, and additional resources that can be useful when working with trans individuals.

Information on Microaggressions in Mental Health Care

This section will provide further information on common microaggressions towards those within the trans and/or non-binary community in therapy settings. Information includes, but is not limited to, research regarding misgendering, binary interpretations of gender, and the potential mental and physical consequences of microaggressions.  

Definitional Elements

1. Affirmative: (In context to self-affirming results in therapy) Affirmative results in a therapeutic setting would include comprehending the validity of one's own identity and a boost in self-esteem in regard to that same identity (McNulty Counseling, 2019). The hope is to feel confident that one's identity is not a hindrance to one's life nor the lives of those around them (McNulty Counseling, 2019). Affirmation of identity will ideally lessen symptoms of severe mental illness and increase quality of life. 

​

2. Gender Non-Conforming: This term has been coined in recent gendered developments within the larger LGBTQ+ community. This term is often used under the umbrella term, transgender, which describes someone who feels as though their assigned sex at birth deviates from or does not align with the gender identity they feel within themselves (Nadal et al., 2012). The term gender non-conforming alludes to an individual who does not identify within the gender binary. For the purposes of this site, we refer to these individuals as TGNC (transgender & gender non-conforming). These individuals can also be categorized as gender diverse.

​

3. Therapy: (In context to LGBTQ+-specific counseling) Conducted by a counselor that is knowledgable and informed on issues related to LGBTQ+ identities. According to Clarity Clinic, a therapy office that provides LGBTQ+ therapy, the sessions typically do not focus on the specific LGBTQ+ identity itself, but rather explores the challenges that one may encounter in daily life (n.d.). Since daily experiences can be greatly influenced by these identities, being knowledgeable on the topics, and marking oneself as such when marketing their practice will be important to LGBTQ+ people who are seeking treatment. 

​

4. LGBTQ+: This acronym has commonly been used to describe members of a community who do not identify within the confines of the labels "heterosexual" and/or "cisgender" (one who identifies as the gender the were given at birth). This term has been used to describe those people as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and/or other sexualities/gender identities not represented by the corresponding letters (i.e., the +) ("Defining LGBTQ", 2020). 

​

5. Age/Age Cohorts: For purposes of our research project, we are designing this website for TGNC individuals, regardless of age group, and professional mental health clinicians. We wish to offer resources and education to TGNC individuals in need of affirmative therapeutic services, as well as guidelines and codes of ethics for mental health professionals seeking to learn methods of allyship towards this vulnerable community. 

​

1032 W Sheridan Rd, Crown Center 117, Chicago, IL 60660

ahogarth@luc.edu  jriedel@luc.edu

636-358-5910 

816-726-4138

© 2021 Jade Riedel and Mern Hogarth. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page