I recently started taking medication for depression so my doctor made me an appointment with a therapist. I didn't really know they were going to do this, I thought they were just going to give me some resources or something and I would figure it out from there. But now I've got this appointment in a few days and the problem is that I would like someone to help me with gender issues as well as the depression and such, but my doctor doesn't know I'm trans, so I have no idea what kind of experience the therapist will have with this. Any advice?
I would talk to your therapist and see if she has any experience. Even if she does not, she may be able to direct you to somebody who does have some experience working with trans people.
I'm sure if you haven't been to therapy before, or hadn't considered telling someone about being trans, that this is probably pretty terrifying for you. I'd add to what Brad said... if the therapist says s/he does have experience with gender issues, it's perfectly reasonable to ask what kind of experience, about how many clients, and how long s/he has been working with this population. This is a specialty area with a lot of complexities in understanding and helping you explore how you want to proceed, establish goals and a plan, and ideally requires a pretty deep knowledge of the process and the issues and potential bumps in the road that go with it. A good therapist won't be the slightest bit offended about questions to help you find out if s/he meets your needs. If you don't feel confident with the answers, then you should definitely ask for a referral or seek out some help on your own. Remember that you are totally in the driver's seat here, and particularly with therapists, finding a good match is absolutely crucial to getting the help you need, and any competent therapist will understand that.
I'm going to echo what folks have said above me -- you're in charge here, and you can always ask to be referred to someone with more experience. Also, you can explain to the therapist that you haven't told your doctor/are not out so that the therapist doesn't out you accidentally in communication with the doctor! Confidentiality prevents them from giving non-emergency info, as I'm sure the therapist will go over with you
Thank you for your help I've decided to go ahead and go to the appointment tomorrow and I will ask her about her experience during that, and try and get a referral if I don't think it's going to work out. As far as my doctor goes, it isn't really a big deal if she finds out. I'm already out to most people, I just haven't had a reason to tell her yet.
