Oh? I Haven’t Heard Anything, Have You?.

As usual I read transgender news in the morning to look for a topic to write about and this morning I came across an article in the Edge Boston website called “10 Transgender Trends for 2015” and what got me was number six,

6) Global standards are being set. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) has implemented a certification process for mental health professionals internationally. Mental health is a critical step in the transitioning process.

I think this is wishful thinking. I haven’t heard any talk about a standard for training healthcare professionals. There is a group of providers down in Florida that is providing a “Certificate” for providers but the thing is it is not recognized by anyone.

I hope they are talking about a minimum standard for healthcare providers because the Standard of Care doesn’t provide any guidance, it just says you should have adequate knowledge of trans-healthcare whatever that is.

Another goal they mention is better training for healthcare providers,

8) Improving care from the medical community - unfortunately today, there are still too many physicians, urologists and gynecologists for example, who draw a line when it comes to treating transgender patients for common health issues, saying that this is not their area of expertise. We see a trend towards wider acceptance of transgender people as regular patients from health care providers overall.

I have heard this happening to many trans-patients and I hope that we overcome the resistance to providing us healthcare.