Gender Affirming Care
Helping others through gender identity by addressing the challenges faced and providing helpful resources.
Helping Those Through Gender Identity
In many indigenous, historical, and non-western cultures, gender expansive people are respected and acknowledged for their unique perspectives and contributions. Unfortunately, that is not the lived experience of most gender expansive people in our society, particularly in Erie County and Northwestern PA. At Journey, we strive to provide an oasis of healing in the midst of the harsh environment our gender expansive journeyers navigate on a daily basis. Whether you are transitioning from the gender you were assigned at birth, exploring your gender expression, or seeking an affirmative space to process and heal for other areas in your life, you are welcome here.
Ready to Start Your Journey?
What:
Challenges are Faced?
Today’s political climate and societal views have created an environment where many gender expansive people live in a constantly triggered state. In particular, transgender and nonbinary youth are facing dangerous school policies, identity erasure, and invalidation of any expression outside of that assigned at birth. Transgender women of color and gender expansive people living with a disability face discrimination and violence at much higher rates than their white, cisgender, and able-bodied peers. Even within the LGBTQ+ community, gender expansive people may face lack of knowledge, misunderstanding, and acceptance as ‘one of us.’ Frequent misgendering, microaggressions, and outright discrimination are commonplace among gender diverse people in our community.
Why:
Is There a Need/Want for Treatment and Services?
In spite of these huge challenges, we know how essential our gender expansive people are to our community. Their uniqueness should be celebrated and they should be empowered to live their lives authentically. For this reason, Journey creates an ecology for:
- Preparation for Gender Affirming Care including letters for surgeries and medical treatments.
- Help with processing traumatic experiences both one-time incidents and complex, ongoing traumatic situations
- Counseling for you and your significant others and loved ones
- Supportive, body-affirming yoga, reiki energy work, mindfulness practices, and community-building activities through our nonprofit Journey: Healing Together
- Referrals and assistance with finding competent and affirming providers, name and gender marker changes, drug and alcohol treatment, and other essential helpers.
Connect with Journey
Begin your healing process with the help of our services and resources at Journey to a Trauma Informed Life.
How:
Journey's Staff is Relatable to This Niche Explanation
Many people can’t help but notice and feel at home in our space because they can see people with similar life experiences working here. Gender expansive and queer clinicians and staff working side-by-side with cisgender and straight team members. Frequent training and certification in Q+ sensitive trauma-focused care and reviewing of current standards of care for gender expansive people is encouraged and supported. At Journey, we are always learning from each other, guides, staff, and journeyers alike. We address individual concerns with recognition that our intention may be good but it is not always received that way. It is our responsibility to hear how our efforts have impacted you from a non defensive learning posture.
Gender Expansive/Non-Binary
As a member of World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) since our beginnings in 2019, we make every effort to remain current in our provision of mental health care for our Gender Diverse colleagues and community members. We work collaboratively with local, regional, and national providers to assure each Journeyer is empowered to navigate their journey with the support they need.
Discover Journey Healing Together
Journey: Healing Together is a non-profit offering healing spaces to New Majority communities. Providing opportunities for diverse groups to gather, heal, restore, discover, and rebuild. Find out how to get involved and #JoinTheJourney!