Invitation to participate in a TG therapy survey.

A young woman studying social work at Smith College School for Social Work is asking for our help completing her thesis. She would like to know about your experiences in therapy. If you would like to learn more about the survey she would like you to fill out read on.
I am writing to ask your help in a study on transgender people’s experiences in therapy being conducted for my MSW thesis.  This study’s purpose is to better understand the kind of therapeutic experiences that transgender folks have and whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with these experiences.

I invite you to participate in this study if you are 18 or older, have had at least one experience in therapy, and identify as transgender, transsexual, trans, bigender, FTM, MTF, genderqueer, gender variant, gender non-conforming, agender, cross-dresser, two spirit, kothi, hijra, drag queen, drag king, or if you do not identify with a particular gender. I invite you to participate if your current gender identification is different from the one your parents or guardians gave you at birth, if people see you as androgynous, or if you or other people question your gender identity. I invite you to participate if you clearly pass, as long as you have had the experience of not clearly passing at some point in your life.

Results from this survey will help clinicians evaluate their own practices and behaviors with transgender clients and will give you a voice in that process.  By hearing from transgender people who have been in therapy, clinicians can learn what has been useful in treatment and what has been unhelpful, or even harmful, to transgender clients.  This survey will give the transgender community an opportunity to provide feedback about their therapy experiences.

Your answers to this survey will be completely anonymous and will be released only as summaries in which no individual’s answers can be identified.  All information gathered will be encrypted, and there will be no way to track your participation in this study.  Participation is completely voluntary.  However, you can help me very much by taking a few minutes to share your experiences and opinions about your therapy experiences.

You can access the survey by clicking on this link.

If you have any questions or comments about this study, I would be happy to talk with you.  You can contact me by email or by phone at (206) 744-1638.

Thank you very much for your time and willingness to participate in this important study!

Jeannette Sheerin
MSW Student ’09
Smith College School for Social Work

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