I Need Help Choosing a Gender Counselor

[Starling]

I'm trying to decide where to begin gender counseling in LA County. The LA Gender Center was recommended to me, and I went by there the other day; but I know there are other options, and I'd love to be armed with some real-world "consumer reports."

I would really appreciate any advice anyone might be willing to give me. I'm especially interested in the peripherals, such as parking, privacy and the all-around comfort level of the facility, and wouldn't want any personal info.

Feel free to PM me, if you wish.

Thanks so much.

:) Lallie

[Stephanie-L]

One thing you can do is go to the Psychology Today website, they have a therapist finder there, and some of them do list that they work with TG/TS folks. That is how I found the counselor I went to, and she was very helpful.
Good Luck......Stephanie

[Starling]

Thanks, Stephanie. I believe I've set a house record for fewest replies!

:) Lallie

[Jorja]

You could let your fingers do the walking. Look in the phone book for counseling. In LA there should be several listed. Call them and ask if they have TG/TS experience. If not, could they refer you to someone who does have experience.

[Alexiz]

I actually sent an e-mail to the LAGC and I got a phone number of a particular therapist. Very helpful in answering my questions, and even talked to me about different financial routes, considering I don't have much money.

Have you been able to get into contact to one of them through this way? It could be worth a shot. c:

[Starling]

I appreciate all your responses, but I'm most eager to hear people's experiences, not with the therapist per se, but with the externals and/or amenities like privacy, parking, etc. In other words, what is it like to go to that place?

There are a number of therapists in LA to choose from in widely diverse areas. And as I plan to go to my first visit dressed, I want to know if I am going to have to park three blocks away on a dicey street, walk by a boxing gym, a motorcyle repair shop and a dive bar, warding off street drunks and panhandlers, to climb three flights of stairs, sit in a waiting room used in common with several other practices, and have bathroom issues, etc.

I am not a full-timer, so these are important considerations for me. Perhaps I'm worrying too much, which is a flaw of mine, but I'd like the experience to begin on a therapeutic rather than traumatic note, is all.

If you have any information like that, it would be a great help to me. I would be so grateful. And I will happily share my own on-the-spot observations.

:) Lallie

[Starling]

I actually sent an e-mail to the LAGC and I got a phone number of a particular therapist...

Thanks, Alexiz. Dr. Elise Turen at LAGC was recommended to me by a friend's regular therapist, and I will definitely call her before I do anything else. I gather you haven't actually been there, so I'll tell you that it's on the edge of Westwood in a little court containing offices and shops, and that you need to climb a flight of stairs to get to the office.

As I didn't want to appear there in drab, Alexiz, I didn't go up, so I don't know what the waiting area is like; but I did note that there was a reasonably-priced parking lot in back, right behind the office. There is much street life in front of the building, mostly patrons of the cafes and shops, but you'll also encounter out there the kind of random folks who make urban life such an adventure these days. The parking meters charge $1.00/hour and accept major credit cards.

:) Lallie