Alyus The Amazing

  Transitioning and Gender Therapy: How to Stay Safe and Get the Care You Deserve By Alyus Vasquez Originally published August 14, 2019 – Updated May 31, 2025 for clarity and accessibility Why Licensing Matters in Transgender Therapy If you’re seeking therapy as part of your gender transition, you deserve to feel safe, affirmed, and respected. Unfortunately, not every provider advertising themselves as a “gender therapist” is properly licensed—or ethical. The truth is, there are clinical standards for working with transgender clients. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either misinformed or misleading you. Licensed mental health professionals—especially those with LCSW, LMHC, or similar credentials—are required to follow state regulations, clinical best practices, and professional ethical codes. Before you open up to a therapist, verify their credentials . You can use the ASWB License Verification tool to look up social workers by name and ensure they are licensed in your s...

  The Body Knows It’s strange, isn’t it—how we can tell when a single strand of hair, not our own, clings to our skin. It’s weightless, nearly imperceptible, yet our nerves tingle with its foreignness. Our brain maps us so thoroughly, so intimately, that even the smallest inconsistency sounds an alarm. Like the brush of a spider leg on bare skin, we react before we can think. Instinct kicks in. We swat it away, we shiver, we know it doesn’t belong. It’s not logic—it’s survival. That’s embodiment. Not something mystical—something primal. Animal. We know where we end and the world begins. We know when something is on us, and when something is not us. We know our bodies—not because we looked in a mirror, but because we live inside them. So when I say something is missing between my legs, I don’t mean it metaphorically. I mean it the way you’d know if a finger went numb, or a tooth fell out, or your voice came out of someone else’s mouth. And when I say my breasts felt foreign,...