治疗师安慰来访者. iStock照片.
心理学家 美极的价格 说治疗师经常 缺乏培训 为变性青年服务，他们是 以创纪录的数量出现 表达自己真实的性别认同.
但她正在努力扭转局面.
以四年77.5万美元作为担保 职业发展奖 从 国家心理健康太阳城官网所, Price is creating a virtual training program to teach a group of therapists how to provide gender-affirming care to their young clients.
“Kids shouldn’t have to go to clinics and not know whether their providers have the ability to help them out,普莱斯说。, 一位助理教授 太阳城网赌平台社会工作学院 谁 太阳城官网 the mental health of youth 谁 are stigmatized because of their race, gender, sexual identity. “As clients continue to come out to their therapists as transgender, we’re going to see an increase in demand for providers 谁 are trained to meet their needs.”
她的在线课程将培训近40名治疗师 波士顿儿童学习中心, which works to improve the lives of kids and families in Massachusetts and California. Price says the curriculum will be based on input from transgender kids, 他们的照顾者, 心理健康专家, 谁 are currently being recruited to serve as advisors for the project. But she already knows that one lesson will focus on teaching therapists what to say—and what not to say—to parents of transgender kids.
“We 发现 that some therapists say, ‘if you don't do this or that, your kid’s going to reject you. 他们要搬出去了. They’re going to do all of this on your own with or without your help,’”普莱斯说。, 他的项目也是由BC和 美国心理学会基金会. 一些家长, 当他们和治疗师有这些经历时, will take their kid out of therapy or stop going to sessions with them.”
The training program is one of three ongoing projects that Price is overseeing as director of the 确认实验室, which conducts research to improve therapy for stigmatized youth. 她过去的太阳城官网 发现 that therapists often fail to provide culturally sensitive support to transgender kids, 谁比异性恋者更有可能 企图自杀, 被欺负, 实验 用药物.
普莱斯已经与哈佛大学的教员合作 工程部门 at BC to ensure that the training program will always reflect best practices in transgender care. 例如，如果 条款 用来指变性人的改变, Price will be able to update the program with the new language in real time.
“The people using the program will be centered and their needs will be addressed by constantly improving it,她说。. “我们希望这个项目能永远存在下去, 假设它足够有效，可以广泛实施.”
美极的价格, 一位助理教授 太阳城网赌平台社会工作学院. 礼貌的照片.
If 太阳城官网 show that the pilot program helps therapists support transgender youth, Price will work to expand the training to more clinics in the U.S. As part of her 职业发展奖, she will receive guidance from 约翰Pachankis他是一名公共卫生教授 LGBTQ精神健康倡议 耶鲁大学.
Price says Pachankis will show her how he runs his lab and help her write grant proposals to further develop her training program. “I’ll be learning from a larger and more developed lab about what my work could look like decades from now,她说。.
Pachankis, 对他来说, says Price’s training program could significantly increase the number of therapists 谁 have the skills to serve transgender youth. “Maggi’s research has the potential to develop a model that can efficiently disseminate much-needed training support to mental health providers across the country,他说. “The training approach she will create can positively affect the lives of countless transgender youth 谁 will receive more affirmative care as a result of her research.”
Price hopes to create a special version of the training program to help therapists 谁 work in states with high levels of transphobia. 仅今年一年，就有33个州的立法机构通过了这一法案 提出了100多项法案 限制变性人的权利. 大多数法案影响的是跨性别青年, including those in 20 states that ban or hinder minors from receiving gender-affirming care.
“Providers in these states might be resistant to getting training,普莱斯说。, “or clients might need more affirming care because their outside environments are so harmful to them.”
她在Affirm实验室的同事, a six-member team that includes three graduate research assistants and two undergraduate research assistants, 正在努力让飞行员离开地面吗. Price says their responsibilities range from recruiting the advisers to building the online training platform with help 从 工程部门.
她说:“我很幸运能有这样一个杰出的团队。. “I truly couldn’t do this work without their dedication and talent.”