The Trans Mentor Program

By Faye Seidler

fayeseidler@gmail.com

I established the Trans Mentor Program a year and a half ago, with the purpose of providing information, support, and resources around transgender issues for trans and non-trans people.

Currently, I schedule appointments with people on Saturdays between 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m at either of the public libraries or at private rooms in Red Raven. While I make sure to keep my schedules open on Saturday for trans mentoring, I am open to meeting at different places, different times, or even chatting online. If someone is looking to set up an appointment, they can email me at fayeseidler@gmail.com and any correspondence is strictly confidential.

These appointments are open to anyone, whether they are a person questioning their gender, a person well into their transition, a family member of a trans person trying to understand the issues better, or someone who’s never met a transgender person and wants to have an honest conversation.

Keep in mind that what I offer isn’t therapy, nor am I there to give legal advice. What I can do is be a friend, have a conversation, listen to concerns, and offer the best resources I have.

The most common concerns I tend to get are around hormone therapy and how to even start that process. The easy answer is that you need a letter of referral from a therapist, before getting an appointment with an endocrinologist, who prescribes hormones.

There are a few different ways to go about the process and in some cases, like the Planned Parenthood Clinic in St. Paul, a letter of referral isn’t needed to start. Given that there are many choices, I let people know their options and help them look into what will be the best for them.

Following this are concerns about healthcare coverage and what insurance companies even cover trans-related care. The first thing to understand with this question is that the Affordable Care Act made it illegal for insurance companies receiving federal funding to deny coverage for transgender-related healthcare. While that doesn’t mean they have to cover surgery, any federally funded insurance company that includes specialists in their coverage will have to cover an endocrinologist visit, and most cover hormones.

If you are looking for insurance that does cover surgery, please contact me, as I’ll be doing research into which companies will do so for the 2017 coverage year!

Aside from those main two concerns, I help answer questions about gender identity. I refer to the N.D. self-help website for changing names. I provide the requirements for changing gender markers on driver’s license, social security card, and birth certificate. I also have a plethora of resources for trans youth and their parents.

What I like to tell people is if I don’t have the answer, then I’ll find the answer. If what you’re looking for wasn’t mentioned here, but is trans-related, I probably have a good idea where to look.

If you’re looking for general education for yourself or your organization, I offer comprehensive transgender cultural competency training that comes very highly rated. I’m open to consulting with and offering advice to any organization or business in terms of their trans policy and protocol.

I do everything I do because I want to make sure nobody has to go through the experience I had. That means years spent lost, confused, and alone because I didn’t know being transgender was a thing. It means not having had anyone to talk to about being trans, even if I did know. When I finally figured it out, I felt hopeless, because there wasn’t anyone around to encourage and accept me as my authentic gender. When I did transition, I just about had a stress-induced heart attack figuring things out as I went.

That is my backstory, and, even coming from that, I’ve found happiness. My message is that you can be trans and happy, that those thoughts aren’t mutually exclusive. And while I know journeying down the road of gender can be an insane struggle, there are people like me to help at every turn!

YOU SHOULD KNOW

Trans Mentor Program

Saturdays noon to 4, or tba

fayeseidler@gmail.com