Gender-affirming, high quality, patient-centered care.
Be you. We’ve got you covered.
We know how hard it can be to find the right place for your child to receive care. Despite a growing number of options for care for trans and gender diverse young people throughout Massachusetts, it can be difficult to know what program best fits your family’s needs. Our integrated model of care is one example of how we continuously work to lower the barriers trans and gender diverse youth face in accessing care. From their first day at Fenway Health, our providers are trained to provide all aspects of care through an affirming, patient-centered model. We also consider gender affirming medical care (like puberty blockers and hormones) to be a part of primary care, and all of our Pediatricians and Family Medicine providers are happy to work with our patients and their families towards their individual goals.
Our focus on individualized care plans is one of the most unique aspects of our program. Since our care for trans and gender diverse young people is integrated within our primary care programs, our providers are uniquely positioned to work with patients and families on comprehensive healthcare needs and adjust our care plans to best match each families needs.
Are your questions not answered here? Would you prefer to speak with someone in the Trans Health Program before scheduling an appointment? Sign up for an appointment in our All Access Hours! These free 20 minute appointments with our Trans Health Program Patient Advocate are available to anyone interested in learning more about the care Fenway Health provides and the resources and supports offered through the Trans Health Program.
You can schedule these appointments using the button below, or by giving us a call at 857-313-6589.
Youth & Family Orientation Night 2nd Tuesday Of Each Month From 6:30-8PM |
---|
An evening for families of trans and gender diverse youth to meet members of our trans youth care team, learn about the comprehensive services offered, and what to expect from care. Topics covered in this session include the process of getting started with gender affirming medical care, puberty blockers, hormone therapy, behavioral health support, insurance, prior authorizations, and non-medical aspects of gender affirmation surrounding care for trans and gender diverse youth. Parents and guardians of trans and gender diverse youth under age 18 are welcome to attend.
|
Medical Care
Fenway Health offers medical care for gender diverse youth at all of our clinical sites. This includes primary care in addition to puberty suppression and/or hormone therapy, as medically and developmentally appropriate. To schedule a visit for someone under the age of 18, call the number listed below and request an appointment in the Trans Youth Clinic.
We have three clinical sites providing medical care to trans and gender diverse young people.
These sites see patients of all ages within Family Medicine:
- Ansin Building, 1340 Boylston Street
- Fenway: South End, 142 Berkeley Street
This site sees only patients who are 12-29 years old:
- Sidney Borum, Jr. Health Center, 75 Kneeland Street
To schedule a medical appointment for your child to discuss gender exploration and/or options in medical gender affirmation, please call 857.347.5349. Prior to your first appointment, we ask families to complete the packet below to the best of your ability.
New Gender Diverse Youth Packet
For more information on what to expect, take a look at the Gender Affirming Medical Care tab below, or reach out to the Trans Health Program at 857.313.6589 or transhealth@fenwayhealth.org.
Behavioral Health
Fenway Health has behavioral health services that provide episodic treatment for trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse patients ages 12 and up. It is best to call the Behavioral Health intake line at 617.927.6202 to ask what the current wait time is for starting treatment and whether the services available are the best fit for your needs. For additional information about services offered through our Behavioral Health department, click here.
To find a therapist outside Fenway Health, there are a few places people may search online. One category of websites is those created specifically for the purpose of tracking affirming providers, such as transcaresite.org. Other publicly available sites include those generally used to find behavioral health providers, such as psychologytoday.org, which may be narrowed down using key terms such as “transgender” as well as by the ages the provider is able to see. Also available are professional credentialing websites, such as the NASW.org website. Finally, many health insurance carriers have lists of therapists if you call the member services phone number on the back of your card. For further assistance in finding a behavioral health provider, feel free to directly contact the Trans Health Program or your Fenway medical provider.
While not all of our trans and gender diverse patients pursue medical gender affirmation, many of our patients and their families are looking for information on these topics that is up to date, and that they know they can trust. Our goal for all of our patients is to help them express their most authentic selves, including weighing the highest standards for safety and efficacy for all medical decisions. These documents are available for reference and to facilitate discussions with your medical provider.
For those who are pursuing puberty suppression or gender affirming hormone therapy, we operate under a model of informed consent and shared decision making for all of our trans and gender diverse youth. This typically entails building a communication network between all of our young patients’ medical and behavioral health providers (as applicable) to create a comprehensive care plan. For more information about what to expect during your first few visits, take a look at the brochure below.
While many of our patients are very educated on the medications available, we know it can be difficult to tell what options are out there. Feel free to use the resources below to prepare for medical visits and facilitate conversations with your provider.
This is not a comprehensive list of all medications available – we strongly encourage communication with your care team about goals for gender affirmation and medical care in assessing the best treatment options for each patient.
Self-Injection Guide
Downloadable Self-Injection Guide for people who are managing their own intramuscular or subcutaneous injections of hormones. [These guidelines are not meant to replace proper training in injecting techniques and safety precautions. Please talk to your medical provider first and get proper training before attempting to self-inject using these guidelines.]
Injection Dose Calculator
Use this calculator to figure out how much of your medicine (volume) to inject. Only enter numbers in the calculator (i.e., 1 or 1.0 or 10). Do not enter letters or other characters. Click on the “Solve” button. The “volume to take,” is the amount to fill or draw the medicine up to in the syringe. For instance if 100mg is prescribed to you and you have a concentration of 200mg/mL in a 1.0 mL vial, the volume you take will be 0.5mL or cc as marked on the syringe. This is one-half of 1 cc. You can look at the syringe illustrations below to help visualize this. If you have any questions on your dose, call your medical prescriber. For Fenway patients, call the nursing call center at 617-927-6300.
Needle and Syringe Disposal
For information on proper disposal of needles and syringes, including a list of needle and syringe disposal sites, click here.
transneedles.org
Visit here for more info.
While it is uncommon for our trans and gender diverse young patients to pursue surgery prior to turning 18, our providers and Trans Health Program staff are happy to assist in navigating these systems and discuss available options. For any Fenway patient, the first step in pursuing gender affirmation surgery is to speak with your Fenway provider about your goals. If you/your child are not currently patients at Fenway Health but are looking for assistance, please schedule an appointment in our All Access Hours for assistance.
Looking for information about care for trans and gender diverse adults? Click here!
Currently, all of our support groups are meeting on virtual platforms. Monthly drop-in nights for parents and guardians are always free, and discussion topics vary depending on the needs and interests of the group. No pre-registration is required, and participants can drop in any month—and as many times as they’d like. Service providers working with gender diverse youth are also welcome! Contact transhealth@fenwayhealth.org for more information.
1st Thursday of each month from 7-8:30PM |
---|
This parent/guardian group provides an open opportunity for any parent(s)/guardian(s) of trans or gender diverse people to ask questions, get information, share experiences and develop community connections and support with other parents/guardians. Parents/guardians of any age trans/gender diverse person are welcome. This group is focused on providing information from a medical provider and a behavioral health provider, as well as other parents/guardians, and to provide a space to ask questions or voice any concerns they have. Parents/guardians (no matter their level of trans literacy) can get support and information, and process thoughts and emotions that might not feel comfortable or appropriate to talk about with the trans and gender diverse young people in their lives.
|
Looking for something else?
The Trans Health Program maintains a list of other groups for youth, parents, and other family members – take a look at our TGD Youth and Families Support Resources document. If you have any questions, updates, or additions to this document, send us an email at transhealth@fenwayhealth.org.
For information about groups for trans and gender diverse people ages 18+, click here!
For information about other support and therapy groups available through the Fenway Health Behavioral Health Department, click here!
Additional resources:
Are you seeking clinical consultation or information?
Our protocols for gender affirming care are available below.
- Medical Care of Gender Diverse Children and Adolescents
- Medical Care of Trans and Gender Diverse Adults
For clinical case consultation, we recommend Transline: Transgender Medical Consultation Service. Responses are typically received within 2-3 business days.
For additional information, we recommend the resources below.
That’s okay! We work with many youth and families at all stages of understanding themselves. As care teams, our goal is always to do what is best for our patients’ long-term wellbeing. There is no need to be certain of an identity before seeing our providers – our aim is to provide information and resources. We know that each family and each young person we see is different in their care needs, and therefore will have different expectations and timelines for care. These are essential aspects of our patient-centered model of care, and grants us a wide range of flexibility in partnering with our patients and families on creating a plan that works for everyone. Having an appointment with one of our providers is not a commitment to medical intervention; we think of these appointments as an opportunity to gather and share information, and to have a conversation about what you/your child need to be as comfortable and healthy as possible.
Not necessarily. Fenway does not require patients to have their primary care at our health center sites in order to receive other medical care, however, your health insurance may require you to do so. Contact the member services phone number on the back of your insurance card if you have a question on whether you can receive specialty care at one primary health center if your primary care provider is located at another center. For people insured by MassHealth or Medicaid/Medicare, you will likely be required by those insurance plans to change your primary care to Fenway if you want any medical services here.
Some insurances will require a referral from your primary care provider to your Fenway provider in order for your visits to be covered. We typically recommend obtaining a referral for 6 visits over the course of one year when obtaining a referral for gender affirming care. For more information on referrals, click here!
We have created a dedicated resource with information about name and gender marker changes for people in Massachusetts, which you can find below.
If your child was born outside of Massachusetts, or if they have documents to update that are not included in the resource above, we recommend using the NCTE: ID Documents Center for additional information.
Some families find it helpful to have legal assistance and/or consultation while changing names and gender markers. The Transgender ID Project is a collaboration between GLAD, Ropes & Gray LLP, and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition to assist trans and gender diverse people in New England with changing their name and/or gender on federal and state documents.
Insurance coverage and benefits are specific to the plan a person has – all insurance coverage is not the same even within the same insurance company (Blue Cross, Aetna, Tufts, etc.). In order to get information about your/your child’s personal coverage benefits, call the member services phone number listed on the insurance card to ask about coverage for the specific services or medication(s). You have a right to request a copy of your policy that covers any gender affirmation medical treatments. You may want to bring the information you learn or the policy copy to the medical visit to talk about what it means. If you have more questions about insurance, or if you do not have insurance, call and ask for an appointment with Financial Services at 617.927.6000.
For additional information about understanding what your insurance covers, and what to do if your insurance does not cover gender affirming services, we recommend the NCTE: Health Coverage Guide.
The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health has a robust Transgender Health Research program that is conducting ground-breaking research to improve the health and well-being of transgender people everywhere. To learn more about studies actively enrolling trans and gender diverse folks, please visit the current studies at the Fenway Institute.
Health Information and Resources
- Fenway Health Binding Guide
- A Guide to iPLEDGE
- Reproductive Health Access Project: Birth Control Across the Gender Spectrum
- Preventing Trans Suicide: Information for TGNC People, Family, Friends, and Allies
- Trans Lifeline
Legal Assistance
Community
- The AGLY Network of Massachusetts
- Boston GLASS
- Sayftee
- Trans Youth Equality Foundation
- Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
- Trans Youth Family Allies
- TransAthlete.com
Additional
Is your question not answered here? Give us a call!
617.356.1573 or transyouth@fenwayhealth.org
Medical Appointments (TGD youth under 18)
857.347.5349
Behavioral Health (TGD youth ages 12 and up)
617.927.6202
Looking for information about care, services, and resources for trans and gender diverse adults (18+)?
Sign up for our Trans Health Program newsletters to keep up to date on events, key initiatives, and more:
Give Us Your Feedback
How did we do? Whether it’s about your visit, the care you received, or our customer service, we want to know.
Upcoming Events
may, 2022