AOA体育平台 Specialty Care Portland is dedicated to supporting the health and well-being of transgender, gender diverse and questioning people across Northern New England. We offer treatment to patients of all ages with both pediatric and adult services.
Supporting the health and well-being of transgender, gender diverse and questioning people
Our team is focused on the entire well-being of each patient. We focus on medical care (adult/pediatric endocrinology and adolescent medicine) and mental health (child/adolescent psychiatry and clinical social work). We also work with members of the hospital鈥檚 clinical ethics and spiritual care teams on a regular basis.
Services
We work with each person to decide on the different services they may need. We do not believe all patients will benefit from the same services. If a patient is already working with a therapist, we will talk with that therapist about treatment.
- Mental health evaluation
- Brief individual & family therapy
- Consultation with psychiatry
- Consultation with spiritual care (chaplain)
- Ongoing consultation between mental health and medical providers (related to gender)
- Menstrual suppression (stopping unwanted periods)
- Puberty blockers (ways to stop puberty hormones)
- Gender affirming hormone therapy (estrogen or testosterone)
- Surgical consultation (mental health letter of referral for patients over the age of 18 only)
More about our services
Ask your primary care provider (or your child鈥檚 pediatrician) to make a referral to AOA体育平台 Specialty Care Portland. Other providers, like an OB/GYN, psychiatrist, or Planned Parenthood Clinic may also be able to make a referral.
We support each individual by accepting them without judgment and letting their gender identity and expression unfold over time. We have a gender affirmative approach to treatment. We do not approve of any kind of conversion therapy. We believe that trying to change a person鈥檚 gender identity is harmful.
We work with patients of all ages and their families to build strength, gain better understanding and offer ongoing support while they are with our clinic. Our treatment is different for every person and we use evidence-based treatments following the 鈥檚 most recent standards of care.
Transgender describes people whose gender identity or expression differs from their assigned sex at birth. A transgender person may identify as male or female, or they may have a non-binary gender identity.
Non-binary describes people who do not identify (or do not exclusively identify) as 鈥渕ale鈥� or 鈥渇emale鈥� or 鈥渕an鈥� or 鈥渨oman.鈥� They may identify as no gender, as a gender other than male or female, or as more than one gender. Non-binary can also be an umbrella term that includes identities such as agender, bigender, genderqueer or gender fluid. Not all non-binary people identify as transgender.
Sex is based on anatomy, hormones and DNA. Sex is often assigned at birth and is usually decided based on appearance of outside genitalia as male or female. Sometimes we refer to 鈥榮ex鈥� as 鈥榥atal sex鈥� or 鈥榮ex assigned at birth.鈥�
Gender identity is a person鈥檚 internal sense of gender, or what a person feels their gender is. It may match their sex assigned at birth, or may be different. Sometimes gender identity is confused with gender expression. Gender expression is different, it is how a person looks on the outside (their clothing, hair, voice, behavior or interests).
For more information about gender:
- explains one way to think about gender
- 鈥淭ransgender People, Gender Identity and Gender Expression鈥�