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Kristen Martinez, MEd/EdS, LMHCA, NCC
Kristen Martinez, M.Ed., Ed.S., LMHCA, NCC
Trans-affirming counseling is one of my specialties; I love working with folks in the trans and gender non conforming (GNC) community, and have been doing so since 2014. I am welcoming toward those who identify as transgender, trans, female to male (FTM), male to female (MTF), trans women, trans men, two-spirit, genderqueer, genderfluid, agender, bigender, and more (there are many labels out there!), and am happy to support folks who are questioning or exploring their gender identity. While I unfortunately cannot write letters for accessing gender-affirming care, I can provide you with referrals for colleagues who do.
I focused my graduate work on special issues affecting the queer and trans population and became a vocal supporter for trans and queer rights to my classmates, friends, professors, and community. In my studies, I conducted research on gay men’s coming out experiences, conceptualized HIV in the transgender community, critiqued research examining lesbian and gay couple work-life balance, wrote an introduction to feminist therapy, and proposed research on transgender discrimination within the LGBT community.
You may be experiencing stress, fear, worries, or anxiety. Maybe you’re feeling sad, lonely, confused, tired, or hopeless. You might be angry, frustrated, or upset. You may need quality medications. These feelings are tempting to hide with drugs or alcohol, risky sexual behaviors, overexercising, over- or under-eating, self-injury, or other harmful coping behaviors, but they won’t go away unless you can face them head-on.
Kristen’s Counseling ApproachQuestioning your identity can be scary, or it can be cathartic and tinged with hope and potential. Coming to terms with your gender identity may be challenging for you. Living with that identity might be even more difficult. It can be hard to accept yourself as you truly are when all you see is hatred and ignorance around you. Stigma, discrimination, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, cisnormativity, heterosexism, racism, sexism, classism, transmisogyny, and misogyny are real. There is nothing wrong with you; it is the culture all around you that needs to be fixed.
Trans-Affirming Counseling in Seattle