Скачать или смотреть Destigmatizing work with the transgender population: a mental health perspective – Kya Grey

IQBC 2025 | Kya Grey (she, her): Destigmatizing work with the transgender population: a mental health perspective
This is a presentation centered around reducing the stigma surrounding the transgender population specifically within the lens of mental health professionals. It is aimed to deconstruct biases and reframe perspectives to humanize the trans experience as one relatable to the general human condition. The primary theme revolves around framing the assumption that one’s physical characteristics explicitly denote one’s gender identity as a “false hypothesis”. The presentation explores the challenge of updating one’s internal framework of understanding gender. It also expounds on the disproportionate attention given to the process of transitioning and scales down its significance to gender identity. In short, we are not trans because we take hormones or have surgeries and we are more than the sum of a dysphoria diagnosis. Our identity is valid simply due to our existence.

Kya Grey (she, her)
Kya Grey hails from the New York metropolitan area and is a transgender woman of color. She is a licensed mental health therapist and is currently in private practice at Kya Grey Counseling. She spent her early career doing social work at community health organizations where she gained experience running substance abuse groups, providing in-home therapy to families involved in the child welfare system, and providing clinical services to individuals involved in the criminal justice system.
Shaped by these experiences, she has developed a focus on working with clients who have experienced repeated traumas, particularly within the context of family or socioeconomic systems. While already established in her professional and personal life she realized and subsequently came out as trans. The integration of her identity into all areas of her life led to a more complex understanding of her own life and reinforced her connection and empathy for others. She is a passionate advocate for her clients and supports them in living more authentic lives. However, the primary focus of her energy is being a parent to two young, intelligent, adorable, kind-hearted, and wonderful children.

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