Trans and Gender Diverse Community Track

Knowledge and Skills Building Workshops

48 - Experiencing the Trans Partners’ Journeys: Healing History and Moving Forward

Poster Presenter(s)

• DM

  D. Maynard, MS/MA

  Founder/Director
  Maynard's W.I.S.D.O.M., Inc.
  Maynard's W.I.S.D.O.M., Inc

  Nothing to disclose

How do partners of those in transition cope with the possibility that their relationship history may become erased, while racing to embrace their future as an intact couple? Through navigating the five stages of grief, based on Kübler-Ross and Kessler’s, On Grief and Grieving, partners learn to mend the loss of the past and the acceptance of their unknown future. As partners of those transitioning and trans-identified individuals work together, as their relationship moves forward, each person’s own needs must be honored and voices heard, as they evolve stronger as a team. While many partners experience some or all of the stages of bargaining, denial, anger, depression, and acceptance, clinicians and medical providers must be aware that the transition can be extremely confusing, disorienting, and even traumatic for their clients. This interactive workshop will focus on creating a space to explore realistic solutions, easy exercises, and simple strategies that professionals can apply when helping their patients deal with the various challenges facing the partners of those in transition as they embark on the success of being in a relationship with a person who identifies on the transgender spectrum. This unique workshop affords an opportunity for therapists, medical providers, academic scholars, and graduate students to experience the transition through the lens of the partner. Understanding and acknowledging that grieving may play a critical role throughout the transition, as a part of the healing process for partners, can only empower the couple’s journey together and the future they yearn to create as one.

 

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how aspects of the social/medical transition can evoke a sense of grieving/mourning for the partner by verbally expressing that which was learned, through small-group pairing and whole-group sharing discussions.
• Provide examples of each of the five stages of grieving/mourning, in relation to the partners’ voices, which Kübler-Ross and Kessler (2005) examine in their book, On Grief and Grieving.
• Define various ways the lives of partners may be impacted, while in a relationship with one who is questioning their gender or transitioning, by reflectively journaling and participating in exercises.

1. Describe how aspects of the social/medical transition can evoke a sense of grieving/mourning for the partner by verbally expressing that which was learned, through small-group pairing and whole-group sharing discussions.
2. Provide examples of each of the five stages of grieving/mourning, in relation to the partners’ voices, which Kübler-Ross and Kessler (2005) examine in their book, On Grief and Grieving.
3. Define various ways the lives of partners may be impacted, while in a relationship with one who is questioning their gender or transitioning, by reflectively journaling and participating in exercises.