Digital Course

Integrating Changes in
WPATH Standards of Care

SOC8 Assessments & Medical Referrals

6 CEs available

Hello all,

I’m Dr. Shawn Giammattei with the Gender Health Training Institute…

I am a clinical family psychologist who is dedicated to helping therapists provide gender affirmative care to transgender, nonbinary, gender-expansive (trans) clients and their families across the life span…

and build gender-affirming practices while navigating the quickly changing world of transgender health so that your clients and their families can build stronger connections, live with authenticity, and receive the care they need.

As a WPATH certified mentor with over 20 years of experience teaching graduate level courses, leading workshops, conducting research, and engaging in scholarship on trans health as well as regularly collaborating on gender health evaluations (assessments) and referral letters, and as someone who is also a member of the trans community, I am uniquely qualified to take you on a deeper dive into the topic of integrating the changes in the WPATH SOC8 into your assessment and medical referral letters.

Let me tell you what I am thinking and why this is important now…

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health recently published the new Standards of Care (SoC8) for the treatment of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people. Version 8 of the standards of care is a broad expansion of the guidelines, since quite a lot has changed in the world of gender affirming care in the past 11 years since SOC7 was unveiled. With the current political backlash and cultural context, it is imperative that mental health providers who work with transgender and gender diverse youth, especially those who are evaluating them for medical treatment understand the latest changes.

The overall goal of the Standards of Care guidelines is to provide clinical guidance for health professionals to assist transgender and gender diverse people with safe and effective pathways to achieve lasting personal comfort with their gendered selves, and to maximize their overall health, psychological well-being, and self-fulfillment.

These new standards may significantly change how we practice and especially what is expected of us as mental health providers when evaluating TGD people for gender affirming medical care. If you work with gender diverse people or their families, especially given the current political backlash, it is important to understand these changes and how they may impact your work. The ability to utilize and back up your work with the latest standards will not only help your clients, but protect you from those who would challenge gender affirming care.

Based on OVERWHELMING requests, I’m offering this update on the Standards of Care as a Digital Course to help you become more confident integrating the SOC8 into your Evaluations and Medical Referral Letters.

What you’ll get

The sessions, activities, and resources provided will help you integrate the SOC8 into your assessments and medical referral letters while navigating a medical world steeped in SOC7, all while getting CEs.

What you can expect…

  • Detailed guidance on the integration of the SOC8 in your practice or organization involving the approach and the important areas to cover in assessments with a special focus on youth and families.
  • Tools for writing context specific and appropriate medical referral letters, including valuable guidance on the types of letters required, the necessary content they should cover, who to involve, and time saving templates that work
  • How to create and work with an interdisciplinary team even if you’re in private practice.
  • We will not only cover the content you need but also the ethics and current issues involved in providing referrals

We’re going to talk about…

  • How to understand your role as a therapist under the current standards of care when evaluating of your clients’ understanding of medical procedures and adequately preparing them, without stepping outside the boundaries of your discipline.
  • How to write letters following the SOC8 even if you fear that a client will change their minds in the future or regret their decision to have surgery or begin hormones later on.
  • How to find and work with an interdisciplinary team even when you work in private practice in a rural area.
  • Assessing for informed consent using the SOC8 guidelines even when you feel conflicted and less qualified to assess because developmental differences make you wonder about their capacity for consent.
  • How to include the specific SOC8 requirements for letters based on the age of your client and the different necessities that come with each life stage.

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg…
This Course will help you build competence with the SOC8 and understand how to handle situations that can come up when navigating assessments and medical referral letters

What is the cost of this opportunity?

WE ARE OFFERING THIS AT A HUGE SAVINGS!

While we can’t put a price on the value of writing a readiness letter that saves someone’s life, we do know how many hours having your own templates can save you. That savings alone more than pays for the cost of this workshop.

We also know the fear and substantial cost of a legal battle if someone regrets surgery and comes after you seeking damages. That scenario is more of a concern right now with the current political climate, but rest assured we’ll go over the SOC8 recommendations, the reasoning behind them, and how to help use them to protect yourself and your practice, while helping your clients access the care they need.

My 2-3 hour didactic workshops typically cost $500 or more alone, and attendees walk away each time with tremendous insights and tools.

Right now, in the interest of meeting the exploding and dire need in changing economic times…

We are introducing this essential Course at a 70% discount with one simple payment of…

JUST $249

What’s included?

Recordings

Six hours of pre-recorded material. This Course is digitalized version of our best-selling Workshop.

Letter Samples

Updated PDF swipe files of letter templates: including letters that trans, non-binary, and gender expansive people often need.

Download

Course slides, Gender Affirming Health Evaluation Checklist, How-To: A Tool for Joining with Families

CEs

Six (6) CE credits are included. To obtain credits, you will need to pass quizzes and fill out the Evaluation form. All included!

Curriculum

From Uncertainty to Confidence…

A significant part of your Gender Journey as a clinicians, is staying up to date with the changes in gender affirming care.

By participating in this Interactive Workshop, you’ll take a vital step in moving from uncertainty to confidence in providing up-to-date gender affirming assessments and referrals to your trans, non-binary, and gender expansive clients.

On completion, you’ll walk away much more confidence in your ability to…

  • provide collaborative and affirming Gender Health Evaluations utilizing the guidelines in the SOC8
  • know your updated role in evaluations and referrals for medical treatment
  • evaluate readiness and informed consent for treatment.
  • create a multidisciplinary team even if you’re in private practice
  • know when and how to write appropriate Referral Letters

And much, much more!

Frequently Asked Questions

The Course is divided into four modules. Each module has its video recording and a quiz. After watching the module video, you need to take a quiz that you need to pass in order to unlock the next module and ultimately get your CEs. Inside the Course, you will find a Workbook as well as Sample files that will help you in further advancements.

This Course is created by Shawn V. Giammattei, PhD.

Dr. Giammattei is a clinical family psychologist in private practice in Northern CA specializing in couple and family therapy with people across the lifespan, with a particular focus on transgender and gender expansive youth and their families, as well as relationships where one or more partners are trans. He is also a researcher, educator, and professor teaching online graduate and post-graduate courses in LGBT psychology and family systems. He is the founder and CEO of Quest Family Therapy, the Gender Health Training Institute, and the TransFamily Alliance. He also serves on the board of local and national family therapy organizations, is an active member of Mind the Gap, is a WPATH GEI SOC7 Certified Mentor, and the author of several articles and book chapters on gender, sexuality, and family work.

**Dr. Giammattei has no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.

In this course, we will take you from confusion and overwhelm to clarity and confidence in ethically integrating the SOC8 into your assessments and gender affirming referral letters, so you can feel confident the care you are providing is of the highest caliber and beyond reproach.

The sessions, activities, and resources provided will help you integrate SOC8 into your practice, assessments, and medical referral letters while navigating a medical world steeped in SOC7. You’ll get feedback from an expert in trans health whom you can trust, all while getting CE’s.

We’re going to talk about…

  • How to understand your role as a therapist under the current standards of care when evaluating of your clients’ understanding of medical procedures and adequately preparing them, without stepping outside the boundaries of your discipline.
  • How to write letters following the SOC8 even if you fear that a client will change their minds in the future or regret their decision to have surgery or begin hormones later on.
  • How to find and work with an multidisciplinary team even when you work in a private practice in a rural area.
  • Assessing for informed consent using the SOC8 guidelines even when you feel conflicted and less qualified to assess because developmental differences make you wonder about their capacity for consent.
  • How to include the specific SOC8 requirements for letters based on the age of your client and the different necessities that come with each life stage.

Learning Objectives:

At the completion of this workshop, attendees will be able to…

  • Describe the main changes and additions of SOC8 vs. SOC7 for referrals and assessments
  • Identify when treatment is outside one’s scope of practice and when to involve other experts on the team
  • List the common types of medical treatments and referral requirements for each
  • Describe the common co-occurring diagnoses to be aware of and how to address these when making a referral
  • Evaluate the capacity to consent or assent to medical treatment
  • Identify the readiness of a client and provide information about appropriate courses of action

In addition to the primary learning objectives, you will also be able to confidently,

  • Describe the ethical dilemmas to avoid when engaging in gender health evaluations and writing referral letters
  • Select the appropriate type of referral given the complexity of a client’s gender presentation
  • Provide the appropriate and effective medical referral when necessary, integrating the SOC8

Module 1

  • Overview of the SOC8
  • Guiding Principles in Assessments
  • WPATH Standards of Care, version 8 vs version 7
  • How to integrate the new chapters

Module 2

  • SOC8 Changes in Adolescent Assessment
  • Ethics of writing referral letters, the scope of practice
  • Working with multidisciplinary team/ Letters vs Notes
  • Gender Dysphoria & Gender Incongruence
  • Evaluating Medical Necessity
  • The Role of Diagnoses
  • Letters for Adults vs Adolescents
  • Content of top-notch letters

Module 3

  • Evaluating Assessment Tools
  • Assessing Preparedness
  • Complex Presentations & Comprehensive Assessments
  • Evaluating the capacity to consent/assent

Module 4

  • Using Gender Health Evaluations to write referral letters/Notes
  • Evaluations for detransitions
  • Pulling it all together
  • Creating letter templates
  • More Q&A

We are introducing this essential Course at a 70% discount with one simple payment of $249
*If you are a student or this is inaccessible for you, please feel free to get in touch for other options. Send an email to [email protected].

You’ll have lifetime access to this version of the course.

Of course. If you attend the first session and decide it’s not right for you, then a full refund is issued. After that session, we cannot give a refund, but you’ll retain access to the materials and recordings.

Contact us at [email protected] if you have any concerns or issues with the workshop.

This interactive workshop is primarily for mental health providers (Psychologists, Social Workers, MFTs, Counselors) who work with transgender and gender diverse clients seeking gender affirmative care and want to update their practices to integrate the SOC8 in their evaluations and medical referrals. Medical providers are also welcome, but the focus will be geared toward mental health providers. Since this is an intermediate learning experience, this workshop is not for you if you don’t have the introductory knowledge of gender identity – the gender 101 basics.

Contact us at [email protected] if you have questions prior to joining. We want you to be successful and can point you in the right direction even if this isn’t a good fit.

Yes. There are 6 hours of CE credit available for this Course. Certificates of completion are provided through the Gender Health Training Institute.

The Gender Health Training Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Gender Health Training Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Satisfactory Completion

Participants must have paid the tuition fee, logged in at the beginning of the program, attended the entire workshop, and completed an evaluation to receive CE credit and a certificate. Failure to log in or out will result in forfeiture of credit for the entire course. No exceptions will be made. Partial credit is not available. Certificates will be sent to you following course completion.

Certificates are issued automatically and available for download from the Course dashboard. Please note that to get your Certificate, you have to watch all the videos, pass the module quizzes, and complete the Course evaluation.

If you experience any difficulties, you can reach out to us from the dashboard Support link.

Absolutely!

Bonus #1
Updated PDF swipe files of letter templates: including letters that trans, non-binary, and gender expansive people often need.

Bonus #2
Access to templates, checklists, and tools to make creating your own SOC8 informed assessments easier.

There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.

What others say

Shawn was so personable while demonstrating and sharing his in depth knowledge about WPATH SOCs and gender affirming care. The workshop was chock full of useful information, both in the presentation and the resources provided via links. I have been working with gender diverse clients for over a decade, so I came in knowing a lot, yet I found lots of helpful tidbits and examples that I and my clients will benefit from. Thanks!

Colin Wolf

Outlining differences between SOCs 7 and 8 and how this affects letter writing. Because I need to know!

Victora S.

The lining out of the assessment domains. Having that list is going to be so great for clarifying my thinking and process. Also learning what constitutes decision-making abilities — the 4 of them.

Anne Dilenschneider

The SOC8 criteria, information on specific letter writing, the handouts, the careful explanations and answering of all questions.

Emily S.

The handouts! very thoughtful and thorough. Also Shawns personal and professional experience and stories

Katie B.

The slides were clear, sharing the material was great, so we can go deep in to it. The timely response of the questions was great, as well as the cases presented.

Rosy De Prado

Complimenting the changes in the standards of care with detailed examples of how they applied to actual clients. The client examples and your responses to questions help make the information clear and applicable.

Daniel R.

Enroll Now

JUST $249

Register for this intensive, LIVE, step-by-step immersive workshop without risk. Visit us at the first session and If you’re not completely satisfied, write to us and we will make a full refund. We’re that confident you’ll find this learning experience to be all that’s promised and more than you expected.

SHAWN V. GIAMMATTEI, PhD IS AFFILIATED WITH & FEATURED IN

WPATH
AFTA
American Psychological Association
AAMFT
Family Process
WPATH Journal

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