Kyle [he/him] (name and likeness are aliases) began medical transitioning while a first-year student attending a public university in the Southeast United States until his school changed health coverage to exclude affirming care and treatment. Without coverage, and because his single parent had a modest income, Kyle reached out to TPS for assistance. TPS was able to help him navigate his college transfer to a private New England college, arranging free travel and lodging with allies for two months before a new semester started. TPS bridged his insurance costs until his new college insurance policy became active and he was again able to see medical specialists. He is now post-surgery, thriving and soon ready to graduate. He plans to permanently move to the Northeast and begin search for jobs in social work and community organizational management.
Alaine [she/her; they/them] (name and likeness are aliases) was a young aspiring non-binary stage actor earning modest money while exploring commercial and print modeling positions in the Midwest. They choose to begin medical transitioning at 21 years old with a medical practice that abruptly started limiting patient access to care in early 2024. Devastated, TPS helped her find alternative care in a compassionate state and referred her to a great practice for her upcoming surgery. After her initial procedure, she struggled in her first group home during recovery but could not afford a new space. TPS was able to find several months of private housing and facilitated additional wellness care and social support. Now that Alaine has affirmed her fully femme identity, her job prospects have increased tremendously and she is proudly and confidently taking on new professional roles. She is soon to go back to the Midwest and resume her career, but will always return to the Northeast for follow-up care and further wellness support. TPS will be with Alaina for her entire journey.
Teresa [they/them] (name and likeness are aliases) is a Midwest, mid-sized urban-based municipal librarian, completing transition from male to female in their 40’s. Their physical/medical transition started several years ago, but they did fully publicly transition at work until recently. Teresa has responsibility for 45+ employees, some of them with very conservative values. Teresa started outreach to municipal human resource staff but did not feel appropriately accommodated because of their decision not to fully transition. Teresa worked with TPS to gain momentum with town administrators in acceptance and accommodation. TPS met with town managers and reviewed and augmented workplace written policy to accommodate trans workers. Print and media material were produced for municipal staff that encouraged embracing a diverse workplace. The municipality was at first reticent to make timely changes to websites and other forums to announce Teresa’s new name, pronouns, and likeness and did not contribute to the cost of professional licensure and credentialing document changes that were required for them to do their job. Over two months (remote and on-site), TPS spent about 50 hours supporting Teresa and mitigating municipal actions that were not in their favor. She is now working productively in her job and the town is much more receptive to trans workers.
Bri [she/her] (name and likeness are aliases) is a west-coast, suburban-based, self-employed free-lance journalist in the finance and business sector, transitioning from his-self to her-self in her late 20’s. Her journalist portfolio from college and early career were based on her previous his-self’s outputs and previous name. Bri already had an excellent strategy for personal image transition and had prepared social media updates. She needed a plan to communicate her transition with print, on-line, and mobile media outlets and content providers – especially because she worked on stories published in countries not generally sympathetic to trans people. Over several days, Bri and TPS developed several custom communication pieces for international outlets and TPS had follow-up conversations on Bri’s behalf with outlet principals to gauge affirmation. Her plan was well-received, and she is currently expanding her international writing opportunities, including a blog about her experiences coming out as Bri!
Cory [he/him] (name and likeness are aliases) is a Mid-Atlantic suburban retail manager in an auto supply and parts company that has been run by his family for three decades. Cory transitioned from her-self to his-self in his late 30’s. While the eighteen employees of the store (eight were family) were welcoming and accepting of his transition, there was trepidation over his customer-facing responsibilities, especially local cable TV ads that Cory ‘starred’ in as his former her-self, and the store’s social media posts which included ‘her’ likeness. Cory (and family), TPS, and several key customer stakeholders held remote and on-site focus sessions over a period of weeks to plan the broad gender transition announcement and design new social media outputs, and worked with Cory to re-brand his new image for customer-facing/inter-personal relations, and importantly to build his confidence and self-worth. Cory’s self-esteem soared during the phases of planning and his (finally)authentic self was evident to his family, colleagues, and customers. He is thriving in his manager’s role today and wants to expand the family business. He recently hired another trans person to lead the store’s delivery services!
Joy [she/they] (name and likeness are aliases) is a Northeast urban-based senior executive in a bio-tech company completing transition from his-self to her-self in her early 50’s. Joy has a high-profile job that includes frequent contact with state and federal regulators, industry leaders, and capital-funding principals. She oversees about 400 employees. She engaged TPS for 14 months to help manage her gender transition – in multiple phases – admitting she was overwhelmed with work requirements while “trying to attend to my real self!”. TPS worked with Joy to identify her ideal image scope and personal aesthetics and worked to modify her delivery in communicating with colleagues in inter-personal interactions shifting from dominant male to presiding female. Joy and TPS also worked diligently to manage communication with colleagues and industry leaders (many operating outside the U.S.) to maintain confidence in her leadership of the company and drive growth. TPS helped manage myriad name and likeness changes required on licenses, memorandums, industry publications. As well: driver’s license, passports, insurance certificates, mortgage/property, investments/annuities, etc. – things that require hours of work and detract from professional responsibilities. Joy referred to TPS as her “gender concierge”, handling the social-cultural nuances of gender change at the workplace and the logistics of the modification of personal and professional documents.
Transition Planning Services (TPS)