Lived Experiences of Professional Counselors with Gender Diverse Clients

Abstract

Gender diverse individuals experience stigma, discrimination, and transprejudice from interactions with society leading to the development of physical, mental, and emotional instability. Lack of counselor education and training perpetuate gender diverse individuals’ experience of transprejudice and discriminatory experiences in transphobic counseling environments. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to illuminate the lived experiences of professional counselors counseling gender diverse clients to bridge the research gap. Data collected from seven licensed professional counselors with experience counseling gender diverse clients produced ten major themes. These study findings provide insight regarding the potential to improve counselor standards and preparation.

Keywords:

• Gender diverse
• professional counselor
• transprejudice
• transphobic
• transgender