Gender Affirmation Letters are clinical documents used to support access to gender affirming healthcare. These documents are often required by insurance companies, prescribing physicians, surgeons, and other medical professionals to provide gender affirming medical services and procedures. According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the purpose of a Gender Affirmation Letter is to help communicate a “marked and sustained” incongruence between a person’s gender identity and their assigned sex at birth.

At Tandem Columbus, we use an informed consent model to complete the initial interview and assessment. We will rely on the WPATH standards of care and clinical guidelines throughout the letter writing process. We endeavor to help reduce the anxiety, fear, concern, and stress that can be associated with the letter writing process and hope to help reduce any barriers to your healthcare along the way. We do not ascribe to the belief that people need to be “trans enough”, “queer enough”, or “non-binary enough” in order to receive gender affirming healthcare. As informed consent providers, we will focus solely on providing the information needed to make an individual informed decision while increasing access to resources.

Tandem Columbus clinicians will write all Gender Affirmation Letters free-of-charge. Additional letters and letter updates will be completed free-of-charge. Any additional time on letter writing outside the therapy session, including clinical consultation and communication with surgeons and medical staff, will be completed free-of-charge.

Our informed consent letter writing process occurs during a 1-hour scheduled meeting between yourself and a Tandem Columbus clinician. During the meeting, we will ask you questions that will allow us to clearly communicate your gender identity; your healthcare goals; and any history of gender dysphoria (if applicable). We will additionally conduct an assessment to document your informed consent to treatment. Following the interview and assessment, you will receive your signed Gender Affirming Letter within 48-hours.

You may request an appointment on our website, or contact a Tandem Columbus clinician directly. If you have any questions about the interview, assessment, or letter writing process, please let us know.