You know who you are, and you may have for years. You aren’t here to prove it. What wears you down is everything around it: checking how safe a room is before you walk in, getting through a day of being read wrong, and being asked to be grateful and easy while you do it. Maybe you’ve also been the strong one for everyone else, and no one has asked how you’re doing.

You might relate if you:

Carry the daily weight

Scan every room, train, or street for safety before you relax
Are tired of being asked to be grateful for basic respect
Brace in medical offices, at work, or when someone asks a question that’s “just curious”
Feel like you have to be extra agreeable, extra competent, and extra easy so people will tolerate you
Are worn down by the news and what it means for your safety, rights, and health care

Carry it in your relationships and family

Have lost family or friends, or love people who only accept you in part
Hear “I support you, but...” more than you’d like
Are tired of dating where you’re fetishized or treated as a secret, “first,” or experiment
Are trying to trust a partner and wonder when the other shoe will drop
Carry old patterns, like over-giving and keeping the peace, into new relationships
Feel a mix of grief and anger about the people who weren’t there, and guilt about feeling it

Carry it in your body and sense of self

Grieve the time, relationships, or experiences you didn’t get to have
Are hard on yourself about how you look, sound, or move
Compare yourself to other trans folks and feel like you’re never doing it “right”
Want close friendships with other people and aren’t sure how to begin
Carry something you’ve never talked about, or don’t think counts
Want your life to be about more than being trans, and want more joy in it

Schedule a Consultation Now!

Therapy for dating and relationships
Being fetishized, doubted, or treated like a secret is exhausting. We look at what safe closeness means for you and how to choose people who see you fully.

Therapy for body image and self-criticism
The pressure to look or sound a certain way can be constant. We get curious about where the standard came from and who it serves.

Therapy for safety, stress, and burnout
Being on guard takes a lot of energy. We look at what you carry and where you can set some of it down.

Therapy for friendship and community
Being close to other women, and finding people who really see you, can feel complicated. We work on what belonging could look like.

What we do in session
I’m warm, direct, and relational, with a little humor, and we go at your pace. Together we:

Use your name and pronouns without asking you to justify them
Take your identity as a given and spend our time on the rest of your life
Make room for grief, anger, and joy, including what you don’t think you’re allowed to feel
Look at the roles you learned about being agreeable, useful, or easy, and how they show up now
Practice boundaries with family, partners, work, and community, and handle the guilt
Work with the body as well as the story, using a trauma-informed and creative approach
Build self-trust, rest, and friendships that support you

I’m not a medical provider and can’t provide medical care. I can support you through the emotional side of it.

What feeling better can look like
You can walk into a room without scanning it first. You can be seen without bracing, and you choose who gets close. You treat yourself more gently, and your life is about much more than being trans. You have people who love you as you are, and you rest without earning it first.

If you’re in crisis
Therapy isn’t a crisis service. You can call or text 988 at any hour, or reach the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860.

book a consultation

I’m Gina Sacino, MS, LCAT, a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist in Rochester, NY, providing virtual therapy throughout New York State.

You are the expert in you.