7. Providing Appropriate Health- Care Services to Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Survivors of IPV

Abstract

Mental and medical health-care providers often serve as first responders and longer-term therapeutic support for transgender intimate partner violence (T-IPV) survivors. Mental health-care providers in particular are positioned to offer important, client-centered assistance in dealing with the intricacies of addressing IPV, and research finds they are among the most trusted and utilized sources of help by survivors. Likewise, due in part to the emergency medical needs of survivors of physical IPV, medical health-care providers can play a vital role in recognizing IPV victimization and guiding patients toward needed resources. Drawing on both the T-IPV and broader lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer IPV literatures, this chapter provides a template for best practices in a multisystem approach with regard to developing culturally appropriate mental and medical health-care provider training programs, screening protocols, treatment modalities, and auxiliary service referrals when working with T-IPV survivor populations.