Voice and Communication Therapy for the Transgender/Gender Diverse Client: A Comprehensive Clinical Guide

Transgender health care varies around the world. In many countries, transgender people live on the margin of the society with insecure conditions to support themselves, with risks to become victims of hate crimes, including murder, or laws that make gender non-confirming expressions illegal ( Winter et al., 2016). To support transgender health care around the world, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health ( WPATH) issues Standards of Care (SOC). A multidisciplinary approach is recommended by WPATH in SOC number 7 (Coleman et al., 2012), since several specialized professionals are needed for assessments and different interventions to establish the best care for a transgender individual. This chapter aims to introduce the reader to a multidisciplinary approach to transgender health from the standpoint of the field of voice and communication within the context of a multidisciplinary model established and implemented in Sweden. The chapter contains information about definitions and diagnoses; legislation and statistics of the large increase of transgender individuals seeking medical help; the organization of our multidisciplinary team; routines for voice assessment, voice and communication therapy, and pitch-raising surgery; and examples of educational and quality enhancement activities.