Practice Innovations, Vol 10(3), Sep 2025, 203-220; doi:10.1037/pri0000263
Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals who seek counseling have historically faced therapists who are well-intentioned but underprepared, or worse, contribute to the harm that TGD clients have experienced within the field of counseling and psychology. While professional guidelines and recommendations for working with TGD individuals have evolved in recent years, approaching TGD clients within the framework of cultural humility may provide the most flexible and tailored approach. This article applies the principles of cultural humility outlined by Mosher et al. (2017) to the potential “balance points” for TGD clients and offers an illustration for how making adjustments, navigating missteps, and repairing ruptures can be central to gender-affirming therapy. A case illustration is provided to demonstrate the balancing process of cultural humility on issues of acknowledging harm versus recognizing clients’ strength and resilience, educating oneself versus recognizing the client as the expert of their own experience, and overemphasizing the topic of gender versus avoiding it entirely. We also discuss how traditional therapist training creates both cis- and transnormative traps, which can be avoided with TGD-affirming cultural humility. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)