TodKurtis
Registered
It sounds like he's probably going to an endo at an informed consent-based clinic. They're fairly new so not standard practice yet, and there aren't many of them around.
Generally it is considered a good idea to have therapy during transition for support, but he may have other sources of support (such as very close friends, local trans community, etc - it may be that he hasn't told his family about them if they disapprove; my family definitely doesn't know most of my trans friends, because they tend to try and chase them off). It may also be that he can't afford therapy, or couldn't afford it without involving his parents because he's still on their health insurance and they would try to push him towards a therapist that would try to 'cure' him, and he was urgently in need of moving forward with his transition.
Generally, I would say - don't worry about it. It would be ideal for him to have support, but the truth is that while many trans people do feel that they needed the support of their therapist, there are many others who don't see their therapist as a source of support at all and just go through the motions to get approval for hormones, etc. It is not as much of a necessity as some people make it out to be. He may be able to find a free counselor at his school to talk to if he needs it (I know my state uni provides them, I'm not sure what the norm is for community colleges) but I think the best thing to do is assume that he knows what's right for him and not panic about it. Everybody experiences transition differently, so there's no single 'healthy' way to go about it, just like any other major life decision.
Generally it is considered a good idea to have therapy during transition for support, but he may have other sources of support (such as very close friends, local trans community, etc - it may be that he hasn't told his family about them if they disapprove; my family definitely doesn't know most of my trans friends, because they tend to try and chase them off). It may also be that he can't afford therapy, or couldn't afford it without involving his parents because he's still on their health insurance and they would try to push him towards a therapist that would try to 'cure' him, and he was urgently in need of moving forward with his transition.
Generally, I would say - don't worry about it. It would be ideal for him to have support, but the truth is that while many trans people do feel that they needed the support of their therapist, there are many others who don't see their therapist as a source of support at all and just go through the motions to get approval for hormones, etc. It is not as much of a necessity as some people make it out to be. He may be able to find a free counselor at his school to talk to if he needs it (I know my state uni provides them, I'm not sure what the norm is for community colleges) but I think the best thing to do is assume that he knows what's right for him and not panic about it. Everybody experiences transition differently, so there's no single 'healthy' way to go about it, just like any other major life decision.