I started my transition back in 2011, which sometimes now feels like a lifetime ago. I had been seeing a therapist at the William Way Center. We had been seeing one another for about a year through my junior year of high school. At the time, I really wasn’t sure how to access healthcare as a trans youth.

She referred me, and I was able to access the youth services. I started Testosterone in 2011 through Mazzoni Center. Even at the time, I used to meet so many people who traveled so much further distances than I did to access the healthcare they had no hope of obtaining in their area. I was given legal aid in 2012 to help legally change my name, something my mother nor I would have been able to navigate easily on our own.

When I was finally able to find a surgeon who could do my top surgery in 2015, I, unfortunately, found out my therapist had left the practice. I wasn’t sure how to navigate getting the necessary documentation to get surgery.

Mazzoni Center of course was there to help me and guide me along the way.

I still to this day facilitate my primary healthcare through Mazzoni Center.

For all the instances where I still feel it is challenging to navigate the healthcare system as a trans individual, I know that there is a safe place that was there for me through all these pivotal moments in my life.

Each month, we hope to share with you the unique inspiring story of someone whose life, like Sam’s has been impacted by Mazzoni Center. Should you wish to share your own story, please contact [email protected].

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