This feels “very special” – How speech-language pathologists perceive their professional identity and practices in supporting gender diverse clients

To explore how speech-language pathologists perceive their professional identity and practices in gender affirming care and to explore how these perceptions are related to supporting gender diverse clients’ psychological wellbeing and their experience of identity. In this exploratory, qualitative study, we facilitated three focus group discussions. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to construct themes in a data-driven, iterative manner. Fourteen speech-language pathologists shared their perspectives on their professional identity and practices in gender affirming care. We constructed five themes: Identifying as a voice modification expert, the client’s confidante, an equal collaborator, a self-compassionate clinician, and a unique clinician. Speech-language pathologists felt most comfortable assisting clients with their voice but were somewhat uncertain about supporting client psychological wellbeing directly and systematically. They experienced gender affirming care as rewarding, demanding, and appreciably different to other areas of speech-language pathology. Speech-language pathologists who provide gender affirming care need support to expand their professional identity to feel comfortable and responsible addressing clients’ various needs, including client psychological wellbeing and their experience of identity. Speech-language pathologists need further support to manage the demanding aspects of their work, maintain their own psychological wellbeing, and provide continuous care for gender diverse people.