Gender Identity Clinic, Pasila

Your multi-professional diagnosis period will typically include a nurse’s lifespan interviews and situation survey as well as appointments with a psychiatrist and a psychologist. In addition, your diagnosis period will include questionnaires related to your health, functional capacity, and gender dysphoria. Your diagnosis period may also include an appointment with a family member. At the clinic, you will also have the opportunity to meet a social worker, a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist and an art therapist.  The duration of your diagnosis period is usually at least one year.

Based on a consultative assessment or a diagnosis period, you can be referred to sexual therapy, trans-sensitive brief therapy, neuropsychiatric sexual therapy, psychophysical physiotherapy or psychotherapy.

Your overall assessment at the beginning and at different monitoring stages will include an assessment of your functional capacity and mental condition as well as taking it into account in your treatment plan. The assessment may include laboratory test monitoring and network cooperation. Your sufficient functional capacity is a prerequisite for progress during the diagnosis period. 

When we assess with you the established nature of your identity experience and the timeliness of treatments that permanently modify your body, we require you to have a reasonable daily functional capacity, a stable mental condition (or adequate treatment balance), and an ability to communicate and cooperate. A sudden life situation crisis, a serious psychiatric condition or a substance abuse problem must be brought within the scope of support or treatment before you apply for the diagnosis period.

The objective of your diagnosis period is to determine whether the diagnostic criteria for transgender or other gender identity conflicts are met. At the end of your diagnosis period, we will hold a treatment plan meeting where we will review the conclusions of your diagnosis period and assess the timeliness and realism of your desired gender-affirming treatments. After this, we will collaborate to create an individual treatment plan for you.

If we decide to start gender-affirming treatments in cooperation with you, we will refer you to the appropriate specialty units for their implementation. The range of treatments includes:

• feminising and masculinising hormone therapy at HUS Reproductive Medicine Unit
• treatments related to the use and modification of sound as well as thyroid chondroplasty at the HUS Phoniatrics outpatient clinic
• facial hair removal (epilation) at HUS Plastic Surgery Unit
• chest surgery at HUS Plastic Surgery Unit
• external genital surgery at HUS Plastic Surgery Unit and internal genital surgery at HUS Gynecology (the referral can be made one year after the diagnosis has been set and the follow-up period taking place).

Once gender-affirming treatments have started, follow-up will continue at our Gender Identity Clinic for about a year.

Before surgical treatments, we require a stable mental condition for at least one year, the exclusion of current untreated substance abuse problems, non-smoking, and your BMI should be between 18 and 28. The surgeon will assess your physical state of health before placing you in the surgery queue.

We recommend that you use public transport if possible when coming to visit us. 

The Rubik building is located in West Pasila near the Pasila railway station with good public transport connections. Tram stops are located near the entrance.

See the Helsinki Regional Transport journey planner (Reittiopas) for details.

Parking

There is a limited number of paid parking spaces in the hospital yard.