Kingston Community Health Centres (KCHC) is proud to be the site of the Transgender Health Program for the South East region of Ontario. This program assumes the referral process and coordination of care for clients seeking gender affirming medical care, and is staffed by a full-time Nurse Practitioner and a full-time Social Worker.
Services offered include:
- Hormone therapy initiation
- Surgical planning visits and referrals
- Community resource provision
- Social transition support
- Gender affirming counselling
The KCHC Transgender Program provides inclusive medical care and support to help clients identify and achieve their transition goals. The program scope is limited to gender care; we do not manage clients’ ongoing primary care concerns, and we do not provide clients with a long term family doctor or nurse practitioner. We provide services only to those who are currently residing in South Eastern Ontario. If you move outside of our catchment area, you will need to seek care in your new region. Services are available to individuals age 12 and older.
At this time due to increased demand, we are unable to accept referrals for ongoing maintenance, titration or prescription refills of hormone replacement therapy. If you are already on hormone therapy, see this list for alternative resources.
Provider referrals and self-referrals are welcome. You do not need to self-refer if you already have a referral in progress with the Trans Health program. If your information has changed please call 613.542.2949 ext. 4 to speak to a medical secretary.
Trans Health Online Self-ReferralAs of January 1 2025, our clinic will no longer be accepting faxed referrals. We will only be accepting eReferrals through the Ocean eReferral Network. For future referrals, please use Ocean through your EMR or OceanHealthMap.ca. You will find us under Kingston Community Health Centres – Weller Clinic, select Transgender Services. You do not need to have an Ocean account to submit a referral. You can find more information on sending eReferrals at www.OceanEReferralNetwork.ca/sending-ereferrals
The KCHC Transgender Program can also provide education services to primary care practices who work with transgender clients.
(Current estimated wait time is 8-12+ months.)
Our clinic will be in contact with you to schedule your initial appointment. Please be aware that if you do not attend your intake appointment that we schedule collaboratively, you are expected to be in contact with the clinic. If we do not hear from you within three months of your missed appointment, you may be added back to our wait list.
If you are looking for support immediately or while you are on our waitlist, we have compiled a list of virtual and community resources. This list includes help lines, peer support groups, and educational resources available online or within the South East region.
Virtual and Community ResourcesInformation Session on Medical and Legal Transition
On March 15, 2023, as a part of our Trans Wellness Series in partnership with Sexual Assault Centre Kingston, our staff conducted a session to give an overview of options for medically and legally transitioning. A link to the session is below. Topics covered include hormone therapy, surgical planning, OHIP covered services, general process for legal changes, and what to expect at Kingston Community Health Centres if you are new to the trans health program. Some individuals will choose to take steps to medically or legally transition, some will not; there is no linear or necessary path for trans, non-binary, gender diverse and questioning individuals when it comes to the medical and legal process as everyone has unique goals and needs. This session is intended to demystify and provide a brief summary of possibilities in the Ontario context.