General health care
It's not uncommon that trans-identifying and transitioning people have negative experiences with health care providers who don’t have experience with trans lives and trans bodies, so going to the doctor when sick can understandably be a scary situation for some trans people. To help alleviate those worries, Medical Services at Wardenburg has had its employees attend Safe Zone Training for many years now. New employees are also trained when hired. When you check in through their computer system, you are given an option to self-select your gender identity; this assists the medical professionals who will be treating you and accessing your chart information. Even with the best training, people might make mistakes and we suggest you address those mistakes in the moment rather than letting them get under your skin. All of the professionals are open and welcome to hearing any feedback about how trans people experience the care offered in their clinic.
Medical Services has also created a trans team of providers who work with trans students. This is not to say that other providers do not have experience with trans patients, rather that these providers are part of a larger team who concentrate on assisting trans people with initial and ongoing transition-related care. Please contact Matt Heermann for more information.
Keep in mind that while Medical Services is open to all students, there may be fees if you opted out of the Anthem Gold Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) or BuffCare supplemental coverage program.
Therapy and medical transition
This section deals with therapy and hormone resources on campus. For off-campus resources, please consult the list at the bottom of the page.
Therapy
While therapy is no longer a mandatory prerequisite for medical transition, we know that many trans-identified, transitioning and questioning people still seek it out and find it beneficial in their transition journey.
CU has two primary options for therapy for students:
- Counseling and Psychiatry Services (CAPS)
- Raimy Clinic through Psychology and Neuroscience Clinical Psychology
Medical transition
For the purposes of this guide, medical transition is referring to any steps taken to change the body, including using supplements, hormones or surgery. CU has resources for students who wish to medically transition.
Getting hormones
The sexual and reproductive health services within Medical Services is a provider of hormone care for transitioning students. The clinic is open to folks of all genders, and their waiting room is also the same waiting room used for the nutritionist.
The Anthem Gold Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) or BuffCare supplemental coverage program plans will cover these services. Anyone not covered with either of those plans would need to pay out of pocket and submit a claim to their own insurance for reimbursement.
Call for an appointment at 303-492-2030.
Filling my hormone prescriptions on campus
The Apothecary at Wardenburg is a full-service pharmacy that anyone can use. To have your preferred name called when waiting for a prescription, speak to one of the full-time pharmacists.
Help with my injections
The sexual and reproductive health services within Medical Services has a nurse available to assist with injection training. Students can schedule a hormone therapy consult with medical services by phone or online through the student health portal. Coverage for services are the same as noted above.
Using my preferred name and gender at Medical Services
There are options to include both preferred name and a “T” gender marker on your Medical Services record. To make this change, simply bring it up with the provider you’re seeing.
CU insurance and surgeries
The Anthem Gold Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) plan covers gender confirmation surgery! You will need to get a referral from a doctor at Medical Services. For faculty and staff, all plans except the CU Exclusive plan cover trans surgical benefits; all plans cover hormone replacement therapy. To ask questions about the SHIP health plan, call the insurance office at Medical Services: 303-492-5107.
Voice therapy
CU Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences has opportunities for voice assessment and training for trans-identified and transitioning people. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) provide voice and communication training for both MTF-spectrum clients and for FTM-spectrum clients. The SLP will look at a variety of aspects of communication, including vocal pitch, intonation and resonance and nonverbal communication.
For more information contact 303-492-5375 or slhc@colorado.edu.