Much has been criticized by .... about
Gendercare's evaluation system.
I do not know how the evaluation system works. I DO know that
a more primitive type of system, Telecounseling (by tape, telephone,
and letter) has been used very successfully by Garret Oppenheim, Ph.D.,
director of Confide, in the 1980's. From Confide's old brochures, we
read:
"Telecounseling is a highly concentrated form of help that
uses audiotapes, letters and telephone recordings instead of
office visits. Our telecounseling services have found great
favor not only with very busy people but with those having
difficulty getting to skilled professionals in person. These
include the physically disabled, the elderly, the invalid and
persons living in areas where expert help is hard to come by.
More important, the fact that the CLIENT AND COUNSELOR DO NOT
FACE EACH OTHER IN THE CONFINES OF A ROOM ELIMINATES A LOT OF
BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION. THE RESULT IS AN EXCHANGE OF
EXTRAORDINARY FRANKNESS, WHICH, DEFTLY HANDLED, OFTEN
SHORTCUTS CONVENTIONAL METHODS.
Working with telecounseling over the years, Confide has
evolved a format called a comprehensive evaluation, or
simply a 'comprehensive.' One comprehensive is often as
several office visits, and can sometimes give a client's
life a whole new direction." (Capitols added)
So, we see that Gendercare seems to be a far more
sophisticated form of what Dr. Garrett Oppenheim did
in the 70's and 80's with his organization called Confide.
Further, the Confide advisory board had the following
members:
Harry Benjamin, M.D. (senior advisor)
Richard Green, M.D.
Charles Ihlenfeld, M.D.
Leo Wollman, M.D.
Walter Futterweit, M.D.
Leah C. Schaefer, Ed.D.
John Money, Ph.D.
Zelda Suplee
Paul A. Walker, Ph.D.
Stanley Biber, M.D.
Nancy Sklar, Ph.D.
Tina Wheeler, Ph.D. (cand.)
Wardell Pomeroy, Ph.D.
and Garrett Oppenheim was the director, assembling a
very fine program.
If Confide can work, so can Gendercare.
I have contributed
to its journal and GIGS school, but I do NOT know how the evaluation
works.
Knowing a comparable system was used by Dr. Oppenheim,
I would be glad to know how a sophisticated system of
a game for children can work, where the evaluator gets to
monitor childrens responses while the child is not under the
undue influence, stress, or expectations of the
presence of "intimidating professionals",
stuffy doctors' offices with noisy secretaries, or in cases of
gender evaluation of those with ambiguous genitals, (as
Gendercare suggests it also performs)
repeated genital examinations, which even
John Money suggested may be seen as "nocosomial abuse"
by professionals.
