Gender-Affirming HealthcareInformed. Respectful. Supervised.
Affirming Steps
Supporting informed choices and access to affirming care.
Counselling, doctors’ consultations, laboratory tests and prescribed hormone therapy for transgender and gender-diverse people who could not otherwise afford safe, supervised care.
- People supported
- 50
- Counselling, tests and HRT
- Non-surgical
- By qualified doctors
- Supervised
One step at a time
- Counselling
- Consultation
- Tests
- Therapy
About the programme
What is Affirming Steps?
Affirming Steps is Mitr Trust’s non-surgical gender-affirming healthcare initiative, designed to improve access to appropriate medical and psychosocial support for transgender and gender-diverse individuals, particularly those from economically vulnerable backgrounds.
The programme connects beneficiaries with counselling, psychiatric or mental-health consultations where appropriate, endocrinology services, laboratory investigations, medical guidance, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) support.
The initiative recognises that gender-affirming care should be respectful, individualised, and guided by qualified healthcare professionals, informed consent, and appropriate clinical monitoring.
Our objective
To reduce financial and systemic barriers to gender-affirming healthcare and support beneficiaries in accessing informed, respectful, and medically supervised services.
Why it matters
The gap Affirming Steps works to close
For many transgender people, hormone therapy is part of living as themselves. It is also medicine, and it is safest with a doctor’s guidance. Too often, that guidance is out of reach.
The cost
Consultations, laboratory tests and months of medicine add up. For many community members, cost alone puts supervised care out of reach.
Too few trained doctors
Health workers who know gender-affirming care are hard to find, and those who do are often far away or have long waits.
Stigma in clinics
Being judged, misgendered or turned away at a health facility leads many people to stop seeking care altogether.
Hormones without supervision
Faced with these barriers, many people take hormones on their own, with no tests, no advice on dose and no one watching for side effects.
Affirming Steps exists so that no one has to choose between being themselves and being safe.
How Affirming Steps works
Reach out
Call our helpline or visit us. We listen without judgement and explain what the programme can and cannot offer.
Counselling and informed choice
A counsellor talks through your goals, what hormone therapy can and cannot do, and its risks. The decisions stay yours.
Medical consultation
We connect you with qualified doctors: a mental-health professional where appropriate, and an endocrinologist who looks at your overall health.
Laboratory tests
The investigations your doctor asks for, so that any treatment starts safely.
Prescribed hormone therapy
If you and your doctor decide it is right for you, we support access to the hormones prescribed, in the dose prescribed.
Follow-up and continuity
Regular check-ups and repeat tests, as your doctor advises, keep treatment safe and on track. We stay with you throughout.
Who Affirming Steps is for
- Transgender and gender-diverse people looking for information or support with non-surgical gender-affirming care.
- Community members from economically vulnerable backgrounds, who come first.
- People already taking hormones without a doctor, who want to move to safer, monitored care.
Support depends on a doctor’s assessment and on the places and funds available, so please call our helpline first. We will listen and guide you.
Call our helpline: +91 99588 89755How we care
Care that respects you
Gender-affirming care is personal. Whatever you decide, and however far you choose to go, these principles guide everyone who works with you.
- Respect for gender identity and individual choices.
- Informed consent and patient autonomy.
- Confidentiality and privacy.
- Non-discrimination and respectful communication.
- Appropriate clinical supervision and referrals.
- Continuity of care and follow-up support.
Help someone take their next step safely
Safe, supervised care costs more than many community members can pay. Your gift covers the counselling, consultations, tests and medicine that make it possible.
Counselling
Time with a trained counsellor, before and during care.
Doctors’ consultations
Visits to mental-health professionals and endocrinologists.
Blood tests
The first investigations and the repeat tests that keep treatment safe.
Prescribed medicine
Prescribed hormone therapy for someone who cannot afford it.