International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 9 2026 8
victim supports, advocacy organizations, such as
Human Rights Watch, and legal resources, such as the
United States Department of Justice Office for Victims
of Crime.
While developing an understanding of the sociopolitical,
legal, and medical dimensions associated with
T-IPV is essential, of equal importance is remaining
knowledgeable and aware of the broader issues that affect
the TGD community at large. Equipping clinicians with
accurate, intersectional knowledge prevents harm and
fosters informed consent, which ultimately serves to
strengthen relational safety. Survivors feel more secure
in a therapeutic alliance when providers demonstrate
competence and awareness of TGD-specific barriers.
Current research indicates that TGD clients report
feeling more supported by mental health providers
who exercise a distinct awareness of current TGD
issues as well as historical contexts of this community
(Leitch, 2022).
Due to the numerous shapes that abuse and coercion
can take, when conducting research on T-IPV and
building a foundation of knowledge, one should
account for the specific, intersecting demographics and
identities of clients. For example, IPV can look different
across the lifespan, so the information gathered on
vulnerable adults subjected to IPV will look different
than information gathered regarding adolescent dating
violence or violence against college students (NSVRC,
2019 Howard et al., 2020). To find the most pertinent
and applicable data, clinicians should be mindful
of survivors’ intersecting identities and how they
collectively and individually relate to experiences with
violence and coercion.
Nuance
Contextualizing client symptoms and experiences is a
key step in delivering effective crisis intervention and
process counseling. Given that survivors of T-IPV
are at a disproportionately elevated risk of physical
injury, substance use, suicidal ideation, and a variety
of negative mental health outcomes, clinicians discard
presumptions and remain present with clients as they
share their stories (Whitfield et al., 2021 Howard et al.,
2020 Kattari et al., 2020). Honoring complexity and
avoiding assumptions affirms the survivor’s unique
story and ultimately deepens relational safety. Through
holding space for nuance, clinicians can support
identity integration and emotional safety, especially
when trauma intersects with multiple marginalized
identities.
Clarifying individual needs and perceiving the
uniqueness of each situation help clinicians avoid
processing all clients’ stories uniformly (von der
Warth, 2023). Coercive control theory reminds us that
coercive control is highly personal and individualized
(Tolmie, Smith, &Wilson, 2024). For T-IPV survivors
specifically, nuance means recognizing how coercive
control intersects with minority stress and institutional
betrayal—for example, when abusers weaponize
a survivor’s fear of discrimination in shelters or
healthcare. Therefore, contextualizing survivor
experiences, validating and affirming all aspects of
identity, focusing on compassion towards a survivor’s
situation, and acknowledging the shades of grey that
may exist within conversations about identities and
life experiences are all ways in which clinicians can
navigate nuance in the counseling space (ACA, 2010
Singh et al., 2016 Whitfield et al., 2021).
For this population, recognizing an individual’s history
of previous trauma and how it may exacerbate negative
mental health outcomes is especially important. This
is necessitated by the fact that over 80% of TGD
women report experiencing physical or psychological
trauma at least once in their lifetime, and 24% of TGD
individuals report experiencing gender-based violence
during formative years (Kussin-Shoptaw et al., 2017
James et al., 2016). Furthermore, pre-existing trauma
in the TGD community is frequently compounded
with experiences of institutional betrayal or minority
stress that may even further amplify an individual’s
psychosocial risk factors and impact their perception
of traumatic experiences and violence (Beyer et al.,
2022 Coleman et al., 2022 Seelman, 2015).
Taking time to investigate and understand any
intersecting identities that clients feel comfortable
sharing (and what those identities mean specifically
to each client) is a crucial step in providing effective
help and pinpointing helpful resources (ACA, 2010).
Although frequently lumped together, clinicians must
untangle the letters of the LGBTQIAP+ umbrella and
recognize the different ways these identities compound
upon one another and other identities to form dynamic

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Ruby Cramer and Sarah Stillwell |SINCERE: A Relational Safety Model for Counselors
lifestyles. For example, a bisexual TGD woman is more
likely than a heterosexual TGD woman to experience
stalking and other forms of IPV more than once within
a lifetime, which might entail further safety planning
or different treatment goals in therapy (NCAVP, 2016
Whitfield et al., 2021). A TGD person with a diagnosis
of HIV is significantly more likely to be subjected to
IPV more than once in a lifetime than a TGD person
who is HIV negative (Gonzalez-Guarda et al., 2021
James et al., 2016).
Moreover, some survivors of T-IPV may identify being
mistreated or abused by individuals who also endure
gender-based violence or marginalization, which may
further complicate a survivor’s narrative and feelings
towards their own experiences with violence (Marrow
et al., 2024 Messinger &Guadalupe-Diaz, 2021).
This dynamic can lead to abusers leveraging their
own vulnerability against survivors in an attempt to
sidestep accountability and to maintain a dominant
position in conversations about violence. These are just
a few examples of the many reasons why it is critical to
honor the uniquely complex nature of the experiences
of T-IPV survivors, and to effectively navigate nuance
in the counseling space.
Continuing Education &Advocacy
Continuous learning and advocacy signal a clinician’s
commitment to justice and accountability. TGD clients
perceive greater safety and therapeutic relational
outcomes when providers actively challenge oppressive
systems and stay current with best practices (Singh
&Moss, 2016 Leitch, 2022). Therefore, developing
multicultural competence in working with survivors
of T-IPV is integral to creating relational safety and
should be treated as an ongoing professional quest.
Maintaining an awareness of modern methods and
literature in counseling is a general requirement
of the field, but this is especially important when
working with marginalized populations such as gender
expansive clients, due to the ever-evolving nature of
their sociopolitical landscape (Kattari et al., 2020).
To find continuing education opportunities, one
may look to universities, conferences, seminars,
workshops, or local mental health professionals. For
example, FORGE is an established, premier provider of
affirmative training for providers and aims to develop
resilience and networks of help within the TGD
community (Munson &Cook-Daniels, 2020). Many
continuing education opportunities regarding the queer
and TGD communities can be found at any time of the
year via the American Counseling Association (ACA),
more specifically through social justice divisions of the
ACA or through the Society for Sexual, Affectional,
Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE).
Through education on T-IPV, counselors become more
equipped to help survivors and to advocate for this
population more effectively. After counselors cultivate
an understanding of the current sociopolitical climate
and ways to help survivors of T-IPV, they can advocate
more knowledgeably and fruitfully.
Moreover, coercive control theory posits the necessity
of systemic advocacy in working with IPV survivors,
emphasizing that if IPV is about entrapment, then
counselors must challenge the social structures that
enable abusers to exploit survivors’ vulnerabilities
(Tolmie, Smith, &Wilson, 2024). Therefore, clinicians
should endeavor to be advocates both inside and
outside of the counseling space. Advocacy in a broader
sense may look like working with other professionals to
help develop inclusive shelters, clinics, support groups,
trauma response services, and other community
supports, while advocacy in a more immediate sense
may look like engaging in community efforts and
leading or participating in local social justice groups,
organizations, or movements (Ratts et al., 2018).
Advocacy in a client-counselor capacity may entail
naming barriers to wellness or resources, identifying
the significance of the counselor’s own cultural
and sociopolitical location in relation to a client’s,
recognizing the impacts of systemic oppression in
relation to a client’s experiences and needs, empowering
a client to self-advocate, sharing appropriate resources,
developing self-advocacy action plans, and assisting
clients in executing advocacy plans (Ratts et al., 2018).
Resources
Providing survivors of violence with well-vetted
resources and community supports is a vital step in
responding to experiences of abuse (Munson &Cook-
Daniels, 2020 Kattari et al., 2020 ACA, 2010). From
a coercive control perspective, resources are not just
supports but lifelines that counteract entrapment
(Tolmie, Smith, &Wilson, 2024). Survivors often