About Dr. Erhardt

I am a Licensed Clinical Psychologist (Georgia license #1818), with a Ph.D. from Georgia State University. I am a member of AASECT, the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists, and WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. I have presented at many conferences, including the 2005 Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Symposium in Bologna, Italy, and the 2007 WPATH Symposium in Chicago.

I was born in New York, and after leaving there in 1960, lived in various parts of the country, on both coasts. I lived in the Atlanta area from 1977 until July of 1999. I have offered psychological services in diverse settings, including the Emory University Counseling Center, Ridgeview Institute, the Atlanta Veterans Administration Hospital, and Shepherd Spinal Center. In 1992, I opened my private practice, which became full time in 1994.

In addition to Clinical Hypnosis (I am certified through the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis), the focus of my private practice is individual, couples, and sex therapy. My training as a sex therapist included study and supervision with Drs. Mark Ackerman, Steve Sloan, the Talmadges, David Schnarch, and Jeanne Shaw. My specialized training and experience in the field of sex and gender goes beyond traditional sex therapy. It includes work with those dealing with chronic illness and disability, and work with people with issues regarding their sexual orientation, gender identity, and erotic orientation.

How I happened to become a gender specialist.

I will tell you a bit about how this specialty evolved. In 1994, I had one session with a heterosexual crossdresser. He wanted to know whether I could make his desire to crossdress go away, and with it, the eroticism that accompanied it. I said that I did not think it possible to do so and encouraged him to disclose to his wife and incorporate his crossdressing into their erotic life. That was the last I saw of him, but he left me a message some months later, thanking me for my suggestion and reporting that his wife had accepted his crossdressing more readily than he had dared to hope was possible.

Then in 1995, an MtF (Male-to-Female) transsexual came to see me. I was very interested in working with this person, but decided that my open-mindedness and the little I'd read about gender issues were not enough to serve the needs of gender variant clients. At a local meeting of members of SSSS (The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality) I asked about resources, and was directed to Ms. Dallas Denny, M.A., founder of AGE (Atlanta Gender Explorations Support Group) and AEGIS (American Educational Gender Information Service) which merged with It's Time America to form GEA - Gender Education and Advocacy.

Dallas was very helpful, sending me literature and telling me about the Southern Comfort Conference. I read everything I could get my hands on and got together with transgendered people (including Dallas herself) who were willing to share their own personal experiences with me. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn.

In 1996, I attended the Southern Comfort Conference. The gender community welcomed me with open arms, and in 1997 & 1998, I was part of the committee (with Dallas Denny, Erin Swenson, Jack Boyan, and Jan Heckler) that planned and presented the first Professional Training offering Continuing Education credits at a gender conference. I have also presented on gender issues to the Georgia Psychological Association and the Georgia Bar (offering continuing education for attorneys).

When, after many years of leading the AGE (Atlanta Gender Explorations) Support Group one Saturday evening a month, Jack Boyan was ready to take a break, I was approached about stepping in. From late 1998 until the end of 1999, I facilitated the Group.

Meanwhile, I was seeing an increasing number of transgender clients. This has been the most rewarding work I have ever done. I particularly enjoy it when someone comes to me early on in his or her gender exploration, but I'm also impressed by how much many people know, and how well they have informed themselves about gender issues. The Internet certainly has been a godsend. At first I worked with more MtFs, but in more recent years, I have seen an increasing number of FtMs. My clients' ages have ranged from 4 to 74, and I work with the parents of gender-variant children, helping them to provide an accepting environment.

I see the WPATH Standards of Care as guidelines rather than rules. I struggle with being seen as a gatekeeper, and try to communicate to my clients that I am available to assist them with any exploration in which they want to engage; I am there to work with them on the myriad issues that accompany the decision process and, if they so choose, transition to whatever point they find comfortable; I will not insist upon psychotherapy, per se, if a person does not want it. For some clients, the process involves simply ruling out alternative possibilities that might make transition inadvisable, and assuring that the person is sufficiently knowledgeable and capable of giving informed consent.