Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

The Sex and Gender Clinic is a specialty clinic within The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Established in 1971, the Clinic is committed to excellence in patient and family-centered care, medical education, and research.

Request an Appointment: 443-447-4337

What We Do at the Sex and Gender Clinic

The Clinic provides a welcoming patient and family-centered environment. We seek to help our patients achieve a sense of emotional and psychological well-being. We respect the dignity of every patient and the legitimacy of what each person is experiencing. Our primary clinical components are:

Intimate Relationship Issues (Sexual Dysfunctions)

We seek to help individuals and couples who may be coping with emotional pain and interpersonal problems related to sexual intimacy. Issues addressed can include sexual difficulties created by physical illness or injury, aging, medication side effects and a variety of life stresses.

Gender Identity

We provide a nonjudgmental environment in which individuals and their families are safe to explore the choices that they feel will be best for them. Our goal is to assist patients as they seek self-acceptance and sometimes clarification of their gender identity. We strive to ensure that all of our patients are well-informed about the nature of gender identity (and gender dysphoria), and about potential risks and benefits related to various treatment options. We provide education, guidance and support to patients and their loved ones.

Psychosexual Disorders

We provide evaluation and treatment recommendations to adults, adolescents and children with a variety of psychosexual disorders (paraphilias) in an objective and caring manner. As an example, we are interested in assisting individuals who experience sexual feelings toward minors as a means of helping to prevent child sexual abuse, while simultaneously enabling our patients to lead safe, law-abiding and fully responsible lives.

A Collaborative Approach

The Clinic collaborates with psychiatrists, other physicians, psychologists, social workers, and other health professionals and agencies. When appropriate at the time of evaluation, referrals are made to specialties, such as urology, gynecology, surgery, endocrinology, pediatrics, child psychiatry and internal medicine, for further assessment and possible treatment. We also welcome referrals from those specialties. A collaborative relationship is maintained with them to ensure the highest level of patient care.

The psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists of the Sex and Gender Clinic have faculty appointments at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Medical students and others in training are sometimes present for evaluations.

Consultation and Evaluation

Our goal is to provide a welcoming patient- and family-centered environment that offers help and support to individuals, couples and their families. Adults in relationships are ordinarily evaluated as a couple, when appropriate. Children and adolescents are typically accompanied by their parents. Separate interviews are conducted with children and parents. Patients from agencies should be accompanied by an informant.

Evaluations at The Johns Hopkins Hospital occur on Friday afternoons from 12:45 to 5 p.m. Patients complete several self-reported inventories and are interviewed to obtain complete medical, social, psychiatric and sexual histories. Physical examinations and blood tests may be performed when indicated.

Initial evaluations at the Sex and Gender Clinic occur in room 144 of the Meyer Building at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

Confidentiality

All referral, evaluation and treatment records are held in the strictest confidence and released only with written consent of the patient(s). Couples are interviewed together and in confidential individual meetings. We obey all legal mandatory reporting requirements.

Clinic Location

Sex and Gender Clinic
The Johns Hopkins Hospital
600 North Wolfe Steet, Meyer 144
Baltimore, Maryland 21287

Patients and visitors, please use the Wolfe Street entrance at the end of the traffic circle.
Directions

Phone: 443-447-4337