Get to Know Steering Committee Member Aspen Ruhlin
Aspen Ruhlin interview
Aspen Ruhlin is a returning at-large member of the Steering Committee for MaineTransNet. They work at the Mabel Wadsworth Center, and they are an adjunct professor with the University of Maine in the Women’s Gender, and Sexuality program. They’re currently teaching a course about Sexual and Reproductive Health and Justice. I had a chance to catch up with them to learn more about their role at MTN and all that they bring to the committee and community.
When they first formally joined MTN in 2019, they were working on a health and wellness committee. “My role at Mabel Wadsworth at the time was as our client advocate, and the majority of what I did in that role was helping our trans patients access gender affirming care, particularly gender affirming surgeries. I’m also someone who just cares about public health, and has done a lot of work in public health.” And while their roles at Mabel Wadsworth and at MTN has shifted since then, they still bring that wealth of knowledge to their work. Now, “my current area of focus at Mabel Wadsworth is community engagement — one of the things I’ll do is trainings for healthcare providers in how they can help their trans parents navigate gender affirming care.”
Reproductive justice also factors in their work both at MTN and Mabel Wadsworth. “My area of focus with my work generally, and what I bring to the steering committee, is general trans health navigation, and how that intersects with reproductive justice, including abortion access and contraceptive access. I think that is important to include because oftentimes trans and queer folk will get left out of conversations around reproductive health care and abortion care, even though it is care that is very much accessed by our community.” They go on to explain, “a lot of the work that I do is in the intersection of gender affirming care, trans care, and reproductive care, including abortion access.” When they are helping organize events or running workshops like queer inclusive sex ed or working with national organizations, they’ll make sure that language is inclusive and that trans people are included. “There’s actually a webinar I created for abortion care providers available for free online, on trans cultural competency for abortion care providers!”
Aspen brings all of that layered knowledge into their work at MTN. Working with MTN has meant that “the knowledge I have gained, when I was in the client advocacy role, I’ve been able to share with other people. Prior to Mabel Wadsworth hiring a patient advocate, there wasn’t really anyone in the state who knew how to navigate the gender affirming surgery process, because insurance companies make it difficult on purpose. One of the most exciting things for me has been working with MTN and the Maine Queer Health Project, and being able to get that knowledge out there both to other trans folks, and to healthcare providers who are invested in making sure our community gets the care we need.”
For anyone reading who is unfamiliar with the Maine Queer Health Project, that’s an online collaboration through MTN and Mabel Wadsworth. “Really what spawned Maine Queer Health to start as a project was the need in our community for ‘who can I go to for this type of care that is trans friendly?’” It’s an excellent resource for anyone looking for people providing gender affirming care, or a healthcare provider who is trans competent near where you live. Aspen explains, “we would get a lot of people who would reach out to MTN asking, ‘hey, do you know any trusted primary care providers in the county?’ Having a resource that people can look at, and even add in their own providers, is huge!” Along with those lists of providers, the website has “information on how to access surgeries if that is something someone wants to do. The letter template that I created for gender affirming surgery letters is something freely accessible there. I was more than happy to share that. Because if I figure out something and have particularly helpful information, I just want to help everyone know more.”
That helpful spirit drives a lot of Aspen’s work at MTN and Mabel Wadsworth, and we all benefit from it!
