Transgender Health Care in Santa Barbara

Neighborhood Clinics Offer Revolutionary Care to Trans People of All Ages

by Delaney Smith | Published September 12

From left to right: Fernando Rivera, Victoria Chavez, Max Rorty, Melissa Alvarez, and Julia Sanchez at the SBNC in Isla Vista. The clinic offers hormonal care to transgender patients of all ages, the only clinic to do so between Santa Paula and San Francisco.

hen Aspen was about to leave his house to go to work, it elicited feelings of dread and despair. He couldn’t just roll out of bed, throw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and be ready to go like other guys.

He agonized over the way people might perceive him once he walked out the front door. If he didn’t get his appearance just right, he might get mistaken for a woman. That all changed when he began receiving treatment at the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics (SBNC) four months ago.