A Trans(gender) Awakening: Bearing Witness as a Nurse Practitioner

Michelle Hermans

doi:10.25071/2291-5796.190

A Trans(gender) Awakening: Bearing Witness as a Nurse Practitioner

Authors

Michelle Hermans York University https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4944-1139

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/2291-5796.190

Keywords:

Witnessing, Transgender Health, Gender-affirming care, Nurse Practitioner, Transitions

Abstract

Abstract

“A Trans(gender) Awakening: Bearing Witness as a Nurse Practitioner” is a poetic manuscript that explores the act of witnessing within the context of gender-affirming care. Through reflective verse, the piece illuminates the nurse practitioner’s role as both caregiver and witness to transgender and gender-diverse individuals navigating identity, embodiment, and resilience. The poem resists binaries and emphasizes the sacredness of presence, listening, and validation in clinical practice. By centering human experience, it calls for a reimagining of healthcare as relational, inclusive, and transformative, where healing is fostered not only through intervention but through recognition and affirmation.

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Author Biography

Michelle Hermans, York University

Michelle Hermans is a Nurse Practitioner and a 2^nd year PhD student in Nursing at York University. Her clinical and scholarly work centers on youth mental health, gender-affirming care, and the ethical practice of bearing witness in healthcare. With over 20 years of nursing experience, she brings a trauma-informed, inclusive lens to both practice and research. Her doctoral research explores how transgender and gender-diverse youth experience decision-making around gender-affirming hormones, with an emphasis on youth voices, agency, and informed consent. She is passionate about blending practice, scholarship, and creative expression to illuminate the human dimensions of care.

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Published

2025-12-28

How to Cite

Hermans, M. (2025). A Trans(gender) Awakening: Bearing Witness as a Nurse Practitioner. Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse, 7(2), 4–5. https://doi.org/10.25071/2291-5796.190

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Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2025): The Perils of a Politics of Neutrality

Section

Arts-Based Submissions

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Witness publishes under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0). Read the license terms at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. The author(s) retain copyright to their works.