DR Z PHD Interviews Allison Andrea.
In this powerful interview, Dr. Z speaks with Allison Andrea, a trans woman in her 40s who celebrated six years of transition and hormone therapy. Allison serves as Clinical Liaison at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, sits on the LA County Sheriff's LGBT Advisory Board, and serves as President of the Outreach Center—all while pursuing her master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at Pepperdine University.
Allison's advocacy work reveals shocking gaps in how transgender people are treated within the criminal justice system. She details her efforts to reform outdated policies in LA County jails, including the problematic practice of using pictures of West Hollywood bars to "verify" if someone is LGBT, the inadequacy of verbal self-identification during intake (which forces public outing), and the dangerous reality that trans women often choose protective custody over women's facilities because cisgender women assault and exploit them.
This conversation goes beyond typical advocacy narratives to explore the personal cost of public service. Allison shares her experience surviving a violent assault by four individuals in Hollywood, the trauma recovery process that followed, and how that experience deepened her commitment to serving high-risk populations. She discusses the chronic problem of cisgender professionals making policies for transgender people without lived experience input.
Key topics include: fighting 29 anti-LGBT bills in Oklahoma in a single year, challenging Kaiser's requirement that patients see three different therapists before surgery approval (despite already having multiple gender-affirming surgeries), the absurdity of being asked "are you okay with scars?" when visibly displaying surgical scars, and exposing USC's rejection despite strong credentials and extensive social science experience embedded in advocacy work.
Allison reveals her journey from conservative Christian upbringing through adoption, marriage, and raising two children while suppressing her identity for nearly a decade. She made the heart-wrenching decision in 2005 to detransition and return to the closet to protect her adopted sons from discrimination in Oklahoma. Only when her ex-wife filed for divorce in 2015 did Allison finally allow herself to transition—viewing the divorce as an unexpected release from binding commitments that prioritized everyone's wellbeing above her own.
This interview addresses the gap in transgender representation within mental health professions, the shocking reality that Pepperdine's entire sexuality curriculum consists of one unit (two Saturdays, eight total hours), and Allison's determination to become Dr. Allison—a trauma-informed therapist who can advocate from within the profession rather than outside it. She discusses correcting professors in abnormal psychology courses, educating future therapists about accurate gender dysphoria information, and her vision for empowering the trans community through clinical expertise.
Allison shares her personal mantra: "The only thing stronger than being yourself is being your authentic self"—tattooed on her ribcage as a permanent reminder and behavioral reward for academic achievement. She defines authenticity not as social media performance but as the daily practice of being your best self, regardless of where you are in transition or what surgeries you've had.
This interview offers hope, hard-won wisdom, and unflinching honesty about the challenges of advocacy work, graduate education as a trans woman, recovery from trauma, sacrificing personal identity for family commitments, and the power of finally choosing yourself after decades of compromise.
