The Southeast U.S's Most Experienced TG Specialist

Credentials for Samuel Allen include:

Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), National Certified Counselor (NCC), Clinically Certified Forensic Counselor (CCFC), state-certified (Virginia) Mental Health and Substance Abuse Emergency Services Clinician, state-certified (Virginia) Critical Incident Stress Debriefer, state-certified (NC) Forensics Screener (qualified to provide court evaluations to determine competence to stand trial). Certified EMDR therapist (Francine Shapiro program).

Over 1500 additional, post-Master's classroom hours of training in Substance Abuse Counseling, Assessment & Diagnosis, Solution-Focused Therapy, Family Therapy, DSM-IV Disorders, and working with alternative populations. Clinical supervisor (including providing training and supervision to social workers, therapists, case managers, & interns seeking licensure) since 1994.

Specialization and extensive experience in working with issues pertaining to sexual identity, orientation, and gender, since 1982. Consultant or/guest lecturer to numerous organizations regarding LBGTQI topics and issues-- a partial list includes ABC's Nightline; HBO; PBS; A&E:The Arts & Entertainment Network; The Learning Channel; The Discovery Channel; MSNBC, IBM; Virginia Commonwealth University; Emory University; North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE); Colorado Gold Rush Gender Conference; Southeastern Regional Conference on Gender ("Southern Comfort"); Atlanta Feminist Women's Health Center, and the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT).

Primary consultant for the film "Southern Comfort" (on the life of Robert Eads). Sole Founder and Director (1998-2005) of The Robert Eads Health Partnership, in Atlanta, Georgia (the name of that program has been changed frequently since 2005, and was originally known, from 1998 to 2005, as The Transmen Health Project aka The Transgender Health Project. It was later renamed The Robert Eads Health Project, and was again renamed in 2010). Samuel Allen founded this project during the final year of Robert Eads' life; Robert was a transgender man who died of cancer, and whose life might have been saved or prolonged if he had not suffered from severe fear, anxiety, and shame in regard to seeking gynecological healthcare services. Robert had an array of healthcare services and routinely received care from a number of physicians (prior to, during, and after his cancer diagnosis) , but had so much fear and anxiety related to seeing gynecologists or mentioning gynecological problems, that he neglected this aspect of his healthcare until it was simply too late to save his life. The Robert Eads Health Project is now in its seventeenth year and serves transgender and gender-variant people year round (with a special 1-day outreach clinic in operation each September). The project created the first health services for FTM transpeople at the Feminist Women's Health Center, in Atlanta, in partnership with the Southern Comfort Conference. Year-round health services for transmen have been in place since the program's start, with a goal of expanding services to include transwomen. For accurate information on what actually happened to Robert Eads, and the history of the founding and development of The Robert Eads Health Project from 1997 to 2005, feel free to contact Samuel Allen via this website. (Most of what has been passed along online and by word of mouth on the topic of Robert Eads' illness & death in the months prior to and the years following Robert's death in January of 1999, is more mythology and cut-and-paste, repeated-but-never-verified internet rumor than historical fact).

Samuel is the Co-Founder (with Beverly Blount) of the Southern Comfort Conference Big Sister/Big Brother program in Atlanta, and served as Chair or Co-Chair, alternately, of that program from 1997 through 2005. As part of his work to create an environment of safety & comfort for transpeople, their families, and allies, Samuel founded the related event, "The Newcomer Reception" at SCC, and chaired that event from 1997 to 2005. Both programs were designed to focus on and provide additional support for "newcomers" to the transgender experience and/or to individuals attending their first transgender-focused event.

For several years, Samuel served as architect of the re-designed Southern Comfort Conference seminar program. In 2000, as Seminar Program Director, Samuel fully revamped and expanded the SCC seminar program to include seminars on Sexuality, Sexual Health, Kink/Leather/Fetish topics. Samuel added to the SCC seminar line-up a full programming track for Family, Friends, Partners, & Allies of TG people. Samuel created SCC's first seminars on MTF/FTM and "Trans with Trans" Relationships, and added the conference's first seminars on Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Identification Within the TG Community; TG Youth; Queer and GenderQueer Awareness; as well as that conference's first seminars on Feminism, Gay FTMs, and Partners of FTMs. As part of expanding educational presentations in the area of TG issues within families, Samuel brought the first seminars on Transgender Parents & "Coming Out to Your Children" to SCC. Samuel expanded the MTF Crossdresser seminar program at SCC to three full days, built a 3-day seminar and activities program for FTMs, and co-founded the SCC 3-day programming track on TG Issues in Local/National Politics. Samuel created and presented the first known seminar in the U.S on the topic of Transgender "Admirers" (in Atlanta, GA), which has since been presented across the U.S by request. Samuel twice served as Conference Chair for the Southeastern Regional Conference on Gender ("Southern Comfort Conference") where he also served on the Board of Directors. Samuel is a 5-time Nominee for the International Foundation For Gender Education ("IFGE") Trinity Award.