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Stefan de Villiers and transgender people

Stefan de Villiers is a conservative Canadian social worker, therapist, and transmedicalist. de Villiers is a member of anti-trans group Therapy First and was scheduled to speak at the 2025 conference by anti-trans hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine.

Background

In 2011, de Villiers wrote:

At 24, I was diagnosed with a neuroendocrinological condition commonly known as transsexualism. I underwent a psychological assessment and was given the go-ahead to begin treatment. That is, I received hormone injections that allowed my body to develop secondary male sex characteristics such as facial hair, muscle mass and a deepening of the voice. The girl I once appeared to be melted away, and a young man took her place. […] No one in my family took kindly to my transition.

de Villiers earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Victoria in 2002, later earning a diploma at Vancouver Film School in 2008. de Villiers worked with young people at Pacific Youth and Family Services Society (2014 to 2015), at Family Services of Greater Vancouver (2014 to 2017) and Hollyburn Faily Services (2015 to 2017).de Villiers then returned to graduate school. In 2019, de Villiers earned a master’s degree from the University of Calgary.

de Villiers has worked as a counsellor at Calgary Counselling Centre since 2019. In 2025, de Villiers was named Associate Director, Provincial Family Violence Treatment Program at Counselling Alberta.

Selected writing by de Villiers

de Villiers, Stefan (February 22, 2011). My gender change meant estrangement from my family. The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/my-gender-change-meant-estrangement-from-my-family/article4266696/

Media

Therapy First with Paul Garcia-Ryan, Amber Ault, Dwight Panozzo, Stefan de Villiers, and Zander Keig (February 23, 2024). Introducing Therapy First with Paul, Amber, Dwight, Stefan and Zander. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6NwCEBmUPs

The Arena with Linda McLachlan and Stefan de Villiers (January 7, 2022). Stefan de Villiers – Finding Our Voice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmvXpS3gU9c

Resources

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Calgary Counselling Centre (calgarycounselling.com)

Tilted Windmills (tiltedwindmills.com)

Substack (substack.com)