The best way to support a trans or gender diverse youth’s mental health is to use their chosen name and pronouns. One accepting adult has been shown to reduce rates of suicide attempts by up to 40%. As clinician’s we can be an accepting adult. We can also honor their privacy if they don’t want their parents yet to know their chosen name or pronouns. 

Other phenomenal resources for trans youth mental health:

• Trans Lifeline- provides trans peer support for our community that’s been divested from police since day one. We’re run by and for trans people.
• Trevor Project- provides information & support to LGBTQ+ young people 24/7, all year round.
• TransFamily Support Services- providers care navigation, support groups, discord server, and peer resources
• Virtual communities and support groups- list of virtual groups on our QueerDoc site
• Mental health provider- finding an affirming provider can be hard, use this list of state based resources on our QueerDoc site
• Your local LGBTQ non-profit- use this tool to find or google it

Each individual youth may need a different way to connect with community and counselors, so it is nice to have different options. Some youth will love youth groups and some will never want to go to a group but thrive on Discord. Offer them options and check in often.