Counseling Transgender Youth

Transgender youth run a high risk of family rejection, suicide, substance abuse, peer aggression, and family violence. But little has been written to guide school counselors in creating safe environments for them.

Taking a developmental approach, Anneliese Singh and Theodore Burnes outline strategies and interventions for school counselors working with transgender students across grade levels.

At the elementary school level, the counselor will ideally serve as an ally, facilitating the child’s "safe expression of gender that feels congruent to them," opening communication about gender expression with the family, and ensuring a safe school environment. Counselors at this level should encourage caution with parents and school personnel seeking to "police" or "change" the child's gender expression.

In middle school, the issue of a safe environment intensifies since LGBTQ bullying and violence seems to peak at this time. Working proactively, the school counselor might address gender identity in student guidance classes and teacher professional development and also consult with fellow staff about students who may have already been targets of bullying. In addition, the counselor should understand the responses typical to families with a transgender child and the experiences of the child him- or herself.

A safe environment remains important in the high school years, but at this stage, "the need for providing space for transgender students to undergo processes pivotal to their identity development is critical," the authors write. Students may seek resources for coming out (in the form of support groups in the community or online) and information about making physical changes. As at earlier stages, the counselor may need to negotiate the response of parents and the school community.

Singh and Burnes conclude with suggested interventions that apply across grade levels: developing individual pride and social supports; providing staff trainings; infusing LGBTQ issues in the school community; advocating for transgender youth with administrators; and assigning transgender-related projects to counseling interns.

"Creating Developmentally Appropriate, Safe Counseling Environments for Transgender Youth: The Critical Role of School Counselors" appears in Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling, 3.