Continuing Education Workshop Description:

Youth with gender dysphoria (GD) can present with a primary substance abuse or mental health condition in day programs, intensive outpatient programs, or inpatient programs. Clinicians in such treatment settings are content specialists in mental health or substance abuse, but may have little experience with GD. The challenge in working with transgender youth often involves how to treat the primary condition, while attending to their GD sufficiently. Additionally, many transgender youths will be seeking medical interventions, such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Their dilemma is that they cannot receive HRT until their co-occurring mental health or substance abuse concerns are “reasonably well-controlled,” according to the Standards of Care of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH SOC). This session provides clinicians with knowledge and skills for working with transgender youth, when GD is not the primary condition. Skills to be covered include, how to i) create a transgender-affirming treatment setting, ii) engage resistant parents and resistant youths around how to integrate and address GD in the treatment plan, and iii) keep the focus on the primary presenting concern(s), while taking into account the influence of the client’s GD, and iv) know when to refer to a gender specialist for medical intervention. Common terms transgender youth use to define themselves and their experience will be discussed. And the WPATH SOC and recent literature will be reviewed. The presentation includes multimedia components, and case discussion, with time for participants to ask questions and discuss case material.