Supporting trans and/or non-binary young people: UK methods and approaches

This chapter presents an example of youth work practice with young trans and/ or non-binary people in the UK. The chapter uses the work of the organisation Gendered Intelligence as its focus and highlights a number of aspects of good practice and specific challenges that have arisen when working with young people who identify as transgender in some way. The youth group provision under discussion includes monthly sessions for trans and non-binary youth in London, Leeds and Bristol. The practice is contextualised in relation to work with young trans people in other countries. The three priorities for this youth work practice which re-values stigmatised identities are: to reduce isolation; to increase young trans people’s sense of pride in their gender identities; to increase young people’s ability to manage difficult situations. The chapter seeks to consolidate findings from the Gendered Intelligence youth group project into a model of practice that might be used by other practitioner-researchers in this and cognate fields.