Working with Transgender Youth: Implications for Professional Counsellors

In this course, Dr. Clark Ausloos, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor at Palo Alto University, gives you a deeper understanding of the challenges experienced by trans* youth and their families. Dr. Ausloos examines how the powerful instrument of language, combined with a binary cultural framework and long-held social constructs about gender roles and expression, collude to create systemic stigma, marginalisation, and discrimination for trans* youth, leading to higher rates of mental ill-health, homelessness and financial problems, and higher rates of violence against this population. He outlines the importance of support from parents, teachers and school staff, and counsellors in creating policies and using language in ways that help trans* youth to be resilient in the face of the myriad challenges.