The Trans and Gender Diverse Teen Resilience Guide: Essential Skills for Building Community, Well-Being, and Mental Health

A teen-friendly guide to help you embrace your identity, build resilience, and thrive.

As a transgender or nonbinary teen, you may sometimes feel like you are alone. The world can be a scary, unkind place, and if you’re struggling to find support, you may be tempted to lose hope. But it’s important for you to know that there are other teens out there just like you—as well as a whole community of folks who have been where you are now, and who are thriving as adults. Finding hope, happiness, and community takes time. In the meantime, this compassionate guide can help.

Written just for trans and nonbinary (TGNB) youth, this book offers trauma-informed skills to help you embrace who you are, give and find support in community, and thrive. You’ll discover tools to help you manage intense emotions and stress, cultivate self-compassion, prioritize self-care, and create communities of support. Finally, you’ll learn how to focus on creating the life you want to live, in a positive community of others.

When faced with life’s challenges, it’s vital to remember that you are not alone, and you deserve to be happy, safe, and loved. No matter what. This book can help support you as you navigate the world and discover all the wonders that make you you.

Jayme L. Peta, PhD, is a psychologist with clinical and research experience in improving health and wellness for trans and nonbinary youth and adults. Currently, Peta is faculty at the Wright Institute, and has published articles and chapters on the experiences of LGBTQ+ people in crisis and public mental health settings. Peta is also a trainer with the LGBTQ+ Clinical Academy, which provides in-depth training in LGBTQ+-affirming therapy and cultural competence for public and community mental health providers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Deb Coolhart, PhD, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice, and associate professor in the Syracuse University marriage and family therapy program. For twenty-five years, her clinical and scholarly work has focused on the strengths and challenges of trans people and their loved ones, and she has published several journal articles and book chapters on providing gender-affirmative care to trans and nonbinary people and their families. Twenty years ago, Coolhart created a clinical team of master’s students who work specifically with trans clients, their partners, and their families in a free university clinic—providing a valuable service to the transgender community in Central New York, including providing letters of support for gender-affirming medical treatments.

Rylan Jay Testa, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and transgender man. He has served as an assistant professor, researcher, clinical supervisor, consultant, and trainer in the areas of trans and nonbinary mental health and resilience for over a decade. Testa now concentrates his efforts on healing and transformative clinical work, integrating psychospiritual and nature-based healing modalities. Testa’s work aims to support the inherent resilience of all life that is available in each of us, rooted in our authentic diversity of bodies, identities, experiences, and expressions.