identity journeys and mental well-being struggles could be told, heard and better understood by a wider audience. They opined that CAMHS played a key role for gender-variant adolescents but there should also be partnership with other organisations to broaden and extend the thinking beyond mental health. They found guest speakers attending the group very helpful. Carolyn’s refl ection: By the group members just coming together addressed the issue of isolation; talking together and sharing their stories addressed the pain and experiences of discrimination. I think there is a direct correlation between the needs of the families and what the group was providing. It was a needs-led provision.
Voices from colleagues as friends of the group
We had discussions and support from
colleagues as friends for the group. Even though it was a small pilot, started as a locality service, there were referrals from nearby CAMHS. We consulted our colleagues and agreed accepting members from the other localities did not pose any clinical implications, as the group was set up as a support and user-participation rather than a treatment group. Our colleagues also viewed that, in CAMHS, the increase in referrals of adolescents with mental health diffi culties and gender identity struggles, indicated a growing awareness in society of the importance of support for those adolescents and their families. The group and we could contribute more by reaching out and educating professionals from schools, colleges, social care, CAMHS and foster carers about gender variance and mental health issues. This pilot was viewed by colleagues
to be creative and refreshing, and could potentially generate new ideas and pathways for possible partnership and commissioning for such services. Yang’s refl ection: At times, facilitating this group as a new initiative was challenging with no prior reference points to compare our work with. Colleagues, clinical supervisors and managers played a very crucial role in supporting us through this process.
Conclusion The pilot came to an end in August
2016 and the group members and seniors 12
Carolyn is a cis-gender White-British woman who is continuing to learn to see others’ gender in a non-binary way. Yang is a cis-gender Singaporean-Chinese man who re-located to London eight years ago, who has experiences working with people of different gender-identities in both Singapore and London. Carolyn and Yang both worked as specialist systemic psychotherapists in a London-based CAMHS when they facilitated this group. Whilst Carolyn is still in this service, Yang Yang has since moved on to adult mental health secondary-care. They would like this sharing to inspire more services and systemic practitioners UK-wide to consider piloting similar support for families. They hope systemic practitioners in the near future could be more reflexive about gender identity issues and promote more gender-neutral practices.
were able to have a dialogue about the fi ndings of the group and future plans. Some options discussed with the parents involved selected group members self- facilitating the sessions as volunteers for the trust at the CAMHS premises. Although the ending of the pilot saddens us, we remained hopeful that the seeds were sown and trees would grow. May the ideas be scattered and cross-fertilised across time and space with the stories told, and stories lived.
Acknowledgements: Special thanks to group members and colleagues for your valuable contribution and time in this group and writing journeys.
References Abelmoneim, J. (2017) No More Boys And Girls: Can Our Kids Go Gender Neutral? BBC 2. Retrieved 01/09/2017 from
http://www.bbc.
co.uk/programmes/b09202lp American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders: DSM-5 (5th edition). Washington, D.C: APA.
Asen, E. & Scholz, M. (2010) Multi-Family Therapy: Concepts And Techniques. Hove, East Sussex, New York: Routledge. Duncan, B.L., Miller, S.D., Sparks, J. et al. (2003) The Session Rating Scale: Preliminary psychometric properties of a “working” alliance measure. Journal of Brief Therapy, 3: 3-12. Gray, S.A.O., Sweeney, K.K., Randazzo, R. & Levitt, H.M. (2016) “Am I doing the right thing?”: Pathways to parenting a gender variant child. Family Process, 55: 123-138. Holt, V. & Prescott, N. (2016) Gender Identity in Children And Adolescents (Powerpoint presentation). Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust. Lewman, L. (2008) Taboo: The Third Sex. National Geographic Channel. http://channel.
nationalgeographic.com/taboo/episodes/the- third-sex/ McKenzie, C. (2016) Child Gender Identity Referrals Show Huge Rise in Six Years. Retrieved 22/04/2017 from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ uk-england-nottinghamshire-35532491 PACE Health (2014) Brunel University, University of Worcester & South Bank University Survey of 2000 Young Transgender People 2010 to 2014. White, M. (1999) Refl ecting-team work as defi nitional ceremony revisited. Gecko, 2: 55-82. Re-published in White, M. (2000) Reflections on Narrative Practice: Essays and Interviews. Adelaide: Dulwich Centre Publications. White, M. & Epston, D. (1990) Narrative Means To Therapeutic Ends. New York: Norton.
Context 155, February 2018
Multi-family support for adolescents with gender variance
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