Resources

When your child tells you they are trans or non-binary, it can be a worrying time. We are here to help you navigate the huge number of resources available.

We want to guide you in gathering the knowledge to support your child and advocate for them at school or college, in healthcare settings and in the wider community. We have drawn together resources – from book reviews and documentaries, to podcasts, blogs and peer reviewed research – which we hope you’ll find helpful.

Advice

Top Ten Tips

Our Top Ten Tips At Bayswater Support, we seek evidence-based care and are cautious about ‘affirmation’. Here are our top ten tips for when your child identifies as trans or non-binary. 1. Listen to your Child This is the most …

Puberty Blockers: A Letter to a Parent

Background Those of us who give our time to our support group do so because we want to help fellow parents who are facing the same difficult parenting decisions as us. So of course we love to hear when our …

Gender Issues for Autistic girls

This article first appeared on the Autism Hampshire website. It is reproduced here with kind permission of the Author. Advice for Parents with Gender Atyptical Daughters I write this article from the perspective of an autistic female who used to …

Adult Gender Clinics: A Clinician’s View

We are very grateful for the following comments from a former senior clinician at an adult NHS gender clinic which, we hope, will help to inform parents of vulnerable adults in navigating the system. For the experience of a mother …

Parenting a Young Adult with Gender Dysphoria

We are very grateful to one of our members who has kindly offered the following account of their experience as the mum of a young adult who is transitioning (for a clinician’s view of adult clinics, click here). If your …

An A to Z of Terms

An A to Z of Sex and Gender Sometimes the language our children use to describe their experiences can be confusing; whilst some words might be completely new to us, others we thought we understood are used to describe completely …

Talking Therapy: Is No Therapy Better Than Bad Therapy?

Access to a therapist is often the first thing that parents consider when their child tells them about their trans identity. Maybe your child already has already been seeing a therapist, because of underlying mental health issues. Whether privately or …

Information to Share with Your Child’s Doctor or School

Amongst the many issues members of Bayswater Support ask for our help with is sourcing information to share with schools and healthcare settings. We have brought together some of the best review articles, research papers and news articles we think …

Breast Binding – Self Harm or Gender Care?

What is binding? Binding is the practice of flattening breasts with constrictive materials to give the impression of a flatter, more masculine appearing chest. It is most commonly associated with those who identify as transgender, though it has also been …

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions What is gender dysphoria? Gender dysphoria is the term used to describe the distress and discomfort experienced when a person feels their biological sex does not align with their internal sense of being male or female (or …

The Judicial Review of Puberty Blockers

After the judgement in December 2020, leave to appeal was granted and the appeal case will be heard on 23rd June 2020. The increasing legal costs being incurred are being covered by crowdfunding. There is still time to donate to …

A History of Affirmation

A huge thank you to SunMum, a Bayswater Parent who has researched and recorded this history of the affirmative approach to treating gender confusion in young people emerged in the latter half of the 20th century. How did the affirmative …

Mental Health in Trans-identified Adolescents

There is ample evidence to suggest that the current cohort of children and young people presenting with gender dysphoria are different from the almost exclusively pre-pubescent males previously seen. Not only are they now predominantly female, but they often present …

The Cass Review Interim Report: The Significance for Schools

Earlier this month, Dr Hilary Cass submitted an interim report to NHS England which covered their work to date. The report detailed the information gathered from stakeholders, including clinicians, charities, gender-distressed young people, detransitioners and parents. The report outlines what …

Trans Identity: The Tip of the Iceberg?

Gender dysphoria is complex and multifactorial. Immediate affirmation of a child’s attested trans identity may obscure the background circumstances that led to this conclusion. Child and adolescent trans identity — the tip of the iceberg? Download We have produced this …

Safeguarding Trans-identified Children and Adolescents – Our New Guide

Download Guide Most young people who adopt transgender identities are now doing so in adolescence. For some, this may turn out to be a normal experimentation or ‘trying on’ of a new tribal identity, fulfilling a developmentally healthy role. But …

Social Transition: The Most Recent Advice for Schools

Download our PDF A request to change name and pronouns in line with a cross-sex or non-binary identity by changing school records can seem like the kindest and most inclusive of actions. But there are growing concerns about the impact …

The Policy Exchange Report on Gender and Safeguarding in Schools: A Summary for Parents

Download our PDF A detailed report by the Policy Exchange think-tank offers a useful overview of current school policies in relation to trans-identified students. An Examination of Gender and Safeguarding in Schools(published in March 2023) describes the existing statutory safeguarding …

Autism and Neurodevelopment

Autism and Gender Identity

There is increasing awareness among parents, caregivers, clinicians and therapists that there is a clear link between gender identity issues and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We know that currently, 76% of referees to The Tavistock & Portman Gender Identity Service …

Erin Brewer: Interview series with detransitioners

Erin Brewer has interviewed several detransitioners about their experiences, what led to their trans identification and how they came to detransition. At the end of this post is a list of the detransitioner interviews she has conducted and we have …

Gender Issues for Autistic girls

Autism expert concerned over autistic girls declaring a transgender identity

In The Times Newspaper, a global expert on autism, Prof Christopher Gillberg, says autistic girls are adopting trans identities as they are ‘particularly vulnerable to seizing on a single answer ‘to the lifelong identity problems they have suffered.’ The Times …

Gender change is no fix for Autism

The Australian Article (paywall) The story was also covered in The Daily Mail. Article in The Australian, quoting Tony Attwood’s statement that gender change in children could lead to later mental health problems …

Transitioning

Reconsidering Informed Consent for Trans-Identified Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults

Reconsidering Informed Consent for Trans-Identified Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults Published this week, this paper by Stephen Levine, E. Abbruzzese, and Julia M. Mason, summarises the prevailing informed consent model of care and its concerning ethical implications. They carefully consider …

The Cass Review: Interim Report Published

We welcome today’s interim report from The Cass Review and its recognition that the current service model “is not a safe or viable long-term option”. The report deserves a detailed and considered reading, here we aim only to point to …

The Judicial Review of Puberty Blockers

What do we know – Cornell University

At some point, most of our parents have been told by our children that gender transition is the only treatment for gender dysphoria, that it is a miraculous cure for all the feelings they have about themselves and their bodies …

GIDS Whistleblower Marcus Evans: Why I quit the Tavistock

Marcus Evans explains in his article for Quillette why he felt compelled to resign as a Governor at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which runs the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), the NHS’s only gender identity clinic for children, …

Transgender Trend: A fantastic resource for parents

Transgender Trend is an organisation of parents, professionals and academics based in the UK who are concerned about the current trend to diagnose children as transgender, including the unprecedented number of teenage girls suddenly self-identifying as ‘trans’. They have a …

When Children Say They’re Trans By Jesse Singal

In July 2018, Journalist Jesse Singal wrote an article for The Atlantic, a left leaning US magazine with a long history and a good reputation. It caused outrage to pro-affirmation lobby groups, clinicians and individuals. Singal was accused of transphobia …

Benjamin Boyce: Gender, Sexuality and Transition

Benjamin Boyce is an ex-pre-school teacher who began making videos about his experiences of being a student at Evergreen State College in Washington State, USA, during the events of June 2017. If you don’t know about, or haven’t even heard …

The Times Investigation: Raising Concerns About GIDS

The Concerns On 8th April 2020, The Times ran a series of articles about worries over the treatment of children at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust Gender Identity Development Service. As well as concerns about inadequate assessment, whistleblowing staff …

The Trans Train and Transgender Regret Documentaries

Investigative journalists in Sweden have now produced three reports looking at the treatment given to those who seek gender transition, and who later regret their decision. All three parts are in Swedish with English subtitles. Part 1: The lack of …

Dysphoric: A Four-part Documentary Series

Dysphoric – Fleeing Womanhood Like a House on Fire is a four part documentary looking at the effect of gender identity ideology on women and girls. It includes interview excerpts from detransitioners, clinicians and wider interested parties, together with illustrative …

Books on Transitioning

Here we make some suggestions of books that may help you to understand more about transitioning: social, medical and/or surgical. From books on the current provision of transgender health, to essays on transition in children and biographical accounts, we aim …

Information to Share with Your Child’s Doctor or School

Podcast: Gender – A Wider Lens

Psychotherapists Stella O’Malley and Sasha Ayad take a look at gender from a psychological perspective in their podcast Gender: A Wider Lens. Is gender identity a facilitation of development and expression of creativity, or can it be a defense against …

Documentary: Trans Kids – It’s Time to Talk.

This documentary from psychotherapist Stella O’Malley considers the huge rise in numbers of young people embarking on gender transition, through the prism of the gender identity issues that she experienced when she was a child. View Trans Kids: It’s time …

Louis Theroux – Transgender Kids

Louis Theroux travels to San Francisco where a group of pioneering medical professionals help children who say they were born in the wrong body transition from boy to girl or girl to boy at ever younger ages. At the Child …

BBC Panorama – Trans Kids:Why Medicine Matters

Doctors are divided about the best way to help young people – so what is the evidence? Dr Faye Kirkland investigates how much we understand about the care being offered to transgender children in this documentary for Panorama …

BBC This World Documentary – Transgender Kids

“In this challenging documentary, BBC Two’s award-winning This World strand travels to Canada, where one of the world’s leading experts in childhood gender dysphoria…lost his job for challenging the new orthodoxy that children know best. Speaking on TV for the …

BBC Newsnight Coverage of Gender Transition, GIDS and Detransition

The Gender Identity Development Service at The Tavistock Centre in London has been caught up in a lot of negative press in recent years. Deb Cohen and Hannah Barnes have worked hard to produce balanced, factual news coverage of some …

Parenting a Young Adult with Gender Dysphoria

Adult Gender Clinics: A Clinician’s View

Puberty Blockers: A Letter to a Parent

Statement to The Mail On Sunday about Puberty Blockers

On Sunday 16th January 2021, Sanchez Manning reported in The Mail on Sunday about GenderCare, a private clinic treating young people wishing to take cross sex hormones. We were asked for comment, and here is our written statement in full …

Autism expert concerned over autistic girls declaring a transgender identity

Mental Health

Safeguarding Trans-identified Children and Adolescents – Our New Guide

Overvalued ideas and a deeply held belief about identity

Sometimes we can see our children’s immersion in this new identity as a sort of delusion: the unshakeable belief in something that is untrue. Previously intellectual young people, often with a love of science, are suddenly taken with the concept …

A New Way to Be Mad

This article from The Atlantic discusses the phenomenon of apotemnophilia: the attraction to the idea of being an amputee. Some sufferers will even go so far as to seek out surgeons who will perform amputations of healthy limbs. The same …

A Harvard Psychiatrist explains our Social Justice Warriors

In this article, Abigail Shrier interviews Harvard Psychiatrist Harold Bursztajn, about Generation Z (those born after 1995) and how living their lives online encourages a dichotomous view of the world and contributes to increased mental health issues. “So many among …

Gender: A Wider Lens Episode 16 – Gender Dysphoria – What It’s Like For Parents

Although we have posted a link to Sasha Ayad and Stella O’Malley’s fantastic podcast series before, we thought this episode deserved a special mention of its own. This episode highlights how isolating it can be for parents whose child has …

The Times Investigation: Raising Concerns About GIDS

School Refusal: What to do when your child is reluctant to go to school

Many of our parents have reported that their trans-identified child has experienced a period of time when they were out of full-time education, whether for a few weeks or several years. Whilst dealing with a child or young person experiencing …

Talking Therapy: Is No Therapy Better Than Bad Therapy?

Articles: Therapist Lisa Marchiano

The parents I speak with overwhelmingly love their children. They are interested in supporting their children in growing to adulthood with healthy bodies. They want to support their child’s emerging identity by allowing wide-ranging exploration of different orientations and interests …

Video: Sasha Ayad

Sasha Ayad is a therapist who works with children and young people who struggle with issues around their gender identity and gender dysphoria. She co-hosts the podcast Gender: A Wider Lens with Stella O’Malley, as well has having produced a …

Podcast: Gender – A Wider Lens

Documentary: Trans Kids – It’s Time to Talk.

BBC Panorama – Trans Kids:Why Medicine Matters

The Importance of an Unhappy Adolescence

It’s miserable to be unhappy in your teenage years – but it is also profoundly important. It’s hard to imagine adulthood going well if there haven’t been quite a few tears at 15 …

Parenting

A Mother and Daughter Speak About Their Experience of Adolescent Trans Identity

Earlier this year, a mother and daughter were interviewed by Evan Davis on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, describing their experience of navigating the daughter’s adolescent trans identity. Whilst the full programme is sadly no longer available to listen to …

Safeguarding Trans-identified Children and Adolescents – Our New Guide

What’s going on in the teenage brain?

Transgender Trend published a new article this week called ‘The Teenage Brain’. Consultant Neuropsychologist Dr Sallie Baxendale presents a brief overview of how the teenage brain develops over a period of time, how this ongoing process is complex and how …

The Judicial Review of Puberty Blockers

When sons become daughters: Parents of transitioning boys speak out

The changing demographic of young people presenting to gender clinics has hit the headlines in recent years, with a flipping of the sex ratio from predominantly male to overwhelmingly female. The vast majority (>90%) of parents in Lisa Littman’s study …

Safe Schools Alliance: Factsheets and Template Letters for Parents

SSA UK works with schools and educators to ensure that school policies meet the safeguarding needs of all students, and that they do this whilst taking into account the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010. They aim to provide …

Transgender Trend: A fantastic resource for parents

When Children Say They’re Trans By Jesse Singal

Trans Kids vs. Gay Kids: The Battle Over Gender Non-Conforming Children

Arty Morty is a gay man who has significant concerns that many children who would otherwise grow up to be gay, are being directed down the path to ‘being trans’. In this YouTube video, he discusses being gay vs being …

Alice Hope: Supporting a Trans Teen

Australian mother Alice Hope created a YouTube channel with helpful advice on how to support a trans-identified teen. From advice on names and pronouns to responding to requests for binders, there is a lot of really helpful advice in this …

Gender: A Wider Lens Episode 16 – Gender Dysphoria – What It’s Like For Parents

School Refusal: What to do when your child is reluctant to go to school

You’re Not Trans. You’re Just Weird: A Letter From a Mother to Her Son

This heartfelt letter was posted on Medium.com, but taken down within hours. We have reproduced it here with kind permission of Donna M. My dear, sweet, son, I’ve got to break it to you: you’re not trans, you’re just weird …

Information to Share with Your Child’s Doctor or School

Articles: Therapist Lisa Marchiano

Video: Sasha Ayad

Podcast: Gender – A Wider Lens

Louis Theroux – Transgender Kids

Parenting a Young Adult with Gender Dysphoria

Adult Gender Clinics: A Clinician’s View

Puberty Blockers: A Letter to a Parent

The Importance of an Unhappy Adolescence

It’s miserable to be unhappy in your teenage years – but it is also profoundly important. It’s hard to imagine adulthood going well if there haven’t been quite a few tears at 15 …

BMJ Rapid Response: Supporting Parents of Children with Gender Dysphoria

Our BMJ Rapid Response, published 27 January 2020 at https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m215/rr-0 in response to this article by Sally Howard about the difficulties faced by GPs caring for young people with gender dysphoria. Supporting parents of children with gender dysphoria With 4000 …

School & College

Safeguarding Trans-identified Children and Adolescents – Our New Guide

Conundrums, Confusion and Circular Arguments: DfE Guidance on Gender Identity

This article was originally published as a Twitter thread. We reproduce it here with kind permission of the author. The Department for Education has given schools an impossible task when it comes to the RSE curriculum and teaching about “gender …

The Cass Review Interim Report: The Significance for Schools

Safe Schools Alliance: Factsheets and Template Letters for Parents

Transgender Trend: A fantastic resource for parents

School Refusal: What to do when your child is reluctant to go to school

Information to Share with Your Child’s Doctor or School

Detransition

A Typology of Gender Detransition and Its Implications for Healthcare Providers

This open-access article discusses how important it is to look at detransition from a research perspective, highlighting the comparative lack of discussion and resources aimed at identify and supporting individuals who decide to desist from pursuing gender transition. Gender detransition …

Detransitioners: Videos

Transgender Trend wrote an article addressing the rise in YouTube vloggers describing their own transition through an ideological lens, and the influence this might have on young women who are confused or questioning their own identities. But with the rising …

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