Therapy, counseling, and support for trans and gender variant adults, teens, and children in Los Angeles and Southern California

Does your son pretend to have long hair and want to play with dolls? Does your daughter refuse to wear dresses and only want to play with the boys? Your child may be gender diverse. Some boys want to wear pink, flowery t-shirts with sparkles and some girls only want to wear boxers and not tinker bell bikinis. Some boys say I want to be a girl and some girls say I am a boy. How a child identifies his or her gender begins to be expressed at about the of age 3, and, what is interesting and not common knowledge, is that gender identity may or may not match how the child was identified at birth. When a child is born we name that child a boy or a girl solely based on anatomy. The child’s gender identity, which is separate and emerges in the first three years, is not based on how the body looks but on the child’s internal sense of self. So if your son says, “Mommy, I want to wear a dress to school.” or your daughter says, “Daddy, let’s go to the barbershop.  I want my hair cut short, just like yours”, s/he may be trying to tell you about this internal sense of self called gender identity.

This behavior can be very alarming and confusing for parents.  Many questions emerge. Do I encourage this, discourage it, or maybe pretend it’s not happening and hope it’s just a phase?  Do other children act like this? Who do I ask? Who do I tell? Who can I trust? The Child and Adolescent Team of the Los Angeles Gender Center, Susan Landon, MFT and Amy Padnick, MFT, specializing in gender diversity, will provide you with a safe and supportive environment to talk about all of the behaviors and concerns you have about your child. The Team is available to help you and your family navigate this journey of discovery.

The Team is comprised of licensed therapists who provide a full range of services:

  • Evaluation
  • Individual Counseling (multiple modalities including talk, play, and sand play therapies)
  • Support for School Related Issues
  • Education for Physicians
  • Child Advocacy
  • Resource Referral
  • Counseling for Children of Transgender Parents
  • Counseling and Careful Planning for Transitioning Parents Coming to Children

The Child and Adolescent Team works with the child individually and in the context of
the family and community by promoting acceptance, diminishing stigmatization and  developing new constructs that make way for healthy emotional development.

 

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