'The resource trans people need right now' MEG-JOHN BARKER 'An excellent book' JOS TWIST 'Straightforward and accessible' JENNIE KERMODE
This empowering self-help guide provides advice and strategies for trans and/or non-binary people on a range of common mental health issues including anxiety, depression, body image, trauma, suicidal thoughts and dissociation. It provides advice on neutralising negative thoughts, coping with transphobia, coming out, dealing with imposter syndrome, and implementing achievable self-care strategies and mindfulness techniques.
Whether you are in a crisis or just looking for ways to improve your life, this reassuring guide is there for you to use in the way that helps you the most, regardless of where you are in your transition, or if you decide not to transition in conventional ways. Combining therapeutic expertise alongside first-hand experience, the book also highlights the importance of understanding and being proud of who you are, to help you live life to the fullest.
read a little bit of this from the little library in the gorgeous queer tattoo shop while i was waiting for my tattoo . and then the writer themselves walked in to get a tattoo !!! fab !!!
If you are a trans person struggling with your mental health in the UK I would recommend this book.
It is a lovely kind and gentle discussion of trans mental health written by trans therapist Katy Lees.
Katy’s book discusses multiple aspects of mental health in trans people with suggestions on how trans people can make steps towards helping some of the more unpleasant effects of being trans in a cis world.
Katy acknowledges that the book is set in a white western society and comes at this from a white British perspective but includes resources that are not just from white people, and acknowledges the additional burdens of racism that are faced by some trans people. The book also gives a nod to neurodivergence and whilst I would have loved to have seen a chapter on neurodivergence specifically their exercises contain adaptations for ND people.
This is an absolutely brilliant book and what lived experience is all about. Katy has been there and done that meaning that Katy takes you through the symptoms of mental health problems as well as the help that is available.
Katy tells you that you are not alone and that things will get better. And they will.
Sometimes you read a book that is tailored for a particular audience and you are that audience but you know that that book has something to say that is important and needs to be put out there for a wider audience. Other times you read a book that is not tailored for you but you know that that book has something to say to you. If you have struggled with mental health or think that you might have been struggling with mental health, you should read this book whether you are trans or not.
I love this book so much! It's become one of my go-to resources for helping with mental health and trans-related challenges. I always recommend it to fellow trans folk because it's very easily digestible and provides a lot of practical but gentle advice/information/guidance. I even bookmarked certain passages to go back and reread when I know I need it.
Although I'm not in the UK, I still found many resources provided in this book to be extremely helpful. This book directed me to a meditation podcast that I now enjoy listening to regularly, it taught me about certain apps that I now use, etc.
this was insightful, i read it over a long period of time but i definitely took some stuff from this and worked with it, either by myself or in therapy.
not everything was relevant to myself so i did skip a few chapters, but would probably recommend as there’s definitely something all trans people (and possibly people looking to support trans friends/family) can get from this book. wide range of content covered in an easy to digest and understand tone.
5* so that anyone who might find this helpful isn’t deterred by any kind of rating or review
Helped me a lot and discovered psychology behind some of the feelings and thoughts I’ve had during the process and also understanding other peoples mental health a lot more, good book recommendations, podcasts and apps and also community groups to access