01-20-2021 12:52 PM - last edited on 02-05-2021 11:28 AM by Hannah-RO
My 12 year old daughter told me around Christmas time that she is bi-gender and wants to change her name. I have been looking for counseling for her and I to go together so that I can get a better understanding of what she is going through. However, just today I found out she has been self-harming for 2 days. I am so afraid to let her out of my sight!!!! Has anyone else dealt with either of these issues? if so, please help.....Concerned Mom
01-20-2021 02:55 PM - edited 01-20-2021 02:57 PM
Hi @JM1108
Thanks for posting here about what is going on for your family. It's lovely that your daughter has confided in you about her gender identity, she clearly really trusts you and knows how much you care for her
How are you going with calling her by her preferred name? It can be tough and take some getting used to. We have a lot of great resources around teens and gender identity, including this lovely story from a parent who talks about how they have supporting their transgender teen, and this article with tips about talking to your teens about their gender and sexuality.
When young people are self-harming it can be really scary for parents, its totally understandable to be worried and frightened, I'll link a content piece here about self-harm and teens that could be good to have a look at.
Its really wonderful that you're looking into getting counselling for you both so you can better understand what she's going through, how is this going? Have you managed to find any counsellors that might be suitable?
Another option that parents find helpful when their teens are self-harming is to chat to a GP about it, is this something that you think could be useful for you?
Self-harm is something we talk to a lot of parents about, you are not alone If you want to have a look at some of the other threads where we've discussed this, I'll put a link here
Also just letting you know, I edited your post a little bit to align with our community guidelines around discussions of self harm.
Let us know how you get on.
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