Just Be Yourself: A Wellness Guide for Transgender, Two-Spirit, and Nonbinary Youth

Just Be Yourself: A Health & Wellness Guide for Trans, Two-Spirit, and Nonbinary Youth

Land Acknowledgement

We begin by acknowledging our research team works on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. The land it is situated on has always been a place of learning for the Musqueam, who for millennia have passed on their culture, history, and traditions from one generation to the next on this site.[1]

We offer our acknowledgement, gratitude, and respect to all Indigenous communities on whose traditional territories this guide is shared, recognizing this guide will be shared beyond so-called Canada. We encourage you to take the time to reflect on the lands you are on while accessing this guide.[2]

We celebrate and honour Indigenous transgender, nonbinary, and Two-Spirit people and communities. We recognize the harms of colonization and the ongoing role colonialism plays in disrupting Indigenous Ways of Knowing, including through imposing binary concepts of gender and sex.

This guide addresses wellness-related questions from Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth from across so-called Canada. We recognize that Indigenous transgender, nonbinary, and Two-Spirit youth have unique experiences with healthcare services and our work to improve health information and health services must be intersectional. We encourage everyone seeking to improve gender-affirming care and wellness services to strive to do this in a good way, engaging with cultural humility[3] as we collectively work toward cultural safety,[4] truth and reconciliation, and the eradication of Indigenous-specific racism.

Citations

[1] UBC Vancouver Indigenous Portal

[2] Visit https://native-land.ca/ to learn more about Indigenous lands.

[3] “Cultural humility is a process of self-reflection to understand personal and systemic biases and to develop and maintain respectful processes and relationships based on mutual trust. Cultural humility involves humbly acknowledging oneself as a learner when it comes to understanding another’s experience.” (See First Nations Health Authority)

[4] “Cultural safety is an outcome based on respectful engagement that recognizes and strives to address power imbalances inherent in the health care system. It results in an environment free of racism and discrimination, where people feel safe when receiving health care.” (See First Nations Health Authority)

Introduction

Overview & Purpose

Welcome to Just Be Yourself: A Wellness Guide for Transgender, Two-Spirit, and Nonbinary Youth in Canada! We’re glad you’re here. You are not alone. Wherever you are on your journey, we hope that this guide will help you to find answers to some of your questions.

We know Transgender, Two-Spirit, and Nonbinary (TTNB) youth across Canada have questions about ways to support their gender journeys. We received a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to support this project, which addresses the health information needs of TTNB youth up to age 25.

A TTNB Youth Advisory Team guided this project, working collaboratively with researchers at The University of British Columbia from May 2023 through April 2024. To learn about health-related questions TTNB youth had, we held 6 online focus groups. Based on the information we learned in the focus groups, we created an anonymous online survey, to which 132 youth responded. Our research team reviewed participants’ responses and developed this guide to address as many questions as possible.

We also asked youth what research questions are of importance to them. These will be shared with researchers to encourage future research on the questions asked by TTNB youth.

How to use this guide

Terms

The information in this guide focuses on social transition and affirmation, navigating social spaces, gender-affirming healthcare, and rights, advocacy, and allies. We encourage you to read about the topics of interest to you. There is no single pathway to gender health. We hope some of the information in this guide will help you on your gender journey.

TTNB

TTNB stands for transgender, Two-Spirit, and nonbinary. TTNB is an umbrella term intended to include all youth, up to age 25, whose gender does not align with social and cultural expectations based on the sex/gender assigned to them at birth.

Gender health

Gender health describes the experience of living in genders that feel most real or comfortable and being able to freely express those genders.

Gender-affirming care

Gender-affirming care describes any healthcare or social support provided in ways that affirm a person’s gender and support their gender embodiment.

Gender-affirming medical interventions

Gender-affirming medical interventions describe specific medical interventions like puberty blockers or hormone therapy provided to support a person’s gender health goals and gender embodiment.

DISCLAIMERS

We published this guide in 2024. We know that laws, policies, and options for healthcare change over time and vary across provinces, territories, and Nations. To find specific information for your region and to keep up to date on changes that may affect you, look for trustworthy resources near you. This guide is not intended to provide medical or legal advice. If you have questions about accessing gender-affirming healthcare for yourself or a loved one, we encourage you to reach out to a trusted healthcare provider or organization.

Just Be Yourself: The Guide

More Resources

For a downloadable version of this guide, quick reference infosheets and our community report, please visit the Just Be Yourself Resources page.

Thank you & Acknowledgments

First, we offer our sincere gratitude to all youth who generously shared their time and expertise by serving on the Youth Advisory Team, participating in a focus group, and taking time to complete the online survey. This project was developed for youth, by youth. We are so proud of all you have accomplished.

This project was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and received a certificate of approval from The University of British Columbia Behavioural Research Ethics Board (#H23-00711).

Thank you to our project partner, Trans Care BC, for supporting Indigenous consultation, recruitment, resource development, and resource sharing. Thank you to youth organizations across Canada for sharing information about this project and for the work you do every day to support TTNB youth.

Thank you to all the members of our research team who contributed to creating this guide and to Hannah Sullivan Facknitz for editing, graphic design, and web design.

Finally, thank YOU for taking time to explore this guide. We hope you have found answers to some of your questions. We invite you to share this guide with others who have questions about health and wellness for trans, Two-Spirit, and nonbinary (TTNB) youth. We want all youth to be able to just be themselves as they move through their gender journeys.

Wellness Guide Citation

Ji, D., Foran, E., Seburn, K., & Clark, D. B. A. (2024). Just be yourself: A wellness guide for transgender, Two-Spirit, and nonbinary youth. Vancouver, BC: Healthcare Ethics & Equity Team, School of Nursing, The University of British Columbia.