Support for young people
This service is for Southampton-based children aged 12-18 experiencing significant difficulty in relation to gender.
We run a therapy group that meets on Thursdays in term time. The group aims to use creative and talking therapies to help young people:
- Express thoughts & feelings that may be hard to put into words.
- Build social skills and confidence through exchange with others and participation in group activity.
- Explore thoughts and feelings about gender and related distress.
- Recognise and manage uncertainties about the future.
- Look at things from different perspectives.
- Explore ways of coping with challenging experiences or emotions.
- Build on strengths & consider aspects of identity aside from gender.
Read more in the full service leaflet here.
Support for parents and carers
We facilitate a group once each term where parents/carers of young people engaged with this service can meet to support one another, share information and ideas about supporting their child/family and where we sometimes hear from visitors with relevant expertise/experience.
For more information please see our Resources and Policies page.
For our Gender Identity Therapy Service leaflet, please click here.
You can also read our GI Therapy Service Project Evaluation (2010-25)
Read recent article written by Jo Pearce on the development of our Gender Identity Service here.
To refer in to the service, please complete the online form here.
“It let me let my feelings out”
“Accessing support for children with these specific needs is almost impossible. I genuinely don’t know what I would have done without the group. Yellow Door provided a safe, non-judgmental space where she could start to explore who she was, without the pressure of school or family. She was able to meet other young people who were experiencing the same, or similar, emotions and feelings and for the first time in her life started to feel like she did have a place”
“It’s been really helpful having art and games when we’re talking. It’s helped me be able to talk about really difficult things in a comfortable and accepting environment. Having the group has helped with my anxiety and worries because I’ve heard other people’s stories and how they cope.”
“It’s been incredibly helpful to have someone to talk to who understands the emotions and feelings surrounding gender dysphoria”