Exploring Identity - Guide Booklet

This guide has been created with care for LGBTIQA+ young people who may be

wondering, questioning, exploring, feeling unsure, feeling proud, feeling scared, or

simply wanting language for parts of themselves they are still getting to know.

It is informed by LGBTIQA+ affirming practice, trauma-informed care,

neuroaffirming approaches, child and adolescent mental health knowledge, and the

lived experiences of young people who have helped adults understand what

support, safety and respect can look like.

This guide is for different kinds of minds, bodies and nervous systems. You might

read it from start to finish, skip around, look mostly at the pictures, come back to

one page later, or read small parts with someone you trust.

You might understand yourself through words, body feelings, sensory comfort,

clothes, colours, names, pronouns, patterns, images, or time. There is no one

“normal” way to explore who you are.

This guide has been created with care for LGBTIQA+ young people who may be wondering, questioning, exploring, feeling unsure, feeling proud, feeling scared, or simply wanting language for parts of themselves they are still getting to know. It is informed by LGBTIQA+ affirming practice, trauma-informed care, neuroaffirming approaches, child and adolescent mental health knowledge, and the lived experiences of young people who have helped adults understand what support, safety and respect can look like. This guide is for different kinds of minds, bodies and nervous systems. You might read it from start to finish, skip around, look mostly at the pictures, come back to one page later, or read small parts with someone you trust. You might understand yourself through words, body feelings, sensory comfort, clothes, colours, names, pronouns, patterns, images, or time. There is no one “normal” way to explore who you are.