The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity

The Gender Quest Workbook
by Rylan Jay Testa, PhD, Deborah Coolhart, PhD, Jayme Peta, MA

This one-of-a-kind, comprehensive workbook will help you navigate your gender identity and expression at home, in school, and with peers.

If you are a transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) teen, you may experience unique challenges with identity and interpersonal relationships. In addition to experiencing common teen challenges such as body changes and peer pressure, you may be wondering how to express your unique identity to others. The Gender Quest Workbook incorporates skills, exercises, and activities from evidence-based therapies—such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)—to help you address the broad range of struggles you may encounter related to gender identity, such as anxiety, isolation, fear, and even depression.

Despite outdated beliefs, gender no longer implies being simply male or female, but rather a whole spectrum of possibilities. This fun, engaging workbook is designed specifically for teens like you who want to explore the concept of gender and gender identity and expression—whether you already identify as TGNC or are simply questioning your gender identity.

The activities in this book will help you explore your identity internally, interpersonally, and culturally. And along the way, you’ll learn how to effectively express yourself and make informed decisions on how to navigate your gender with family, friends, classmates, and coworkers. The book also includes chapters on sex and dating, balancing multiple identities, and how to deal with stressful challenges when they arise.

The Gender Quest Workbook also features a brief downloadable guide for clinicians that explains ways professionals can better serve gender-expansive youth. The guide will address ways to help youth working with gender identity build resilience against gender minority stress, among other topics.

"Let’s take a quest! Let “The Gender Quest Workbook” be your guide on the journey to understand gender, whether you’ve been thinking this your whole life, or just the last 30 seconds. This book provides activities that will take you from “What is gender?” to “How do I understand my Gender?” and through “How does my gender effect how I relate with the world?” - Reviewer