I joined a Christian women's club and worked with the YWCA during this time. I made friends, gained confidence in my femininity, and I learned more about being a woman than any counselor or book could have told me. Graduated task assignments might be necessary to encourage this process. You provide a level of accountability for the client. By reporting to you on the completion of the task, she has the motivation to take the risks one at a time.
Adolescence is a time of risk taking.
You want to assure that the risks the client takes are reasonable and productive. When the client begins hormone therapy, the transsexual's adolescence takes on a physical as well as a symbolic meaning. In many ways the client relives puberty, but this time on the other side of the fence. We'll deal with specific hormonal effects in another chapter. However, certain effects are especially significant from a developmental perspective.