An experience report of a ludic therapeutic group of children with gender incongruence

Abstract

Report on an innovative proposal, which is sustainde as a therapeutic, ludic and sequential act, aiming specific meetings to work, in a psychotherapeutic manner, on issues related to the livres and identity, including gender, of these children. In 2019, the patients up to 12 years old, from the Transdisciplinary Outpatient Clinic for Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation (AMTIGOS) at the  Ipq/HC/FM/USP, were invited to participate in the group de Grupo de Brincar. The group  was accompanied by a transdisciplinary team and mediated by psychologists who presented structured activities in order to favor the children's exploration and sharing of their experience in a ludic way. Forty-five children aged from 4 a 12 years old, participated throughout the 10 meetings. Themes such as the body, gender expression, family and prejudices were worked on. It was possible to observe and accompany these children in the ludic and therapeutic process, as well as to welcome spontaneous demands without prejudices, stigmas, ideologies, or biases commonly dictated by current social norms related to gender. Carrying out children groups following this proposal has shown to have an even greater transformation potential for this population, which often feeels solitary concerning the presented gender incongruence.