RACHEL L PEPPER

Welcome and thanks for visiting my website!

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of California. I did clinical training through the AIDS Health Project and Dimensions Clinic as an intern and have worked at several agencies since then. I have extensive experience working with the LGBT population, as well as with transitional aged youth, and also with foster youth throughout the state. Improving the lives of foster youth remains a personal priority for me, and likely always will.

I maintain a private practice here in Oakland, CA, working primarily with teens and adults. I enjoy living in the Bay Area with my family, which includes the world's cutest dog!

I am also an author with more than 30 years experience writing for the alternative press. My articles and essays have appeared in publications ranging from the Bay Guardian to the Advocate, from Art Forum to the Bay Area Reporter. I was a founding editor at Curve magazine, where I regularly wrote music and book reviews.

Over the years, I have been profiled in forums like Glamor Magazine and the NY Times, and featured in several films, as well as being interviewed on TV. My publications include authoring or editing four books, in addition to all my freelance work. My best known book is The Transgender Child, which I cowrote with Stephanie Brill, and which has been read by many thousands of people all over the world! My writing has won several awards including the 2013 IPPY award for my own favorite of all my books, Transitions of the Heart: Stories of Love, Struggle and Acceptance by Mothers of Transgender and Gender Variant Children.

Fun links to learn more:

Here is a link to my latest article for Mutha, which ask us to consider our identity as LGBT parents, when our children leave the nest.

Here are links to my books, including the 2013 IPPY Award winner Transitions of the Heart.

Me, on TV
A while back, I had the honor of appearing on Bay Sunday to speak about my work and promote Transitions of the Heart, an award winning book I edited. Here is a link if you are interested in watching it on YouTube: Watch Rachel on Bay Sunday!

And a timely interview in the NY Times, too
Check out this New York Times feature, a Women in the World column about new options for transgender children.
Click here to read the New York Times interview

Contact me
If you wish to e-mail me, you can do so at RLPepper@Hotmail.com. Please put "contacting Rachel Pepper" in the subject line. You can also reach me via phone at my confidential private practice voice mail number, 510-359-8756.
For more details see the Contact page on this website.