Seventeen-year-old Elliot Schneider knows how vital mental health support can be.

The American teenager, who uses the pronouns they/them, was just 12 when they came out as non-binary following a battle with depression and anxiety. Without their supportive parents and community, they are not sure they would have survived.

¡°Going through female puberty was one of the most uncomfortable and confusing times in my life. I knew it wasn¡¯t supposed to be happening to me,¡± Schneider said by video call from Austin, Texas.