452 The Professional Counselor | Volume 11, Issue 4 Acceptance Prudence provided an example of acceptance typical of the sample in that she not only accepted that the GCEI and other affirming practices would be beneficial, but she also arrived at a place where she wished she had started them earlier: I often say [child’s given name at birth] was the vessel, [child’s name] is the soul. If I had known that, and understood it wasn’t a phase, I probably would have pushed to start so he didn’t go through puberty as a female. Figure 1 A Dissonance-to-Consonance Model Relief ↑ ↓ Contributing Factors • Parental attunement • Autonomy from family of origin and religion • Possibility markers • Affirming religious beliefs • Access to resources and providers • Support from: Parenting partner, affirming religious beliefs/community, other affirming parents of TGD youth Inhibiting Factors • Fear of present/future social difficulty • Rejecting religious beliefs • Grieving lost parenting narrative • Lack of knowledge/access • Fear of GCEI side effects and politics • Doubt of youth’s gender identity • Rejection by partner or provider Exposure to Minoritized Experience Acceptance of New Ideas/Information Openness to New Ideas/Information Affirming Cost-Benefit Analysis ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓
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