Brooks Bull, in fulfilling the requirements of the PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy at Antioch University’s New England Campus, has written and published a dissertation titled Parents of Non-Binary Children: Stories of Understanding and Support.
Our culture dictates that there are two genders, yet many children identify as non-binary, and their parents are faced with the challenge of providing understanding and support. Non-binary is a gender that is neither strictly female nor strictly male. There is a lack of research available for clinicians looking to help families of non-binary children, and this dissertation seeks to bridge that gap. Non-binary children are often lumped in with binary transgender counterparts when included in studies, which doesn’t reveal their unique needs.
Bull asks three families of non-binary children the question: “What are the stories parents of non-binary children tell about how they came to understand and affirm their child?” Bull found that these parents had a shared experience of feeling misunderstood in support groups for parents of transgender children and how including them in the transgender community erases some of their experience. These children are even more vulnerable to minority stress than their binary transgender counterparts.
Familial support is crucial when predicting a non-binary child’s future health and well-being, and family therapists should work with parents to ensure that non-binary children have their full affirmation and support. In this study, each participant had different challenges and triumphs, but four common themes emerged. All the mothers confronted core beliefs, felt like they didn’t belong to a group or category, and then stepped into a leadership role in their families. They also found help and resources and shared them with others.
Brooks Bull trained at Northwestern Sex Therapy Associates for two years and specializes in relationship issues, sex therapy, and trauma-informed therapy for people of all genders. Read and download Bulls dissertation, Parents of Non-Binary Children: Stories of Understanding and Support.
