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Client Centered Therapy: The Protocol

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Client-centered therapy involves being congruent with myself while constructing a working alliance with a client. That means I am congruent in my beliefs while allowing the other individual their beliefs. Carl Rogers (1951) applied the humanistic concepts in his formulation of client-centered therapy in which cure is a matter of restoring growth-understanding, unconditional acceptance, and genuineness of relationship. First and foremost, the client must want to change. Given these necessary conditions, people will naturally and automatically begin to respond in healthy ways.[85] 

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The protocol for children with gender confusion is client-centered and starts with parent interviews. The assessment also attempts to understand the general functioning of the family matrix (e.g., the parent’s relationship, parent-child relationships, sibling relationship, etc.) and how the child is functioning at school, in peer groups, etc. An effort is made to gain an understanding of how the parents have responded to their child’s cross-gender behaviour prior to assessment, what goals parents have with regard to their child’s gender development, and so on.[86] Most importantly, the protocol is to help the child live in their natal bodies. 

 

  1. Respect for the dignity of the person.

  2. Do no harm. 

  3. Maintain responsibility to other members of society. If an individual is hurting themselves or others, steps can be taken to mitigate such harm.  

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Authors of the Parent and Teacher Guideline for Gender Dysphoric Youth Michelle A. Cretella, MD. (Chair of the Adolescent Sexuality Council of the American College of Pediatricians, and past executive director of American College of Pediatricians); Linda Blade, PHD (Kinesiology and Olympian Triathlete) and former president for Athletics Alberta; and Lara Forsberg (Med)

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Parent and Teacher Guideline for Gender Dysphoric Youth published 2025

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