A Sacred Journey

A Guidebook for LDS Parents of Gender Diverse Children

By Julia Campbell Bernards, PhD, LMFT

Find hope, perspective, and guidance to move forward faithfully.

Coming late 2025. A Sacred Journey is a compassionate guide for Latter-day Saint parents navigating life with a child who identifies as transgender or gender-diverse.

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About A Sacred Journey

Many Latter-day Saint families find themselves seeking understanding and direction when a child comes out as transgender or gender-diverse. In A Sacred Journey, Julia Bernards, PhD, a family therapist, researcher, and fellow LDS parent of a trans child, offers hope-filled guidance, research-backed perspectives, answers to frequently asked questions, and multitudes of resources.

Drawing on Dr. Bernards’ groundbreaking research with nearly a hundred and fifty Latter-day Saint parents of transgender children, A Sacred Journey illuminates the facets and stages parents experience with a trans or gender diverse child. It offers LDS parents a compassionate, gospel-informed guide through the mental, emotional, social, and spiritual terrain of this life-altering experience. Each chapter includes practical suggestions for the journey, and hundreds of parents’ quotes and stories are featured throughout the book.

Whether you're at the very beginning of your journey or years into it, A Sacred Journey reminds you that you are not alone. Many have walked this path and their collective wisdom and witness are here for you.