VERNON -- Rebekah Bruesehoff hasn't always been comfortable in her own skin.

Around the age of 7, she talked about not wanting to be alive, her mother, Jamie Bruesehoff, said.

"She didn't enjoy anything, she had anxiety, was really distressed and depression came with that," Jamie said. "She just kind of lost the light in her."

It wasn't until after Rebekah hit a crisis point that her family became aware of the reason for the distress -- her gender. She'd been born a boy, but in her heart, she knew she was a girl.

Two years after her transition, Rebekah says much has changed.

"I feel way more happier now that I know who I am," she said. "I feel me."

Rebekah, her mother said, had been "gender non-conforming from the time she was two or three."

Rebekah gravitated toward pink, purple, sparkles and girl clothes, but, around second grade, she began to get anxious over being grouped with boys in school or having to take on boy's roles in school plays.

That anxiety, Jamie said, began to manifest itself. She attempted to run into traffic, or, in another case, punched out her window screen and tried to jump out of the window.

After going to counseling, consulting pediatric specialists in gender and "peeling back the layers," it one day clicked when Rebekah learned the word "transgendered." For her, Jamie said, it was "a light-bulb moment."

"She was pulled back from the proverbial and literal window ledge," her mother said.

It was after then -- and during the year she was homeschooled before going to a different school -- that Rebekah transitioned and began to live as a girl.

"We saw a huge difference of her just coming out of her shell," Jamie said.

After she went back to school, people in the Vernon schools and the community began to learn about Rebekah's transition. The community's reaction, Jamie said, has been remarkably positive.

Jamie said she saw firsthand the community embracing her daughter after a service at their church where her husband, Christopher, is the pastor.

A parishioner approached Jamie and said she didn't fully understand what it was to be transgendered, but she could see the difference in Rebekah. As a boy, Rebekah would hide behind her parents and wouldn't give a high-five, but now she was smiling, twirling her dress and high-fiving.

"What more is there to know?" the parishioner reportedly said.

Jamie knows her daughter will face challenges growing up, but believes it's better than the alternative.

"It might be the easiest road but its better than her trying to live a life where she's not who she is," she said.

One of the biggest pieces of advice the Bruesehoffs have received from pediatric specialists is to, "Just keep listening to her. Support, don't encourage."

To that end, Rebekah and her family have become advocates for the transgender community, with Jamie testifying before the state legislature for pro-trans bills and rallying in support of trans rights.

After the Trump administration rescinded the Obama-era guidelines that granted transgendered children rights, including the ability to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender they identify with, Rebekah and her mom went and spoke at a rally in Jersey City, which, her mother said, "was really empowering." It was then that a photo of her holding a sign saying "I'm the scary transgender person the media warned you about" went viral.

Not all of the responses online have been positive, but, Jamie said, she's been able to shield her daughter from the negative ones.

Rebekah said her parents have been her "biggest supporters."

"I feel my mom and dad have been my biggest supporters because they've just helped me go through this change," she said.

Still, even parents need support. Jamie said she and her husband have relied the most on Facebook communities for parents of transchildren, along with the gender clinic at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and parents' groups such as PFLAG.

"It's important just being able to connect with people and be able to talk to parents going through the same thing," she said.

Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.