Natalie Bergstrasser is a Cultivate Connection Facilitator, Social Worker, Mom and more. She experienced the foster care system from the inside as a biological child in a foster family and then later as a child in the foster care system. She now is working from multiple angles to affect change in the system and make sure that children and families have what they need to thrive and you're going to love hearing from her! Natalie is brilliant, thoughtful and the kind of person everybody wants on their team - tune in to hear why!

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, visit us on our website, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram or check out all of our podcast episodes and video resources on YouTube!

We're joined today by one of our favorite guests of all time - Carissa Woodwyk is a licensed professional therapist, mom, adoptee advocate and adult adoptee herself (among lots of other things). 10 years ago Carissa took the stage at the Created for Care Conference and sparked a complex conversation about the many nuanced sides of the adoption conversation. Carissa speaks often of the "both and" within adoption and unpacks that thought and so many more with us today. 

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, visit us on our website, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram or check out all of our podcast episodes and video resources on YouTube!

We are throwing it back to one of our most impactful episodes of the year for this moment. It's National Adoption Awareness Month and the perfect time to revisit this conversation between a Birth Mother (Ashley Mitchell), Adoptee (Carissa Woodwyk) and Adoptive Mother (Tona Ottinger). 

What if instead of being separated into our corners of the triad focusing on what makes us different we found ourselves drawn together through our similarities? Join us on this episode where Tona is joined by her dear friends Carissa Woodwyk and Ashley Mitchell. Together they represent the three parts of the adoption triad in all of its brokenness, beauty, pain and possibility. This conversation is courageous, bold, heartfelt, and raw as it invites us to reimagine moving TOGETHER towards connection, hope, healing and wholeness. 

To learn more about Empowered to Connect, visit us on our website, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram or check out all of our podcast episodes and video resources on YouTube!

Remember that social media post you made years ago? The one that just popped up in your timehop or Facebook memories and reminded you of just how ignorant you USED TO be? We all have those posts and today on the show we have a brilliant guest to remind us that we can celebrate the gift of growing, learning and changing perspectives.

Ashley Mitchell, or @bigtoughgirl as she's known on Instagram, is a leader in the adoption advocacy space and a fierce defender of birth mothers in the adoption constellation (or 'triad' - more on that in today's episode), of which she is one herself. Today, Ashley joins us to share about the incredible work being done in a variety of sectors in the adoption world, how she's working to bring an end to human trafficking of adoptees and so, so much more. 

To learn more about ETC, follow our Youtube Channel, like us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram!

Ok we admit - the title is a little 'click-baity', but don't we all want the secrets to caring for our tweens and teens without losing our minds!? We brought Scott Watters from Arms of Hope in today to tell us how we can do that and let me tell you - he did not disappoint! Over the years Scott has worked with Arms of Hope but also with our great friends at the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development as a TBRI mentor and he brings a refreshing, thoughtful and experienced voice to the show to help us all have hope that we can parent through these teen years while still building connection with our kids.

To learn more about ETC, follow our Youtube Channel, like us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram!

Sheila Wise Rowe is a brilliant author, speaker, thinker and guest on today's episode! She is the author of two incredible books: Healing Racial Trauma: The Road to Resilience and Young, Gifted and Black, a Journey of Lament and Celebration (both incredible books that you should add to your library right now). Sheila joins us to define racial trauma and speaks to how we need to understand racial trauma in our own history as parents before we can lead our children to healing. 

We cover a LOT in this episode and whether it's talking about her own experience being part of bussing integration efforts in Boston or giving advice to transracial adoptive families, you won't want to miss what Sheila brings to the episode today!

To learn more about ETC, follow our Youtube Channel, like us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram!

We hear people talk about doing 'the work' all the time. In different contexts, it holds different meanings, but generally, this phrase refers to the work needed that cannot be substituted. Today, we add to our conversation about attachment from a parenting standpoint to discuss what it means and how to begin doing 'the work' as parents.

To hear our episode on Attachment with Dr. Jamie DeLuna, listen here, To hear our episode on Attachment and Attachment Styles with Dr. Casey Call, listen here and as always, to check us out on YouTube, head to our channel!

Our latest animated video helping explain attachment cycles is live on YouTube and it got us thinking about something. For all of us here at ETC, learning about attachment theory and the attachment styles was a game changer. We all know that when it comes to parenting, there's no miracle button that makes everything easy - there are, however, pieces of information that make a radical difference in how we parent. This is one of those topics. Becca McKay, Tona Ottinger and JD Wilson discuss the personal and parenting implications for their own lives once they began learning about the attachment cycle and attachment styles.

To hear our episode on Attachment with Dr. Jamie DeLuna, listen here, To hear our episode on Attachment and Attachment Styles with Dr. Casey Call, listen here and as always, to check us out on YouTube, head to our channel!

Today we hear from one of our favorite people and recurring guests, Jocelyn Lee. Jocelyn is a Licensed School Social Worker and joins us today to elaborate on a statement she made at an ETC event years ago. We'd invited Jocelyn to give her perspective as part of a panel discussion on Transracial Adoption and she shared this thought: Don't make your child's race a field trip. Hear the reason Jocelyn said this, ways she suggests transracial adoptive parents take steps toward embracing their child's culture and so, so much more in today's episode!

To learn more about ETC, follow our Youtube Channel, like us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram!