Thriving Adoptees - Let's Thrive

What's wrong with me? Perhaps our most fundamental question. One we can answer intellectually 'nothing'. Or we can see that we are perfect - in theory. But how do we get to that place in our soul, gut or bones. How do we transcend cellular shame to love ourselves unconditionally? Listen into Lilly's learnings on healing. Profound and empowering, just like we like our interviews on Thriving Adoptees. We're still a niche but boy do we go deep to share catalysts. We heal together.

https://www.instagram.com/anspach_

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lilly-anspach-097a294/

https://www.facebook.com/carrie.anspach

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Trigger warning: mention of suicidal ideation. Sometimes we have to break down to break through. Our biggest insights come in our lowest moments. So what's the biggest insight? The insight with infinite levels: there's nothing wrong with us. All is, in fact, right with us. We are perfect with our imperfections. Listen in as Sue, adopted in the 1950's, shares her breakthrough healing moments.

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Have the most popular ways to heal left you still feeling wounded? Perhaps it's time for a different approach. Listen in as Zhen shares what has helped her feel whole. A conversation full of healing nuggets.

Here's a bit about Zhen's first interview:

Are you a transracial/transnational adoptee with a complex relationship to your birth country/culture? Listen in as Zhen shares what she's learned navigating that complexity. Highly empowering.

Here's  a link to Zhen's first interview https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/zhen-rammelsberg

Zhen E Rammelsberg is a Korean American adoptee and new playwright and has had her Heuer Play Canst Thou Hearest Thee Now produced and performed in multiple states. She has traveled to a few of these states to see the productions. Her newest play loosely based upon her adoption story called Black Box: An Adoption Choreopoem is yet unpublished but has been performed in Chicago at an all Asian American Playwiting festival and was most recently performed in Cedar Rapids Iowa at the Underground Playwriting Festival where it won 3 awards Best Youth Performer, Best Ensemble and Runner Up for Best New Play. Zhen E resides in Marion Iowa with the Spock to her Kirk of a husband Robert and her 2 cats Toulouse and Pip. The Rammelsbergs split their time traveling from Iowa to Milwaukee to visit their son and also to Korea. As well as being a part time playwright, Zhen E is a part time massage therapist, part time Wedding Official, part time wig and make up technician for several local theatre and opera companies, and Full Time lover of Hello Kitty and a Student of Life and Philanthropist.

https://www.facebook.com/zhen.e.rammelsberg

https://www.instagram.com/zhenerammelsberg

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhen-e-rammelsberg-03448021/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Does trauma feel dark to you? Does that darkness take you down? I know it has that effect on me. So how do we find more lightness? Listen in as Jennifer points us to toward a lighter life.

Here's a link to the interview with Jill Bolte Taylor https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/with-jill-bolte-taylor

Here's a bit about Jennifer's first interview:

The powerful emotions we adoptees feel can sometimes threaten to overwhelm us. So how do we get past those feelings? Listen in as fellow adoptee and podcaster Jennifer and I explore trauma, deceit, identity, mindful awareness and much more. 

Here's a link so you can listen to it https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/acceptance-with-jennifer-dyan-ghoston

Here's a bit about Jennifer from her website:

Hi, I'm Jennifer who is an adoptee in reunion with both sides of my birth family. I have been connected with the adoption community for over a decade and am always interested in hearing the personal stories of adoptees from all over the globe. I was born and raised in Chicago, IL. and in foster care for two years before my adoption. Prior to my 48th birthday, I set the intention to search for my birth family. The Truth So Far… is a memoir of my willingness to be open, honest and public about my adoption experience.

Once Upon A Time...In Adopteeland, the podcast is another way for me to hopefully add a valuable resource to the adoption community from the perspective of the adoptee.

https://www.jenniferdyanghoston.com/

https://www.instagram.com/jenniferdyanghoston

https://www.facebook.com/Onceuponatimeinadopteeland/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Trauma can wreak havoc at every level. Psychologically. Emotionally. Sociologically. Biologically. Spiritually. Theresa's body knew she was an alien but she wasn't told that she was adopted until 19. Listen in as she shares a lifetime's insights into healing at every level.

https://www.instagram.com/theresaknor

https://www.facebook.com/theresa.knorr/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresa-m-knorr-carc-243543b/

https://www.tiktok.com/@taichi4recovery

https://tknorr12.wixsite.com/wellnesseducator

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Do you yearn for more peace? Listen in as we dive into the profound place underneath our trauma. The place we feel at home and at peace.

At some level, often unconscious, many of us believe that a good reunion will make us whole again. But that reunion might not even happen. And even if it does, we haven't got a clue how well it will go.  So where's the hope given all the unknowns? How best should we navigate the process? Adoptee Heather shares her what she's learned from her own reunion and coaching fellow adoptees on their own journeys.

Heather G. Marshall was born in Leith, Scotland and grew up in Kilmarnock. From there, she emigrated to Kinsale, Ireland with her family before moving to the United States. Her fiction and creative nonfiction are published in literary journals in both the US and the UK. Her first novel, The Thorn Tree, is set in South Carolina and on the islands of Arran and Skye in Scotland.

Here's a link to Heather's previous interview

https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/healing-reunion-with-heather-g-marshall

https://heathergmarshall.com/

https://www.instagram.com/heather_g_marshall/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Trying to push away, numb or suppress tough emotions is exhausting and a short term fix if it works at all. We have to feel it to heal it. Nicky shares wisdom bombs to help us heal, including one that really landed for me - making friends with shame. It's so counter to what we normally do.

Nicky Hammond is a transracial adoptee who was born in South Korea. She and her identical twin sister were adopted by white parents in Sydney Australia. She currently lives with her hubby, two primary school aged boys and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier in the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

Nicky is a breathwork facilitator, master coach and former coach instructor. She is an expert in deep enquiry and using somatic practices to heal and expand. She is on her own healing journey using a whole range of modalities to heal. She calls herself The Coach's Coach because she is passionate about helping other coaches deepen their coaching conversations, so they can help facilitate their clients’ transformation and create ethical businesses aligned with their own values. Nicky has been using breathwork to nurture her own nervous system for years and loves sharing it, to help other people take care of themselves, heal, transform and flourish.

https://www.facebook.com/CoachsCoach.co/

https://www.instagram.com/coachscoach.co

https://www.coachscoach.co/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/coachscoach/

https://www.tiktok.com/@coachscoach.co

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

As a wise man once said to me, what we resists persists. So how do we accept the tough stuff we've been through? How do we get to the peace that lies at the other side? Listen in as Stephen shares hard won learnings. Powerful!

https://www.instagram.com/stephen_sternejr/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sas-jr/

Here are some links to episodes with birth mothers

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Has trauma imprisoned you? Created a trauma bound identity that feels like a life sentence? Listen in as Jude shares the hard won insights that have set her free. This interview was originally a Facebook Live. The first live an in person interview we've done on Thriving Adoptees. It's one of the most powerful and freeing of all 450 plus episodes. We hope it catalyses some insights for you.

https://www.facebook.com/jude.a.hung

https://www.instagram.com/finding_home_with_jude

https://fhwithjude.com/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Is your brain stuck in trauma? Do the same old feelings keep coming back? Listen in as Lorah shares insights across all the levels of healing - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and relational.

Here's a link to Lorah's previous interview - God Hated Me https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/god-hated-me-with-adoptee-lorah-gerald

This episode is all about one of the most dramatic turnarounds we've ever heard on the podcast. Lorah used to think that God hated her. That she was a demon. That her soul was shattered. Reunion shook her to the core. So what changed? Listen into her profound shifts. Let them catalyse shifts in you.

Here's more about Lorah from her website:

Welcome! Here’s a little bit about me. I am The Adopted Chameleon on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Pinterest. I found writing and being creative was therapeutic. I started these pages when I was at a very low point until I found solace in the adult adoptee community. This group knows my pain and understood how I feel. I felt seen and heard for the first time. I had a language and was able to better express what I needed to heal.  Being vulnerable and talking about my pain has helped me. Now I write to help myself as well as others. 

I am a trained Kundalini yoga instructor, TIYT-Trauma Informed Yoga Therapy, instructor, Reiki Master, and Intuitive. With my training in energy healing, trauma and breathe work training, I have studied methods that help with the healing process. Working with these tool I have learned to better understand my own trauma. I use my training to help myself and others. When we heal ourselves, we heal the world.

Having worked for Whole Foods Market for almost 7 years as their Marketing Team Leader, I relearned what whole, unprocessed food was. I enjoyed hosting many cooking classes, healthy eating events and, in turn, cleaned up my own diet. When I was young, my adoptive parents and I grew our own food. Food is important to our physical and mental well-being. I learned what foods to eat for optimal health. 

I was born with abilities that allow me to see/feel/hear things that other people may not. I found out after reunion with my siblings, that a strong intuition ran in my genetic family on both sides, as well as with my adoptive mother. With my intuition and my training, I have come up with ways to help myself and offer to help others.

Using all these tools, I have helped myself manage the trauma that adoption caused me. I had some life-changing events that have sent me on this path. This healing power lies within all of us. I will share my knowledge and training, to help you unleash your own healing power. 

I am an adoptee finding her way without her roots.

https://lorahgerald.com/

https://www.facebook.com/hela.goode.5

https://www.instagram.com/theadoptedchameleon/

https://www.pinterest.com/lorahwg/the-adopted-chameleon/

https://www.tiktok.com/@theadoptedchameleon

https://twitter.com/adptdchameleon

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2Ov54pUZ-uUNrGoqmZd33g

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.