Thriving Adoptees - Let's Thrive

Wave after wave of powerful emotions threaten to engulf us as trauma blows like a force 10 gale. Anxiety, insecurity and fear feel like they can drown us. So how do we ride the waves rather than fighting them? Because we know that's futile right? Listen in as we take a deep dive into the storm that is adoption trauma.

Here's the link to the Ministry of Inspiration  https://www.theministryofinspiration.com/

Janeen Jackson was a longtime resident of Santa Monica, CA, and in 2022 moved to Evanston, IL, with her husband, Ron Clark, and their two sons, Tyson and Phoenix. She received her B.A. from Norfolk State University, an HBCU, and completed her master’s in Education Leadership and Change in 2020 from Antioch University.

In 2018, at age 46, Janeen received unexpected news through DNA technology: she was adopted and biracial. Read about Janeen’s adoption discovery at:

https://janeenjackson.com/

Mixedupdiary.com

https://www.instagram.com/mixupdiary/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091805086716

https://twitter.com/hello_janeen

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeenjackson

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.

In this podcast, Guy Gray walks us through dealing with anger that has come up as a result of abandonment. Guy was placed for adoption at birth and was in a foster home until he was 10 weeks old.

Guy feels that his adopted parents were loving and nurturing. Yet the feelings of the initial wound, being abandoned at birth, does flare up, sometimes with explosive anger.

As Guy indicates, this has become more in control by talking to another birth mother, challenging Guy's false assumptions, and by forgiving his birth mother.

Find out more about Guy and his book...

https://www.storiesandphotosbyguy.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.

So many of us have felt wounded so long. So what would it feel like to be whole? Listen in as we explore experiencing wholeness and what get in its way. Profound and enlightening. Just how we like our conversations on Thriving Adoptees.

Find out more about Dawn here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-tracz-37700516/

Read about her research here:

https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/2462/

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.

Many of us - myself included have sought to fix our trauma only to find it exhausting and ineffective. So what we do instead? Listen in as adoptee and therapist Joyce shares 55 years of experience on creating a new relationship with trauma to bring us peace.

Here's the link to Joyce's previous interview https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/theres-nothing-wrong-with-us-with-joyce-maguire-pavao

Here's the link to the interview with Leon https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/with-leon-clowes

Dr. Pavao has done extensive training, both nationally and internationally.  She is a lecturer in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and she has consulted to various public and private child welfare agencies, adoption agencies, schools, and community groups, as well as probate and family court judges, lawyers, and clergy.  Additionally, she has worked closely with individuals and families touched by adoption, foster care, and other complex blended family constructions.

She has developed models for treatment and for training using her systemic, intergenerational, and developmental framework, The Normative Crises in the Development of the Adoptive Family, and her book, The Family of Adoption (Beacon Press), has received high acclaim.

Dr. Pavao has received many awards and honors, including the Children’s Bureau/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Adoption Excellence Award for Family Contribution (2003) and the Congressional Coalition on Adoption award for Angels in Adoption (2000).

http://www.pavaoconsulting.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Dr.JoyceMaguirePavao

https://twitter.com/GetKinnected

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kinnect/

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.

We can't talk ourselves out of our pre-verbal trauma. Our intellect can't heal pre-intellectual trauma. So what on earth do we do? Listen in as we dive into healing as an experience with adoptee and therapist Nicolle.

Find out more about her at:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolle-a-tremitiere-lcsw-79199a25/

https://www.facebook.com/TtraumaR/

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.

How does our pain become resilience? Filmmaker and transracial adoptee Glenn has, with his wife, interviewed 100 Korean adoptees for their Side by Side project. Having compartmentalized his own pain, he was surprised about the amount of pain he heard. What he's learned from his fellow adoptees has, and continues to be, vital on his journey to resilience. Listen in as we dive into the profound learnings on that journey.

Glenn and Julie Morey are a husband/wife filmmaking team. Glenn (AKA Kim Kang) was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1960. He was abandoned days after birth, taken to Seoul City Hall, then to a Holt orphanage, and adopted at the age of six months to the US. He has a long career as a commercial and documentary filmmaker. Julie Morey is an artist and filmmaker, and her work has been recognized in film festivals across the country. They live in Denver as empty-nesters, but with adopted cats.

https://sidebysideproject.com/

https://www.facebook.com/glennmorey

https://www.facebook.com/SidebySideDocumentary

https://twitter.com/sidebysideproj

https://www.instagram.com/glennfmorey/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenn-morey-b297174/

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.

What helps you heal? Other people's perspectives continues to be a huge catalyst on my healing journey. Whether it's validating our feelings or showing us something new, we heal. Their truths can shift our truth. Insights from others in the adoption constellation can be particularly potent. This episode brings you not one, but three perspectives so listen in and let their healing insights and highlights from their new book, heal you.

Adoption Unfiltered is presented by adoptee Sara Easterly, birth parent Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, and adoptive parent Lori Holden. Collectively, we bring 75 years of lived experience relating to adoption, and we span the Millennial, Gen X, and Baby Boomer generations. We understand the history, challenges, and trends experienced by people living in adoption and the broader adoption constellation, and we are recognized throughout the adoption community as thought leaders, influencers, and bridge-builders.

Sara Easterly is an award-winning author of books and essays. Her memoir, Searching for Mom, won a gold medal in the Illumination Book Awards, among several other honors. Her adoption-focused articles, essays, and book reviews have been published by Psychology Today, Dear Adoption, Severance Magazine, Feminine Collective, Godspace, Her View from Home, and Englewood Review of Books, to name a few.

Sara is founder of Adoptee Voices and previously led one of the largest chapters of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, where she was recognized as SCBWI Member of the Year. She is on staff with the Neufeld Institute, where she supports the Adoption & Foster Care cohort of the Reaching Troubled Kids course, spearheads the Kid-Lit Book Club, and oversees the Neufeld Institute Children’s Book List. Additionally, Sara brings 20+ years of experience as a publicist and event planner orchestrating book tours, launch campaigns, and large-scale events.

Link Instagram Facebook Twitter

Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard spent several years working in the adoption field, most notably working on public policy issues impacting all adoption-triad members. Kelsey has played a part in the success of state legislation and has tirelessly advocated for current federal legislation. She’s a birth mother who is passionate about raising the standards in adoption to better serve the children, mothers, and families affected by family separation.

Adoption has been a monumental part of her entire life: Kelsey is the daughter and granddaughter of adoptees. She can often be found fervently and frequently demanding, “How do we fix this?” She is also a co-host of the first-ever birth-mom podcast,Twisted Sisterhood.

Link Instagram Spotify

Lori Holden, a veteran parent of two newly-minted young adults, writes at LavenderLuz.com and hosts the podcast Adoption: The Long View. She’s the author of the acclaimed book The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole (recommended by People magazine in 2021), written with her daughter’s birth mom. Her book is featured on adoption-agency required-reading lists across the country. She has keynoted and presented at adoption conferences around the US, and her work has appeared in magazines such as Parenting and Adoptive Families. In 2018, she was honored as an Angel in Adoption® by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), nominated by Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado.

Link Instagram Facebook Twitter Spotify

https://adoptionunfiltered.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.

I've been getting in my own way!!! 

As I reflected on David's words it struck me that I've TOTALLY over-estimated my openness to change. It's time for me to really open up. I'd encourage you to listen to this episode. It might reveals new insights to help you on your healing journey.

Here's a link to David's previous interview https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/who-am-i-with-david-enker

Here's a bit about David and his book

David Enker (Amsterdam, 1970) is a Dutch writer and artist. He was unofficially adopted as a baby, using the experience to explore the world from that unique perspective.

An unusual adoption, a gruesome family discovery, a lonesome journey, a brush with death in the London Underground and a life-altering diagnosis are just some of the ingredients in this collection of short stories.

This book will lead you on a sometimes heart-breaking, sometimes humorous journey of self-discovery that inspires hope and renewed appreciation for the blessings in life.

https://www.davidenker.com/

https://twitter.com/david_enker

https://www.facebook.com/davidenkerart/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidenker/

https://www.instagram.com/davidje/

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.

Mindset is rarely talked about in adoptee circles, it's trauma all the way. And yet it's a big part of what helps us heal according to Damon who's interviewed over 200 adoptees for his podcast. Listen in as he shares what he's learned through his own experience and listening to all those other fellow adoptees.

Here's the link to Damon's previous episode:

https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/with-damon-davis

Here's a link to the Adoptee Therapist Directory:

https://growbeyondwords.com/adoptee-therapist-directory/

A Little About Damon Davis

"I had the good fortune to be reunited with my biological mother in 2009 in a heart warming story of coincidental history, a mutual desire to be reunified, and the pure luck to be able to surprise my biological mother, Ann, for our reunion on her birthday! I always enjoy hearing and sharing the real stories of our lives that makes each of us who we are.

I’m devoting this program to helping people placed into adoption or who grew up in foster care to explore their own emotions, desires, and questions about reuniting with their biological family by asking others to share their true stories."

Listen to his podcast and find out more at:

https://www.whoamireallypodcast.com/

https://twitter.com/waireally

https://www.facebook.com/WAIReally

https://www.instagram.com/waireally/

https://www.facebook.com/damon.l.davis

https://www.linkedin.com/in/damonldavis/

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 feel at home? Like you belong? With a complete sense of your identity? Therapist Jo and I go deep on healing. We explore barriers on that journey to speed you on your way home.

Here is Jo's first interview:

https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/securing-our-sense-of-self-with-jo-north

Here's a bit about Jo from her website:

I have been a practicing psychotherapist for thirty years with a focus on mental health and wellbeing and supporting adoptive families and adults affected by adoption.   I am a Senior Accredited Member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Adopted adults have a unique identity and broader perspective and understanding on what it means to be parented and belong in a family. But even the best adoption can leave an adopted person with questions about their life that they need answered. Often these answers can be found in birth records, and we are now running a Birth Records Retrieval Service, we also offer you time to think and reflect with others in our Adults Affected by Adoption Listening Group and to participate in our Blog by sending us news and articles on adoption (please contact us if you would like to contribute).

https://joannanorthadoption.co.uk/

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.