Announcing our biannual Spring Adoptee Identity Development Workshops. This is an adoptees-only experience for kids, tweens and teens to explore their age-appropriate themes in a safe and engaging space. Register by April 5th. Click on the link to the left for Flyer and Registration form.… Read the rest “2019 Spring Adoptee Identity Workshops”

Ah, the noteworthy National Days of March! Zero Discrimination Day, International Women’s Day, National Napping Day, Pi Day and the International Day of Happiness, each resonate for me. As we struggle to make sense of these harsh and uncertain times I’m drawn to our national I am In Control Day (March 30th). It led me to consider its multiple meanings; a lighthearted effort to remind people to re-focus and assert themselves, and perhaps it’s also a wish to prevail over the incomprehensible. As a therapist, I see the the ways that adults and children may strive to overcome anxiety and stressors by asserting control in ways that lead to further disregulation. These stressors are caused by many factors, and in a therapeutic setting, we seek to identify them and collaborate to create useful interventions to reduce disregulation and anxiety. Our goal is to recognize the limits of control, explore the origins of the need and to empower a client to choose adaptive coping skills. So, onward to April, and the national Find a Rainbow Day!

 … Read the rest “If only we were!”

Greetings from the other side of 2018! A new Solar and Lunar year have arrived, and many of us may celebrate multiple traditions within our families. February also recognizes the ongoing struggles and crusades for equity fought for by the likes of Martin Luther King, Octavia Butler, Angela Davis, Grace Lee Boggs, Simone Biles, Misty Copeland, descendants of Henrietta Lacks and more. Part of my task as a helping professional is to provide families and children with education and a healthy awareness of our different identities. In appropriating the WYSIWYG acronym in the above photo (by Camilo Jose Vergara 1970), the disparity between the children and their dolls highlight the subtle ways that (in)visibility continues to be a challenge even today.… Read the rest “WYSIWYG”