December’s Adoptee Identity Workshops for Tweens and Teens continued our ongoing support for our community. Kumbi Butler [Heartbeat House] and Michaela Dietz [Amythyst on Steven Universe] joined Robyn Joy Park and I for an afternoon of creating personal identity narratives, sharing feelings and learning self-regulation tools for Tweens & Teens. A big thank you to all families who shared their children with us. We look forward to continuing the conversation in Spring 2018!… Read the rest “2017 Winter Refresher for Adoptee Identity Development”

Summertime provides me the space for reflection and appreciation. The artwork of Ai Weiwei always embodies a powerful artistic and political statement. The commentary of his piece,The Golden Age, also exemplifies our increasingly complex relationship with media. Sometimes informative and gratifying, and other times overwhelming and even hostile. It can be challenging to manage this relationship; for ourselves and for our families. In some ways, it keeps us informed, yet at times media enables isolation and can be mistakenly construed as authentic connection.

This increasingly highlights the unique place of honor that in-person therapeutic relationships provide for both therapist and client: eye contact, non-verbal cues, pauses, silent spaces. I am so deeply grateful for the opportunity to share a path of discovery with our community, face to face.… Read the rest “Summertime and Ai Weiwei”

As the desert blooms, we also anticipate the blossoming of the annual Kids, Tweens and Teens Adoptee Identity Development Workshops; they’re imminent! Do you have a child, tween or teen who might benefit? Download the registration form HERE.

Do you wonder what is on the minds of adoptees? Some comments from adoptees aged 11 – 14 at our Winter 2016 Refresher Workshop:

Why do people make fun of some people who don’t look like them?
Why do people judge without asking?
I wonder if my birth parents ever feel regret?
It’s so awkward when teachers meet my parents and realize that my family is white . . . and I’m not.
I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I was never adopted.
I wonder if my birth parents feel remorse?
Why is chocolate so yummy?
I wish I knew why my birth parents gave me up
Why do people judge me for being adopted? =(
I wish I got to celebrate Chinese Holidays
People can be soooooooooooooo naive!
Why do adopted people have a lot o drama

While chocolate may not appear so germaine to our mission, it’s just as important for our kids to enjoy themselves and that comment made me giggle! The groups categories are based upon developmental age, rather than chronological age.