Adoption-Focused Counseling

ADOPTEES

I have a specialized interest in helping adolescent and adult adoptees understand the impact adoption has on feeling secure in relationships with others.  I view adoption as a primal wound that can manifest in the same way that any other trauma does in our body, and many adult adoptees adapt to this through patterns of anger, people-pleasing or feeling cut off from their own emotion. 

Together we will explore your individual experience of adoption to understand your attachment style, trauma-response and ways you have adapted to cope. Adoptees can also struggle with identity as they age, and these problems can extend into adulthood. I will help you learn how to process the trauma around your adoption to build security and healthier boundaries with yourself and others. I can also help you form a more solid sense of identity based on your unique strengths, and explore ways to reparent your inner child.

ADOPTED AND BIRTH FAMILIES

I assist adoptive parents to build sensitivity towards the special needs of adopted children to address their trauma response and build security and attachment. I also have worked with birth parents who are grieving the loss of their child after placement.