Adoption
Thoughtful Holiday Gifts for Adoptees
Choosing holiday gifts for adoptees—children, teens, and adults—offers an opportunity to honor the complexity of their identity, history, and healing journey. For many adoptees, the holidays can stir a mix…
Read MoreHealing Over Hustling: Why I’m Not a Prolific Social Media Poster
Every so often, someone asks why I’m no longer on Facebook or Instagram, or just not more visible on social media overall—why I don’t share daily insights, post client reflections,…
Read MoreBefore the Meltdown: What Adoptive Parents Need to Know
There are moments in parenting when it feels like you’re doing everything “right”—but still facing meltdowns, defiance, or emotional shutdowns that leave you feeling helpless. You brace yourself for school…
Read MoreWhen Parenting Shifts: Navigating the Teen & Young Adult Years with Your Adoptee
There’s a quiet but powerful shift that happens as your as your teen steps into young adulthood. The rhythms you once relied on in parenting begin to feel out of…
Read MoreNice Doesn’t Always Mean Safe: Why Adoptees Need More Than Kindness to Thrive
Are you surrounding yourself with people who are nice—or people who are safe? It’s a question that often stops people in their tracks. For adoptees, especially those in transracial families,…
Read MoreBeyond Words: How Unspoken Moments Create the Deepest Opportunities for Healing
There is a particular kind of comfort that comes from being understood without explanation. As an adoptee and a psychologist, I’ve seen firsthand how powerful this unspoken understanding can be…
Read More“Did You Always Know?” and Other Personal Questions that Shouldn’t Be Asked of Adoptees or Trans/Non-binary Folx
An adoptee reflects on the weird questions people ask trans and non-binary folks—and how familiar they sound. As an adopted person, I’ve spent my life navigating an oddly specific kind…
Read MoreThe Costa Rican Ficus Tree: An Adoptee’s Reflections
I recently returned from speaking at the Gross Global Happiness Summit in Costa Rica, and while the scenery and wildlife were amazing, it was the story of one particular type…
Read MoreChocolate, Starfish & Your Genuine Worth: A Crucial Lesson Learned as an Adoptee
As adoptees, we often have a strong desire to contribute to the world in significant ways in order to prove the worth of our existence to others. This frequently manifests…
Read MoreThe Bedtime Narrative for Kids Who Struggle with Sleep Anxiety
Throughout the years, I’ve had a number of requests for support from adoptive parents who are struggling with their child’s sleep anxiety. It’s an all-too-familiar scenario: “They refuse to let…
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