Speaking Engagement
Bringing Race Into the Room: Understanding and Supporting Racial Attachment Needs with Transracially Adoptive Families
Virtual WebinarHosted by the Catalyst Center to continuing education credits to California mental health providers. Join Dr. Chaitra Wirta-Leiker for an insightful and enlightening discussion addressing the complex dynamics of transracial adoption. Through the lens of the seven core issues in adoption combined with her groundbreaking model of the racial and cultural identity needs of transracial…
From Struggles to Strengths: Reframing the Seven Core Issues in Adoption
Virtual WebinarHosted by Hudson Valley Professional Development for New York Psychologists seeking continuing education credits. The seven core issues in adoption are often perceived as barriers to an adopted individual's ability to be healthy and successful. But what if we viewed these issues – loss, rejection, guilt/shame, grief, identity, intimacy, and control – on a spectrum…
Delaware Valley Friends School: From Struggles to Superpowers: Reframing the Seven Core Issues in Adoption
Virtual WebinarWebinar for parents and professionals at Delaware Valley Friends School. The seven core issues in adoption are often perceived as barriers to an adoptee’s ability to be healthy and successful. But what if we viewed these issues – loss, rejection, guilt/shame, grief, identity, intimacy, and control – on a spectrum that ranges from struggle to…
Gross Global Happiness Summit 2025: Embrace All Parts: From Struggles to Strengths
University for Peace San Jose, Costa Rica“Embrace All Parts: From Struggles to Strengths” is a dynamic motivational talk aimed at recognizing the adaptive, resilient, and self-protective nature inherent in all behaviors. Our world has developed binary categories of “good” and “bad” and “right” and “wrong” that are not sufficient for reflecting the complexity of human experience, and their simplicity limits our…
PESI 2025 Play Therapy Summit: Play Therapy for Adoptive Children and Families: Navigating the Seven Core Issues in Adoption to Create Healthy Self-Expression, Attachment &Trauma Healing
Virtual WebinarAdoption introduces unique emotional and behavioral complexities that significantly shape a child's needs and experiences. For clinicians working with adopted children, understanding the Seven Core Issues in Adoption—loss, rejection, guilt/shame, grief, identity, intimacy, and mastery/control—is essential for effective intervention. Join Dr. Chaitra Wirta-Leiker, PsyD, a licensed psychologist, international/transracial adoptee, and adoptive parent, alongside Sabra Starnes,…
Transracial Foster and Adoption Placements: Assessing Prospective Parents for Fit with the Racial and Cultural Identity Needs of Youth in Care
Virtual WebinarHosted by the Catalyst Center to continuing education credits to California mental health providers. Maintaining the racial and cultural identity of fostered and adopted youth of color in transracial placements is crucial to supporting their lifelong mental health, but it can be difficult to determine how those needs will be met by caregivers who do not…