Thriving Adoptees - Let's Thrive

What if time ISN'T the greatest healer? What is? Anthony lost a wife through divorce, his adoptive mother who died and his birth mother for the second time. All in one year. How did he cope? What did he learn? Listen in as he shares some of his greatest healings. And we go deep on the healing power of realisations. About his book Lucky Bastard When he was ten years old, the author was told he’d been adopted. It was a seismic event that turned his world upside down. Nobody was who he thought they were. His mother wasn’t his mother; his father wasn’t his father; his sister wasn’t his sister; his grandparents weren’t his grandparents; he wasn’t related to any of his relatives; he didn’t know where he came from or who he was. This was at a time when adoption was shrouded in secrecy and shame. Birth mothers and adoptive parents signed non-disclosure agreements. Adoption records were sealed. In Lucky Bastard Anthony Akerman takes the reader on his quest to find out where he came from. https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Bastard-Anthony-Akerman-ebook/dp/B0CWD19RCP Contact Anthony https://www.facebook.com/anthony.akerman.7 anthony@akerman.co.za Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

The need to heal the “Primal Wound” assumes we are wounded. It is important to remember that it's based on the perspective of adoptive mother Nancy Verrier, NOT an adoptee. It can leave us feeling: *stuck with the belief we cannot heal. *unsure of what to do next for the best. *pathologized for an event we had no choice in. *More and more adoptees are questioning the wound narrative and wanting to take back their power. Post Traumatic Growth is an altogether more empowering, hopeful and positive perspective that allows us to do exactly that. View the slides that go with the presentation here https://www.canva.com/design/DAGIf_zETn8/kZ0rRZ1DLOdWe4lZ3j0h7g/view?utm_content=DAGIf_zETn8&utm_campaign=share_your_design&utm_medium=link&utm_source=shareyourdesignpanel Let's thrive together. This event was a taster for the Growth & Transformation course. Starts: Wednesday 31st July at 9am PST, Noon EST, 5pm UK Runs every Wednesday for 24 weeks Price: £75 (approx. $100)/month for 6 months Register now - only 12 places for this first cohort (£150 per month for future cohorts) at www.thrivingadoptees.com Here's the course outline: Introduction We’ll start with 2 sessions exploring the holistic nature of healing, energy, entering and pacing on the Spiral of Growth. Mind The next 4 sessions will look at what’s going on in our minds, opening to and focussing on growth and what gets in the way of that. We’ll use metaphors such as mind-set v mind-fluid to bust old beliefs and access new and healthier perspectives. It’s all about harnessing your brain’s ability to recover and transcend trauma. Body The 4 webinars on Body will get to the heart of pre-verbal, pre-memory trauma looking into Somatics, self care and embodiment to bring subconscious trauma into the warm and healing light of awareness. This is all about shifting your moment to moment lived experience to peace and calm Heart You will learn all about attuning to your heart, being guided by your intuition over 4 sessions. We will go upstream of feelings to their source and learn about creating new flows for a more contented life being triggered less, with less intensity. Social How can we navigate relationships – even the tough ones with adoptive and biological families – with more ease? 4 sessions on setting and keeping boundaries, communication, the double-edged sword of validation in adoptee communities, self- leadership and feeling like we belong Spirit Who are we at our core, our essence that’s untouched by our trauma. A non-religious take on the self v the Self to understand and live our sovereignty. These 4 sessions are all about the many ways we can leave our trauma bound identity behind for a more authentic and contented life Integration 2 sessions to pull the last 22 together to catalyse our growth and transformation. Stepping into a role as alchemist to turn darkness into light, trauma into joy. Weekly Learning & Practice – 24 X 60 minute sessions Guided Support, Mentorship, Group Support & Accountability through a dedicated Facebook Group Starts: Wednesday 31st July at 9am PST, Noon EST, 5pm UK Runs every Wednesday for 24 weeks Price: £75 (approx. $100)/month for 6 months Register now - only 12 places for this first cohort (£150 per month for future cohorts) at www.thrivingadoptees.com About the speakers: About Jude Adopted at 2 days old, Jude was told the first time her mother held her, “you are adopted”. As a Reiki Master, certified aromatherapist, massage therapist and meditation teacher, she uses a variety of tools in showing people how to cultivate a life of authenticity, empowerment and fulfillment. On June 4th, 2019, she received a letter from her biological mother that pushed her out of the fog and into the realization that she had been carrying, in her body, the trauma of being relinquished. This was the final ah-ha on her personal healing journey that brought her to the root of the grief, pain and fear she had struggled with...

Would you like more joy and awe in your life? Who wouldn't? Listen in as Lena shares how nature brings out awe from within for moments that blow our minds (in a good way). And this is all backed up by the science of awe. Here are links to the science of awe https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/05/awe-by-dacher-keltner-review-the-transformative-power-of-wonder https://onbeing.org/programs/dacher-keltner-the-thrilling-new-science-of-awe/ Here is a link to Lena's website https://www.wildsoulphotographycolorado.com/ Connect with Lena here https://www.facebook.com/eileenskahill https://www.instagram.com/eileen.skahill/ Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Flik believes she chose to be adopted. What???? Perhaps one of the most challenging things I've heard in over 500 episodes. Listen in and find out why she believes this. Ooodles of insight into grace, acceptance, peace, the mind body connection and more. We go deep. Where the great stuff is buried. Find out more about Flik: https://www.therebalancecentre.com/ Here are links to the books I mentioned https://www.amazon.com/s?k=chris+niebauer&crid=3JXO4KTRK9CES https://www.amazon.com/Power-vs-Force-David-Hawkins-ebook/dp/B00EJBABS2/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Does the term healing resonate with you? It doesn't for Canadian adoptee Elle. For her it's all about peace and feeling better. And being at peace with not knowing. Listen in as she shares how growing up with evangelical adoptive parents impacted her. And what's helped - and continues - to help her to peace. Here's Elle's bio from the Adoption The Making Of Me podcast Elle Klassen is a Canadian who was born to a young woman of nineteen years of age in 1970. She was relinquished and then placed with her adoptive family when she was five days old. She grew up in a very conservative Canadian evangelical family where adoption was spoken of as God's plan. Much of her religious background didn't sit well with her, including the narrative around adoption. As an adopted person whose big goal in life was to fly under the radar as much as she could, she never challenged the common narrative surrounding adoption that she grew up with. Several years ago she did a DNA test on a whim & with a hint of morbid curiosity. She wanted to know if her adoption information had been falsified as so many others in the baby scoop had been. As a result, she was reunited with her first family on both her maternal, and paternal sides. Digging for truth led to seeing relinquishment, and adoption as complicated, traumatic events in a child's life. The repercussions of this reach into adulthood, and can never be fully dealt with until it is seen for what it is whether someone has had a "good" adoption or not. Truthful conversations about adoption have become her passion. She now co-hosts the podcast "Pulled by the Root" to help facilitate the conversation about relinquishment & adoption, showcasing the voices of those adopted people, and first parents, who have been previously silenced in favor of perpetuating the idea that adoption is not a trauma or a system of belief that should not be challenged. https://www.facebook.com/luana.klassen Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

How hard are you on yourself? Self judgement is rife amongst us. It's always there. Until it isn't. Listen in as we go deep on grace, easing up and giving ourselves some slack. Bio: Anthony Lynch is a Jamaican-white adoptee based in London. As a research assistant at Coram, the UK's oldest Children's charity, they use their lived experience to inform policy and practice in the Adoption space. Links: Anthony's work: https://linktr.ee/inbetweenlinesorg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-emanuel-lynch/ Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Time and time again I've heard that healing is a very active pursuit. A very conscious decision to make what is unconscious to conscious. Listen as Julie shares profound learnings from her healing journey. Here's the link to download the items Julie mentioned: https://cominghometoself.co/social Here's the link to the book I mentioned https://www.amazon.com/No-Self-Problem-Neuropsychology-Catching-ebook/dp/B07PLRZVTT https://cominghometoself.co/ https://www.instagram.com/juliebrumley_/ https://www.facebook.com/julierasbrum Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Have your feelings scared you? Terrified you? Have you closed your heart to save you heartache? Listen in as Jo shares what she's learned about opening our hearts to ourselves to heal. Profound and enlightening. You're going to love this. https://www.jowilliscoach.com/jos-adoption-story https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-willis-444ab03b/ Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

What if we could laugh at grief? Even though that grief is darkest part of our trauma? Wouldn't that lighten our emotional load? Listen in for a contrary take on grief and trauma that brings hope before diving deep to touch that part of us that's unwounded... Alison Larkin was adopted at birth in Washington, D.C., by British parents and raised in England and Africa. After graduation from the University of London and the Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, she became a regular on the British stage with appearances on Broadway, a ubiquitous voice-over artist, and a successful stand-up comic. Her internationally acclaimed one-woman show, The English American, was a highlight of the London Comedy Festival. For more information, go to https://alisonlarkin.com/ https://www.facebook.com/alison.larkin.944 https://twitter.com/AlisonLarkinTEA https://www.instagram.com/alisonlarkinpresents/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1y7eVMYgrZfBGrHrF0gJXw Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Spiritual growth is the ultimate healer. That sums up the 500 episodes of Thriving Adoptees in six words. And spiritual in this sense doesn't mean religious. Spiritual growth is seeing more of our essence underneath our psychology. Listen in as Alejandra shares the insights that fuelled her spiritual growth to catalyse ours. Adopted at five weeks into a loving and happy Mexican-American family, Alejandra had never sought her family of origin, but when they arrived unexpectedly, they showed up with a raft of issues that would test her inner strength and drive her spiritual growth. It was then she also learned that some of her intuitive gifts were an inheritance from them. She also discovered that the names given to her by both sets of parents foretold her skill at prophecy and seeing what others didn’t. Alejandra wrote I Just Can’t Make This SH!T Up! to show that everyone can experience true purpose, bliss, flow and awe at the amazing clues and messages delivered by the Universe -- if they elect to embrace their own spiritual journey fearlessly. And she offers her personal experience as a roadmap to opening the doors to accept whatever gifts lay at the core. Book Amazon.com https://alejandrabrady.com/ https://www.facebook.com/alejandra.brady https://www.instagram.com/alejandragbradylifestyled/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandra-brady-b35177213/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXt_O-EzB38PwnAZfMTQNsQ Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

How's your relationship with trauma? Do you yearn to heal? Crave it? Sara definitely did. Listen in as she shares how that craving ended. An interview bursting with hope. https://www.facebook.com/sara.hathaway.1965 Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

In this special episode the interviewer becomes the interviewee! Listen as Simon shares his thoughts and experiences on home, childhood memories and ah-ha moments that have birthed in him a passion to help other adoptees find freedom and peace beyond the "Primal Wound". https://www.facebook.com/simonjbenn https://www.facebook.com/thrivingadoptees https://www.thrivingadoptees.com/ https://www.instagram.com/simonjbenn/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonjbenn/ Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Join us as we delve into the journey of adoptee Sloane Walker. Discover how Sloane has transformed her home into an oasis, reflecting the harmony and peace she is cultivating within herself. Gain insights into her unique Pentacle Program, designed to guide others on their path of self-discovery and create a space that truly resonates with their essence and brings joy to their lives. Sloane Walker, M.Ed., a BSE DIA, has come full circle in recent years since her reunion in 2019. After losing her adoptive mom in 2003, she experienced a profound identity crisis and realized that she wasn’t living up to her own potential. Over the past two decades, she has worked on radical self-acceptance and embracing her shadow side. As a 3rd Degree High Priestess and certified whole person life coach, she works with other adoptees and early childhood trauma survivors to facilitate their internal and external transformations. As a 30-year Interior Design veteran, specializing in Kitchen & Bath Design, Sloane’s philosophy is that one’s home environment is a direct reflection of their psyche. Whatever is going on internally will often manifest externally. A chaotic mind may look like excessive clutter and doom piles, while someone who is in denial of their trauma or unable to process past events may live in a space that is overly sterile, impersonal, and austere. Neither is particularly healthy. Through my Pentacle Path signature program, I work with clients to integrate Body, Mind & Spirit with their home environment to create their ideal reality. https://www.facebook.com/theadoptedwitch?mibextid=LQQJ4d https://www.instagram.com/theadoptedwitch?igsh=eWdkM2o1Z2VyMGhp&utm_source=qr Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

In this enlightening podcast episode, Krista Boss, an adoptee who endured periods of homelessness during her childhood, shares her inspiring story of resilience and triumph. Join us as we explore the concept of home as not just a physical space, but also a sanctuary for healing and finding solace. Discover the transformative power of creating a safe haven and how it can impact our lives in profound ways. Krista is the owner of CasaHózhó, a sanctuary built to aid in her own healing and the healing of others. Krista has been on a lifelong journey back to the home that resides within. Now she helps others on their journey back to their spiritual home, while also working as a real estate agent to help people on their journey to ownership of their physical sanctuary. Most recently she has dedicated herself to building living wellness communities through affordable and sustainable housing at Liberation Earth. Prior to real estate, she was a math and science teacher, swim coach, and holistic health office manager. Her background has led her to become fascinated with the science behind the spiritual. Her approach to healing is holistic, with an emphasis on women's health. Krista feels especially connected to adoptees, orphans, survivors of child abuse, emancipated minors, divorcees, and those working to heal generational trauma, as she has walked those paths herself, and has intimate knowledge of the trauma and hardships as well as the depth of wisdom those experiences can bring. Krista is a masterful manifestor who has created a life of abundance surpassing even the most well intentioned expectations based on her beginning. You can hear more about her story on Insta @ownyoursanctuary. Krista is currently working on her autobiography to be released in the fall of next year. https://www.instagram.com/casahozho/ https://www.instagram.com/ownyoursanctuary/ Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Eben Alexander, adoptee and neurosurgeon, shares his profound insights and wisdom gained from a Near Death Experience (NDE). He explores how his abandonment wound ultimately became a catalyst for an extraordinary journey of self-discovery and understanding. Tune in to gain deeper insights into the transformative power of life's challenges and to hear Eben's experience of life after death. Academic neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander III, whose career includes decades as a physician, and associate professor at Harvard Medical School and revered teaching hospitals, was once staunchly committed to the materialist world view -- the belief that the physical world is all that exists. His scientific belief system was altered by his 2008 transcendental near-death experience (NDE), an odyssey into another realm during a week-long coma. Despite a bleak medical prognosis, Dr. Alexander awoke to make an inexplicable return to full health. His medical case and recovery were validated in the peer-reviewed Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. Since his NDE, Dr. Alexander has been reconciling his rich spiritual experience with quantum physics, cosmology and the philosophy of mind. Dr. Alexander speaks around the world to educate about the role that consciousness plays in wellness, healing and recovery. A pioneering scientist and modern thought leader, Dr. Alexander has been featured in more than 400 media interviews including for ABC-TV’s Good Morning America and 20/20, The Dr. Oz Show, Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday, Larry King Now, Fox and Friends, Discovery Channel, Biography Channel and numerous international radio, digital and podcasts. His books are available in more than 40 countries: Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, The Map of Heaven: How Science, Religion, and Ordinary People Are Proving the Afterlife, and Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Heart of Consciousness, co-authored with Sacred Acoustics co-founder Karen Newell. http://ebenalexander.com/ https://www.sacredacoustics.com/ Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

This first episode of "Finding Home" is a captivating podcast that delves into the profound experiences of Greg Gentry as he embarked on a quest to find a sense of belonging, wholeness and home. Through an intimate conversation we unravel the intricate tapestry of human connection, community and the pursuit of contentment. Join us as we explore the transformative and at times elusive journey of finding home. Greg Gentry is a domestic baby scoop era adoptee, born in California in 1969. He has been in reunion with maternal family members since 2006, and in 2021 also connected with his paternal side. Greg is a facilitator and interviewer for Fireside Adoptees, a private Facebook group founded in 2021, which is committed to additional outreach through its public Facebook page and through the Fireside Adoptees Constellation private Facebook group. Greg is also an administrator and facilitator within the Adoption Trauma Network and the host of Adoptees Connect out of Derry, New Hampshire. He enjoys connecting with others in the online adoptee community, and has found these interactions to be richly rewarding and supportive. Listen to his previous Thriving Adoptees interview here https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/fog-mist-brilliant-sunshine-with-greg-gentry Connect with Greg here: https://www.instagram.com/greggentry22 https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070242835691 Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

How open to change are you? How willing and curious to new ways to heal? Listen in as we go deep on how a method that initially felt a little weird helped Trish to feel better on the inside and enjoying better relationships on the outside. And there's the matter of being adopted back by her birth mother... Trish doesn't do social media, but is open to talking with others email me simon@thrivingadoptees.com and I will put you in touch Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

The more fellow adoptees I speak with, the more I see a broader view of healing. On one side there's the logic of getting answers to questions we've been asking ourselves forever. On the other side there's the mystery of what happens often when we are with others. Tapping into both sides help us heal. Listen in as Kit describes four of his key healing moments. They might well spark some ideas in you. Kit Myers is an assistant professor in the Department of History & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. He was previously a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Merced. His teaching interests include the study of race as a social, relational, and intersectional category of difference and power. His forthcoming book, The Violence of Love: Race, Adoption, and Family in the United States, with University of California Press (2024), uses interdisciplinary methods of archival, legal, and discursive analysis to argue that while adoption is imbued with love, violence is attached to adoption in complex ways. The book comparatively examines the transracial and transnational adoption of Asian, Black, and Native American children by White families to understand how race has been constructed relationally to mark certain homes, families, and nations as spaces of love, freedom, and better futures against others that not. Myers has also published journal articles in Adoption Quarterly, Critical Discourse Studies, Adoption & Culture, and Amerasia. He serves as on the executive committee for the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of California, San Diego in ethnic studies and his B.S. in ethnic studies and journalism from the University of Oregon. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kit-myers-21463417/ Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Is your trauma eating you up from the inside? That's how it felt to Becca. Writing her book and talking about it openly is helping her shift to thriving with the help of a great therapist, energy work and some fab people lining up behind to support her. Great insights on seeing our connectedness, authenticity and vulnerability. Here's a bit about Becca's previous interview: Do you wish your healing was faster? Did your world fall apart when you came out of the fog? Are you wondering what comes now you're consciously aware of your trauma? Listen in as Becca shares how she came out of the fog after tragedy and what's helping her heal. An incredibly vulnerable and empowering episode. Becca was born in 1975, adopted at 2 years old and lives in Seattle. Here's a link to Becca's that interview https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/out-of-the-fog-beyond-with-becca-wellington Here's a link to the Kubler Ross curve https://www.ekrfoundation.org/5-stages-of-grief/change-curve/ https://www.rebeccawellington.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccawellington/ https://www.instagram.com/_rebecca_wellington/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085186204263 Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Chris yearned to meet her birth mother to heal. But meeting her didn't heal Chris. Because as she realised, healing is an inside job. So how come Chris doesn't feel traumatised anymore? Listen in with big ears. Contact Chris here https://www.facebook.com/christine.giles.758 Here are the books I mentioned: https://sydbanks.com/onlinereading/ https://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-Your-Fault-Choosing-ebook/dp/B07957XB9T Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.