In this week’s Unraveling Adoption podcast, Beth talks with Kelsay Elizabeth Myers, a professional writer, artist, and somatic movement educator living in Marin County, CA. She is passionate about personal and social transformation for trauma healing. She's a Korean transnational adoptee who has been on a healing journey the last several years, after spending the first 32 years of her life in self-destructive behavior patterns.

Kelsay founded Dialogical Persona Healing Arts where she offers individual and group coaching programs and online courses that use expressive arts and transformational processes to help others discover new ways of understanding themselves, reclaim their creative flow and feel more settled in their whole system, so they, too can experience more power, excitement, and joy in life. She is currently a Ph.D student of Transformative Inquiry at California Institute of Integral Studies where she uses a variety of psychological approaches and arts-based research practices for trauma integration and wholeness. 

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RESOURCES:

Kelsay’s information:

• Kelsay’s website: DialogicalPersona.com

• Kelsay’s podcast (co-host with Leela Davis): What I Didn’t Tell My Therapist: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-i-didnt-tell-my-therapist-reboot/id1473447399

Other things mentioned in this episode:

• Tamalpa Institute: https://www.tamalpa.org/

• The Body Keeps the Score: https://amzn.to/3yumsYZ

Other Resources :

• APtitude Support Group for Adoptive Parents Facing Adoption’s Challenges: UnravelingAdoption.com/APtitude

• Other Parents Like Me - oplm.com 

• Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents who have a child struggling with addiction: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/

• Adoptee-Therapist Directory: https://growbeyondwords.com/adoptee-therapist-directory/

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Unraveling Adoption is produced and hosted by Beth Syverson

Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao

Email questions or comments to Beth@UnravelingAdoption.com

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Support Unraveling Adoption on Patreon: Patreon.com/UnravelingAdoption

www.UnravelingAdoption.com

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TIME STAMPS:

  2:00 Kelsay’s adoption story and childhood, including racist microaggressions and bullying

  4:58 Kelsay’s racial identity

  7:20 Which was worse, racial trauma or adoption trauma?

10:40 How Kelsay’s trauma manifested in abusive relationships

13:20 Intuitively realizing her sexual abuse in foster care through her “felt sense”

15:26 Conscious dancing to begin her healing journey

18:05 Kelsay’s training in somatic movement healing modalities

22:45 How somatic movement has helped Kelsay deal with racism triggers

24:39 Somatic movement to help kids

27:37 Autoimmune conditions and somatic movement

30:57 Our culture’s mind/body split

32:05 Kelsay’s advice for transracial/intercountry adoptive parents

In this week’s Unraveling Adoption podcast, Beth talks with Simon Benn, an adoptee living near York, England and host of Thriving Adoptees podcast. I was recently on his show, so I wanted him to be on our show as well. Trading podcasts across the globe. Simon has been on a healing journey for the last 13 or so years, after a discovery about his adoption that rocked his world. He wants to help other adoptees move toward healing with his podcast and webinars.

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💌 Sign up for Unraveling Adoption’s email list: http://eepurl.com/hVIAVX

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RESOURCES:

Simon’s information:

• Simon’s podcast Thriving Adoptees: https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/

• Beth’s episode on Thriving Adoptees: https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/personal-growth-with-adoptive-mom-beth-syverson

• Simon’s recent Healing My Primal Wound webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnz7I7V_IOQ

Other resource mentioned in this episode:

• Rupert Spira: https://rupertspira.com/

More Resources:

• APtitude Support Group for Adoptive Parents Facing Adoption’s Challenges: UnravelingAdoption.com/APtitude

• Other Parents Like Me -  https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me

• Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/

• Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling

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Unraveling Adoption is produced and hosted by Beth Syverson

Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao

Email questions or comments to Beth@UnravelingAdoption.com

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Support Unraveling Adoption on Patreon: Patreon.com/UnravelingAdoption

www.UnravelingAdoption.com

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TIME STAMPS:

  1:18 Simon’s adoption story and childhood

  4:14 What Simon’s adoption file revealed about his birth mother

  7:35 Revelations and epiphanies

10:05 What is the primal wound? What is wounded? Simon’s new metaphor

18:55 There’s no such thing as a second-hand insight

21:23 Simon’s advice for adoptees coming “out of the fog”

25:05 Simon reading his poems “Beneath” and “After the Fog”

In this week’s Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Amanda Kari McHugh, an adoptee and an engagement journalist who is making her mark on the adoption community with her project Voices of Adoption which you can find on TikTok, Instagram, and Substack. In this project she elevates the voices of adoptees and birth mothers. 

Stay tuned for ways you might be able to participate in this project! 

Amanda is pursuing a double masters in journalism and engagement from grad school at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.  She hopes to be a resource to help other adoptees and also to help other journalists find good adoption data.

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💌 Sign up for our Unraveling Adoption email list: http://eepurl.com/hVIAVX

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RESOURCES:

Amanda’s information:

• Voices of Adoption on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@voicesofadoption

• Voices of Adoption on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_voicesofadoption/

• Voices of Adoption on Substack: https://voicesofadoption.substack.com/

• Abortion/Adoption video collage that Amanda created: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdtUQEfj5dl/

Other resources mentioned in this episode:

• Academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/

• Boolean Search Terms: https://www.lifewire.com/boolean-search-terms-google-1616810

• Desiree Stevens and Access Connecticut: https://www.facebook.com/AccessConnecticut/

Other Resources:

• Other Parents Like Me -  https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me

• Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/

• Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling

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Unraveling Adoption is produced and hosted by Beth Syverson

Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao

Email questions or comments to Beth@UnravelingAdoption.com

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Support Unraveling Adoption on Patreon: Patreon.com/UnravelingAdoption

www.UnravelingAdoption.com

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TIME STAMPS:

  1:25 Amanda’s adoption story and childhood

  4:25 Kudos to Amanda’s school counselor for knowing about adoption-competent therapists

  5:50 Amanda’s attachment style is complicated

  7:09 How lack of family medical history impacts adoptees

10:00 Advocating for adoption reform and dealing with pushback

12:00 Blasting apart adoption myths, getting people angry at her

14:35 Pushback has improved Amanda’s reporting

15:20 Where does Amanda find adoption data? Who keeps track of “goods transferred?”

18:50 Privacy laws - are they a farce?

20:00 The Yelp of adoption agency databases idea

20:44 Voices of Adoption on TikTok and Instagram 

22:38 Objectivity is a myth but we can try to understand the other points of view

24:11 What exactly is engagement journalism? 

25:00 “Domestic supply of infants” necessitated discussion about adoption and abortion 

27:12 Amanda’s TikTok video (audio only)

29:25 The aftermath of the viral video

32:37 How the Voices of Adoption on Substack will create community-sourced resources

35:50 Amanda’s dream for collective members to get paid for their emotional labor 

39:09 How to participate in Amanda’s projects and join the Voices of Adoption community

41:04 The importance of moderators in social media

44:11 How we can share our stories safely and authentically to help people coming out of the fog

In this week’s Unraveling Adoption Podcast, Beth talks with Paul Kimball, an adoptee from Northern California and author of the memoir We Are All Human Beings: An Adoptee Ponders. Music has always been a huge part of his life, and he currently works as a conductor, horn player, and school music teacher.  He didn’t realize it at first, but when he reunited with his birth mother, the passion for music made sense. In this episode, we talk about the power of music to transcend time and space and connect individuals deeply.

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💌 Sign up for Unraveling Adoption’s email list: http://eepurl.com/hVIAVX

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RESOURCES:

Paul Kimball’s information:

• Paul’s memoir We Are All Human Beings: An Adoptee Ponders : https://amzn.to/3luMZBQ

• Paul’s Adoptees On podcast episode with Haley Radke: https://www.adopteeson.com/listen/183

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jacqueline Du Pre playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUgdbqt2ON0

Other Resources:

• Other Parents Like Me -  https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me

• Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/

• Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling

===============

Unraveling Adoption is produced and hosted by Beth Syverson

Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao

Email questions or comments to Beth@UnravelingAdoption.com

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Support Unraveling Adoption on Patreon: Patreon.com/UnravelingAdoption

www.UnravelingAdoption.com

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TIME STAMPS:

  1:35 Paul’s adoption story

  4:10 Paul’s magnetic attraction to all things Armenian

  5:40 Paul’s love for classical music, especially cello music 

  7:29 Finding Paul’s birth family

  9:52 Paul’s adoptive family’s support of his music aspirations

11:30 Paul’s dream to perform with his birth mother

12:25 Spending time with Paul’s mom and half-sister, then his secondary rejection

15:44 Honoring his mother with a memorial

17:45 How music has kept Paul connected to his mother, and keeps Beth connected to her adopted son

21:45 The importance of family preservationism and listening to adult adoptees

23:35 How Paul and Joey process their intense emotions

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: On Saturday, March 11, Unraveling Adoption is hosting a free webinar called Moving Beyond Adoption - An Immersive Experience with Kat Linquist so you all can experience this amazing work that Kat does. It’s 10am-noon PST on Saturday, March 11, 2023. Tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moving-beyond-adoption-an-immersive-experience-with-kat-linquist-tickets-532651855037

If you are curious about how Magnetic Mind can help you in your adoption journey - or with any blockage in your life - come on over on March 11 to check it out. The event is open to anyone 18 and older. You don’t have to be an adoptee to attend.

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In this week’s Unraveling Adoption podcast, Beth talks with Kat Linquist, an adoptee, an intuitive, and a practitioner of a transformation modality called Magnetic Mind. She has done her own release work around her adoption trauma using this process based on neuroscience. She will be sharing her adoption story and how she helps adoptees heal with this healing modality. At the end of this episode we will be telling you about a free workshop where Kat will be demonstrating this technique. So stick around to the end to hear all the details. 

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💌 Sign up for our Safe Home Families email list: http://eepurl.com/hVIAVX

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RESOURCES:

Kat’s information:

• Kat’s email: kat@s-elfacademy.com
• Kat’s website: https://beyondadoption.getlearnworlds.com

Other Resources:

• Other Parents Like Me -  https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me
• Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/
• Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling

===============

Unraveling Adoption is produced and hosted by Beth Syverson

Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao

Email questions or comments to Beth@UnravelingAdoption.com

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Support Unraveling Adoption on Patreon: Patreon.com/UnravelingAdoption

www.UnravelingAdoption.com

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TIME STAMPS

  2:02 Kat’s adoption story - the big disconnect

 8:00 What prompted Kat’s search for her birth family?

11:00 Kat’s first experience with Magnetic Mind - a major transformation and reunion

22:00 No human can escape without some sort of trauma. How can we rewrite our trauma narrative?

28:51 Magnetic Mind can take people back into their lineage to repair damage done

30:57 Does Kat consider herself healed from adoption trauma?

34:25 Focusing on what we want to create through Magnetic Mind

36:53 Beth shares her experience with Kat using Magnetic Mind on her

46:25 What modalities are wrapped into Magnetic Mind?

49:35 How Kat works with people who want to heal using Magnetic Mind, including a FREE webinar we’re hosting on March 11 (Get FREE tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moving-beyond-adoption-an-immersive-experience-with-kat-linquist-tickets-532651855037)

In this week’s Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Ann Weaver Melendy from Oregon, a baby scoop era adoptee who was taught by her adoptive family to not speak about her adoption and to not ask questions. Well that backfired big time, because not only is she now sharing her story on this public podcast and elsewhere, but she is also an adoptee rights advocate. Ann is particularly bothered that adoptees’ vital records often don’t include the true data about their birthdate, birth parents, and more. She has fought for her own birth certificate to list the correct information - and she won! Her ingenious approach to adoptees’ rights will inspire other adoptees to fight for their own corrected documents.

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💌 Sign up for our Safe Home Families email list: http://eepurl.com/hVIAVX

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RESOURCES:

Ann’s information:

• Ann’s bipartisan bill SB573 going through the Oregon legislature in 2023, sponsored by Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin [D] and Sen. Brian Boquist [R] (The public is welcome to comment on the bill at this link): https://legiscan.com/OR/bill/SB573/2023?fbclid=IwAR2Z_8_LD_BgX2-8qx12haoASLXUzMNN7UC5E1OSR7ViX1CH8QAQwvCUrQ0    
• KATU news segment video with Ann and her dad after their reunion: https://katu.com/news/local/salem-woman-finds-father-through-dna-test
• Find Ann on Facebook as Ann Weaver Melendy. If writing a note to her on Facebook Messenger, make sure ADOPTION Is the first word.

Other Resources:

• Other Parents Like Me -  https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me
• Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/
• Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling

===============

Unraveling Adoption is produced and hosted by Beth Syverson

Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao

Email questions or comments to Beth@UnravelingAdoption.com

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Support Unraveling Adoption on Patreon: Patreon.com/UnravelingAdoption

www.UnravelingAdoption.com    

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TIME STAMPS:

   1:30 Ann’s childhood and basic adoption story

   2:46 When’s her birthday? A complicated question!

   5:55 Why her birth certificate lists the wrong birth date

   9:07 Meeting her birth father

14:14 Synchronicities of genetics

15:25 Original Birth Certificate (OBC) and other types of birth certificates

19:24 Birth certificate as receipt

22:56 How the LGBTQ+ community benefited Ann and other adoptees in Oregon with the tri-party adoption bill

29:13 How Ann’s new bill differs from the tri-party adoption law 

31:14 Why is it so important for adoptees to have the correct information on their birth certificate?

33:00 Is Ann available to help other adoptees navigate vital records?

In this week’s Unraveling Adoption podcast (formerly Safe Home Podcast), Beth talks with Alex Baquero, a 31yo from Philadelphia who was adopted at 6 months old from Colombia. His adoptive parents are white, and he started reuniting with his birth family 12 years ago. He shares his adoption story and his complicated reunion story, plus he lets us know what tools have helped him along the way. 

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💌 Sign up for our Unraveling Adoption's email list: http://eepurl.com/hVIAVX

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RESOURCES:

Alex’s information:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindmentorllc/
• Voices of the Adopted podcast episodes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1518016505 ===

Other Resources:

• Other Parents Like Me -  https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me
• Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/
• Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling

===============

Unraveling Adoption is produced and hosted by Beth Syverson

Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao

Email questions or comments to Beth@UnravelingAdoption.com

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Support Unraveling Adoption on Patreon: Patreon.com/UnravelingAdoption

www.UnravelingAdoption.com    

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TIME STAMPS:

   1:33 Alex’s adoption story as a child

   5:15 Both extremes are invalidating to adoptees

  6:46 Growing up Colombian in a white family and white suburbia

  8:02 Alex’s initial search for his birth family

10:30 How adoptive parents often get in the way of adoptees’ healing and reunion

16:10 Reuniting with his Scandinavian sisters

19:24 How Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has helped Alex

21:30 How Alex got connected with his birth mother in Colombia

24:22 The complexities of traveling in Colombia

25:35 How Covid added to the complexity of reunion with his mother

28:25 Meeting Alex’s father’s side of the family, unexpectedly 

31:10 How Alex managed his emotions and thinking during his time in Colombia

33:35 Aftermath back at home

37:55 Telling his adoptive parents about his reunion

39:03 Going forward…what are Alex’s future plans?