WELLNESS & Writing
A comprehensive list of adoptee resources.
WEBSITES AND DIRECTORIES
- Take The ACE Quiz — And Learn What It Does And Doesn’t Mean: An ACE score is a tally of different types of abuse, neglect, and other hallmarks of a rough childhood. According to the Adverse Childhood Experiences study, the rougher your childhood, the higher your score is likely to be and the higher your risk for later health problems.
- EMDR Institute, Inc.: The EMDR Institute™, founded by Dr Francine Shapiro in 1990, offers quality trainings in the EMDR™ therapy methodology, a treatment approach which has been empirically validated in over 30 randomized studies of trauma victims. An additional 25 studies have demonstrated positive effects for the eye movement component used in EMDR therapy.
- Adoptee-Therapist Directory: This directory includes licensed U.S. mental health professionals who identify as adoptees and work with adoptees / adoptive families in a variety of public and private settings. Only providers who have voluntarily submitted their information have been listed.
- MPE Counseling Collective: This is a site that serves as a directory and educational resource for those who are seeking an NPE, Adoption, Assisted Reproduction, or an MPE (misattributed parentage experience) competent therapist, coach, mentor, or genetic counselor.
- Havening Techniques: This website introduces you to an extraordinary application of recently acquired knowledge in the field of neuroscience. The techniques described herein are based in evolutionary biology and offer you the opportunity to live a healthier, hopefully happier and more productive life.
MEMOIR & CREATIVE WRITING RESOURCES
Books and Links on Writing Memoir
- Vanderbilt How to Write a Memoir Class, Carole Webb Moore-Slater
- TSven Birkert’s The Art of Time in Memoir: Then, Again
- Sue William Silverman’s Fearless Confessions
- Vivian Gornick’s The Situation and the Story: The Art of the Personal Narrative
- Gregory Berns, The Self Delusion: The New Neuroscience of How We Invent and Reinvent Our Identities
- Brenda Miller, Tell It Slant
- Mary Karr, The Art of Memoir
Books on Writing to Heal Trauma
- The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss, by Sandra Marinella (Author), Cristina Baldwin (Foreword)
- Adult Adoptees and Writing to Heal: Migrating Toward Wholeness, by Liz DebBetta
Interviews on Writing to Heal Trauma
- Interview on Once Upon a Time in Adoptee Land with Liz DeBetta
NAAP Happy Hour 9.22.23 with Liz DeBetta, Ph.D.
Podcasts/Video on Memoir Writing
- Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers with Brooke Warner
- Let’s Talk Memoir Podcast with Ronit Plank
- The Creative Non-Fiction Podcast
- NAAP Happy Hour 4.21.23 Hole in My Heart – Lorraine Dusky
Adoptee & Memoir Focused Writing Groups
- Vocce: First/Birthparents Writing Group
- Rachel Herron – Workshops/Groups/Masterclasses
- Writers Helping Writers
- Togetherness Heals ~Adoptees, DPCs and NPEs Write
- Memoir Writing Group
- National Association of Memoir Writers
Classes, Coaches & Editors
- Sara Easterly and Adoption Voices
- Anne Heffron – Offers a Year Long Writing Class for Adoptees
- Jeannine Ouellette
- Megan Galbraith
- Eve Sturgis Writing Workshops & Hiraeth Hope & Healing
- Writing Personhood for Adoptees
- Ulven Coaching – Novel Wrting for Adoptees
- Centauri Arts Writing Retreats and Writing Classes
VIDEOS ON HEALING
How to reset your body from chronic stress Dr Gabor will uncover reason why we get chronic illnesses
Dr. Gabor Maté is a renowned physician, author, and speaker who has extensively researched the connection between stress and chronic illnesses. In his work, he argues that unresolved emotional stress and trauma can have a profound impact on our physical health, leading to the development of chronic diseases such as autoimmune disorders, cancer, and mental health conditions.
“Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle.”
-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Braving the Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Loss
A road map for the journey of writing honestly about grief and loss. Useful to the memoirist just starting out, as well as those already in the throes of coming to terms with complicated emotions and the challenges of shaping a compelling, coherent true story.
The Story You Need to Tell
A practical and inspiring guide to transformational personal storytelling, The Story You Need to Tell is the product of Sandra Marinella’s pioneering work with veterans and cancer patients, her years of teaching writing, and her research into its profound healing properties. Riveting true stories illustrate Marinella’s methods for understanding, telling, and editing personal stories in ways that foster resilience and renewal.
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma
A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life.
No Bad Parts
Discover an empowering new way of understanding your multifaceted mind – and healing the many parts that make you who you are.
The Primal Wound
The Primal Wound is a seminal work which revolutionizes the way we think about adoption. It describes and clarifies the effects of separating babies from their birth mothers as a primal loss which affects the relationships of the adopted person throughout life.
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Recovery Workbook
We’re all a product of our childhood, and if you’re like most people, you have experienced some form of childhood trauma. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are at the root of nearly all mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachement
n this groundbreaking book, psychiatrist and neuroscientist Amir Levine and psychologist Rachel S. F. Heller reveal how an understanding of attachment theory-the most advanced relationship science in existence today-can help us find and sustain love.
The Body Keeps The Score
A pioneering researcher and one of the world’s foremost experts on traumatic stress offers a bold new paradigm for healing.
Adoption Therapy
A much-needed anthology addressing a variety of potential psychological and physiological concerns, Adoption Therapy, Perspectives from Clients and Clinicians on Processing and Healing Post-Adoption Issues is a must-read for adoptees, adoptive parents, first families, and vitally, mental health professionals.
Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanancy
Based on a hugely successful US model, the Seven Core Issues in Adoption is the first conceptual framework of its kind to offer a unifying lens that was inclusive of all individuals touched by the adoption experience.
When the Past is Present: Healing the emotional wounds that Sabotage our Relationships
The popular author of How to Be an Adult in Relationships reveals how past trauma can negatively impact our present-day relationships—and offers guidance on what to do about it
Coming Home to Self: The Adoped Child Grow up
Coming Home to Self is a book about becoming aware. It is written for all members of the adoption triad: adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents as well as those who are in relationship with them, including professionals.
The Myth of Normal
By the acclaimed author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing.
