Adoption issues require specialized knowledge and experience
Chantelle Beach has over 20 years of work and personal experience with adoption. She has worked with all members involved in adoption and has intimate knowledge in this area.
Adopted Individuals:
Are you struggling with grief and loss related to your adoption?
Are you searching for birth family or recently reunited?
Are you seeking support to manage relationships with birth or adoptive family members?
Are you developing or rediscovering your identity?
Adoptive Parents:
Are you struggling with entitlement as a parent?
Are you struggling with grief and loss related to infertility and/or adoption?
Are you seeking support for talking to your child about their adoption?
Are you seeking support to develop and/or manage birth family relationships?
Birth Parents:
Are you struggling with the grief and loss of placing your child for adoption?
Are you seeking support for managing relationships with your child or their adoptive parents?
Are you seeking support to talk to your placed child about their adoption?
Are you seeking counselling for decision-making about adoption?
Adoption-informed counselling is a specialized approach to therapy that recognizes and addresses the unique experiences, needs, and challenges associated with adoption. This type of counselling integrates an understanding of the adoption process and its impact on individuals, whether they are adopted persons, birth parents, or adoptive parents. Here are some key aspects of adoption-informed counselling:
Understanding Adoption Dynamics: Counsellors who are adoption-informed are aware of the complex emotional and psychological dynamics involved in adoption. This includes the impact of adoption on identity, attachment, and family relationships.
Addressing Identity and Belonging: Adopted individuals may grapple with questions of identity, belonging, and self-worth. Adoption-informed counsellors provide support in exploring and understanding these issues, helping clients integrate their adoption experience into their sense of self.
Supporting All Parties: Adoption-informed counselling supports not just adopted individuals but also birth parents and adoptive parents. For example, birth parents might need support in processing feelings of loss or grief, while adoptive parents might seek guidance on how to address adoption-related issues with their child.
Navigating Adoption-Related Trauma: Adoption can involve various forms of trauma, whether from the initial separation, experiences of neglect or abuse prior to adoption, or difficulties in the adoptive family. Counselors are equipped to help clients work through these traumas.
Promoting Healthy Relationships: Counsellors work to support healthy relationships within adoptive families. This includes helping family members communicate effectively, understand each other’s perspectives, and address any adoption-related concerns that may arise.
Cultural Sensitivity: Adoption-informed counselling often includes sensitivity to cultural factors, especially in cases of transracial or international adoptions. Counsellors help clients navigate cultural identity issues and support them in understanding and integrating their cultural heritage.
Providing Education and Resources: Counsellors can offer valuable education and resources related to adoption, such as information on typical developmental issues for adopted children or guidance on legal and practical aspects of adoption.
Overall, adoption-informed counselling aims to provide compassionate, knowledgeable support tailored to the unique needs of individuals and families touched by adoption.
Counselling with an adoption-informed psychologist can help Contact Vital Soul Counselling for support now