Will You Be In The Room? The Long Game Retreat ~ November 6-8, 2026
People are registering for my first adoption reunion retreat and it’s thrilling to see who’s going to be in the room. It’s a weekend retreat for adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, and others building relationships in reunion with genetic relatives.
We’ll be answering questions like:
- How do I manage this roller coaster of emotions?
- How do I take care of myself when my whole world has been turned upside-down?
- How do I manage the exhaustion and overwhelm of navigating so many different interactions and relationships? (especially if you’re like me who met 11 siblings!)
- What do I do when one relative is jealous of my relationship with another?
- Why do I feel a divided loyalty when I just want to love everybody?
- My family member has pulled back and I’d still like to be in relationship with them, how should I approach this?
If you know someone in adoption reunion, please forward this email to them. Or invite them to email or call me! It’s critical that adoption constellation members spend time together to support and uplift one another. Virtual spaces are great AND nothing beats in real life connections!
At this retreat, participants will come away with new tools to navigate the roller coaster of reunion with grace so that they can develop healthy and authentic lifelong relationships.
Are You Playing The Long Game?
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.”
For any of those folks who are showing up for a season or a lifetime, it requires ongoing work to build a relationship.
You’ve got to play the long game.
Curiosity is required, clear communication is critical and self-regulation is important, too.
Y’all know my work has been shifting to focus on working directly with people impacted by adoption but the concepts of developing resilience, embracing identity and finding belonging are universal experiences.
Recently I had the opportunity to be on Julie Brumley’s The Resilience Project with my dear friend, colleague and mentor, Leslie Pate Mackinnon. We focused on the roller coaster of reunion and all three of us shared personal stories about our experiences that you may find relatable or valuable as you navigate your own journey of life.
Here’s a short clip where I’m talking about one of the paradoxes of my experience.
Paradoxes are a part of life, aren’t they?
And if you want to listen to the entire episode, here’s how to do that here!
