A virtual group just for you!
Becoming a parent via adoption is often a very long journey.
After so much contemplation and education, you then made it through a home study, more training and background checks. And now you are doing the very thing you aimed to do, parenting a very young child.
There can be relief, joy and immense grief.
But why? This isn’t the part anyone prepared you for.
Maybe you have tried your best to focus on all of the good, yet the questions about your little one and the future continue to pop into your head. Such as:
How will we navigate openness or their questions?
They look so healthy and are developing on track, maybe we should wait and see…
How will I know if my little one needs support?
Why do I feel so sad sometimes?
How much of our child’s story do we tell our friends and family?
Why does my nervous system get so activated when…?
What can we do now to support their growing body and nervous system?
Who can I talk to that will really get what it is like to parent a child who has experienced early stress and loss?
What does my little one need from me?
Is this what healthy attachment look like at this stage?
Sitting alone with big, real questions and unexpected feelings or, worse, having them dismissed by professionals or family, can lead to a unique form of loneliness. For you and your little one.
We all know that babies grow at a remarkable rate in the early days and months.
We have heard about the importance of attachment and bonding before the birth of a baby and immediately after birth.
Medical professionals have come to recognize the impact of early stress and pain for babies and have shifted hospital practices accordingly.
Yet, during those first days and months, when babies are their most vulnerable and new parents are most in need, our systems and communities mostly leave parents to navigate all of the newness alone, leaning into extended family and friends who know very little about the unique needs of a baby or young child who has just experienced separation or relinquishment from their original family.
Hi, I’m Jeri Lea.
I have been an infant and early childhood mental health therapist for more than 25 years, an adoptee my whole life and more recently an adoptive parent. That combination has led me to have not just knowledge, but huge amounts of understanding and compassion for you, your little one (via adoption, kinship or foster care) and their entire constellation of loved ones.
Over here, I share about my own personal and professional journey that led me to deep dive into all things attachment, trauma and the brain/body/nervous system.
Becoming a parent through adoption heightened my awareness of many, many things about myself, babies, trauma, the systems and everyone’s grief. It also highlighted how parenting a child who has experienced loss and trauma, who comes with a story and an existing family tree is both complex and often lonely.
After navigating those early years, I emerged with a determination to live and serve differently. I decided to use my accumulated experiences and expertise to focus on supporting adoptive families with very young children so that they could have access to information, community and support that is so critical during the earliest days of childhood. It is also the support I longed for as a new parent and wished my own parents had too.
For parents to feel safe, seen and supported early in the life of their child and family.
So that collectively we can raise a generation of children who feel more fully safe, seen and supported. All parts of themselves and their families.
I know. It’s no small task. Perfection isn’t the goal. Ever. What we all need is felt safety and connected relationships so we can keep showing up and doing hard but important work in getting to know our children, their perspectives and needs.
And for that you need community!
Community isn’t easy to come by especially today, but this is why we need each other more than ever. Life continues to involve a lot of unpredictability, adjustments to change and stress. All things that can be especially hard for our children, their bodies and brains. And parenting during these times in our very individualistic culture can also be oh so lonely. Add any amount of difference and you are likely to feel unseen by some segment of your community.
And while there is still so much uncertainty and isolation, we also have more options than ever for finding virtual community and resources. So much so that it can be overwhelming trying to find the just right support you long for.
This is what I look forward to creating with you:
A safe, consistent space where you can exhale, look inward and also be fully seen.
An experience that helps fill your cup so you are better able to fill the cups of your young children and loved ones. We will practice tuning in to and supporting our nervous systems during each meeting as well.
A time for reflecting, being, creating (creative collage and journaling optional but encouraged), and learning with other adoptive parents and guardians.
An “agenda” that is consistent in routine and feel yet flexible enough to make room for members’ needs. Kind of like how we strive to parent, with a balance of structure and nurture.
Topics that are relevant to you, your young child and the unique and complex role of parenting a young child through adoption, foster or kinship care. We can tackle the tricky stuff, plan ahead for needs to come and celebrate your parenting wins together!
While there are many groups for foster and adoptive parents, this one will be unique in that you will have a guide, me, who has a perspective informed by my lived experiences and training as a therapist specializing in attachment, early childhood and trauma.
Capping the group to 8 participants we will also have intimacy, allowing you to build authentic connections and to become vulnerable and courageous in your reflecting and sharing.
Features:
UPCOMING DATES: October 20, November 17, December 15 - Third Sunday of the month 3-4:15 PM (75 minutes) virtual group meetings.
A small supportive community of people who “get it” and see you.
Tools, insights and strategies centered around self-awareness, nervous system care, and clarity about you and your child(ren)’s experiences around adoption.
Facilitated by an infant/early childhood mental health therapist who is also an adoptee and adoptive parent.
If this sounds like something that might support you, please send me a note via my contact page to sign up or to request a discovery session to talk further. I look forward to connecting with you!
Cost:
Can be paid monthly ($40/mo) or $110 for 3 months. Second caregiver in family can be added for additional $15/mo or $40 for 3 months.
Click HERE for a flyer to share!
Click the button below to send me a note and request a free 30 minute discovery call where we can explore if this is a good fit for you!
Jeri Lea Kroll is a psychotherapist specializing in early childhood, parenting, trauma, attachment and adoption using a lens informed by attachment theory and the relational neurosciences. She is also a Being With coach and advanced practitioner and facilitator of Raising Kids with Big Baffling Behaviors: A Course for Parents (created by Robyn Gobbel, author of the book by the same name) and a Safe and Sound Protocol provider. Jeri Lea brings her lived experiences as an adopted person and adoptive parent to her work as well. She provides relationship-focused therapy and coaching to individuals, parents and families virtually and in-person from her offices in Brighton and Ann Arbor, Michigan.