WORLDS WITHIN WORLDS

Case Consultation Group for Clinicians Working with Adopted Adults

Adoption is not simply an issue that may or may not be relevant to an adoptee. It is part of their lived experience and personal history, whether or not they identify it as significant, talk about it, or come to therapy because of it.

If you work with adoptees, you are these with the themes of belonging and not belonging, attachment and rupture, disconnection, the ongoing negotiation of self. We're a relatively small group of clinicians doing this work. Many of us are piecing it together as we go, drawing on clinical insight and, for some of us, lived experience.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a space to sort it all out? To talk through the cases that linger, get support around how the work impacts us, and even unpack current events and broader cultural conversations that shape how we understand adoption.

That's the purpose of this group: a small, intimate space where we can draw on one another's expertise, share perspectives, and think more deeply about the work we're doing.

Who is This Consultation Group Is For

  • Clinicians currently working with adopted adults who want want to go deeper

  • Both seasoned and newer clinicians seeking thoughtful, case-based dialogue

What We’ll Do Each Month

Together we’ll explore what's happening beneath the surface, consider how adoption may be informing the work, and learn from the different perspectives and experiences around the table. Whether adoption is at the center of your client’s work or quietly shaping it from the edges, this group supports you in meeting it with more clarity, depth, and attunement.

I'm Interested: Email Kimbelrey

About Kimberley, Your Group Leader
As an adoptee herself, Kimberley brings lived experience into the room alongside over a decade of clinical training in attachment, Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, IPNB, parts work, and NARM. She has also trained with Robyn Gobbel in her year-long masterclass on adoption.

She came into this field with a clear intention: to work with adoptees. Early on, she was told that wasn’t really a specialty, that client’s didn’t come in for adoption issues. Yet, as an adopted person, she knew that advice was wrong and forged ahead by studying grief, attachment, and childhood trauma. She’s happy that in the past 15 years the Austin therapy community has begun to recognizing the depth and complexity of adoption and the need for true adoption competency.

Her work is relational, trauma-informed, and experiential—integrating somatic work, parts work, and expressive practices. She is especially drawn to the places that are harder to name: the quiet grief, the questions of identity and belonging, and the ways adoption continues to shape a person’s life over time.

Details:

  • First Friday of the Month 10am-11:45pm
    (No meetings in June & December)

  • Limited to 6 participants

  • $60 per meeting
    Requires a commitment of 6 sessions regardless of attendance

  • 1.5 CEUs each meeting

  • Via Zoom
    If we decide in person is more suitable to our work, I will endeavor to find us a location to meet in south central Austin.

PLEASE NOTE:

  • This group will focus on the lifelong impact adoption and centers on the experience and needs of those who are adopted.

  • It is intended to support those offering Adoption-Informed Therapy for Adults. It does not teach parenting skills or how to work with young children.

  • This group is neither pro nor anti adoption.
    Some topics may challenge you to question the systems that facilitate adoption and the pervading beliefs about adoption. I ask that you be willing to reflect on your personal beliefs and feelings and allow growth and compassion to the topics presented.