Katie Gagel & Laura Summers

Adopting Wellness Podcast

Society EN ↓ 20 episodes

Hey friends! Laura and Katie here. We are two adoptee BFFs who love creating experiences and spaces so adoptees around the world feel less alone. We understand the difficulty of navigating the hard stuff and wanted to curate an ongoing conversation about how we move from acknowledging our traumatic experiences as adoptees to wellness, health, and healing. Adopting Wellness will bring authenticity to the challenges and rewards of showing up for yourself, as well as sharing adoptee stories through interviews of how others have tackled adversity and are moving toward a healthier life. We are so e...

Author

Katie Gagel & Laura Summers

Category

Society

Podcast website

www.podserve.fm

Latest episode

Sep 15, 2025

Where to listen?

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Episodes

Episode 20: Fortune tellers, navigating change, and where in the world has Laura and Katie been?! 15.09.2025

This episode is catching up with two old friends who unintentionally took a break from podcasting for a year. We catch up with updates on our health, our lives, and learnings from the last year. We are excited for you to listen and want to hear from you - Adoptees, have you ever met with a fortune teller? What was your experience like? Disclaimer: Laura and Katie are NOT physicians. This podcast i...

Episode 19: Alana Hook - Fierce Advocate and Therapist 26.08.2024

Today we are joined by the fierce and wonderful Alana Hook. Alana is a domestic, infant, private closed adoption in reunion. Alana is a masters level clinician who works in public defense as an advocate and mitigation specialist as well as a community mental health therapist. She uses reality based approaches to support all people in finding their path, embracing their own recovery and reconnectin...

Episode 18: Turning 40 and reflections on it. 10.06.2024

Laura and Katie discuss turning 40, how grief and loss plays out in every-day life, being a late bloomer, and the difficulties of advocating for your own health as a patient. Disclaimer: Laura and Katie are NOT physicians. This podcast is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided shou...

Episode 17: Health updates, Trigger moments, Emotion ranges 25.03.2024

Laura and Katie give some personal downloads on health and life. They deep dive into how relinquishment triggers experiences outside of human adoption, and talk about learnings and takeaways from therapy. Also, we apologize for Katie's terrible mic sound quality this month--we are working to improve for the future! In this episode, we mention the below resources: Pamela Karanova: https://pamelakar...

Episode 16: Health coaching for adoptees, people pleasing, and boundaries with special guest Kate Kelly 19.02.2024

Kate is a Certified Health Coach who works with fellow adoptees and others to find balance with their health and wellness. Kate believes in a growth mindset and works with her clients on their everchanging identities and how this influences their health. Kate strives to educate adoptees with the understanding that even with an unknown family health history there is empowerment in what you can cont...

Episode 15: Happy 2024, Leaning into therapy and learning to ask for help, Goals for the year 29.01.2024

Laura and Katie celebrate 2024 by sharing what lessons they want to live by in 2024. They talk about the hardships of asking for help and why it's complicated as an adoptee, and how to lean in on professionals for support. Tune in on Apple or Spotify podcasts and let us know your thoughts! Contact us: Adopting Wellness Instagram: @adoptingwellnesspod (http://www.instagram.com/adoptingwellnesspod)...

Episode 14: A solo episode with co-host Katie Gagel, wrapping up 2023 and getting vulnerable. 27.12.2023

In episode 14, Katie spends time sharing her wins and losses in 2023 and throws in some vulnerability, childhood memories, and therapeutic proud moments of younger Katie. Thanks for joining us on this journey and for tuning in to our podcast this year! @lauraisalot and @katiethekad cannot wait for what's in store for 2024!! **Please consult a physician for any and all health questions, concerns, t...

Episode 13: Accomplishments, Estrangement and what it looks like, and more! 11.12.2023

In episode 13, Laura and Katie are so happy to come together and discuss our successes, wins, and struggles. In the midst of Katie's great health news and Laura launching a business with her biological mother, it was a really wonderful conversation of catching up and talking about the adoptee experience in estrangement, family, NAAM (National Adoption Awareness Month). Tune in on Apple or Spotify...

Episode 12: Rebecca Berg, Living in our bodies, our relationship with food, and the complexity of adoption within the wellness space 23.10.2023

Episode 12, we give a warm welcome to Rebecca Berg! Rebecca describes herself as “human first, dietician second.” She is a registered dietician committed to showing up as her full authentic self in work with clients helping them slow down, ditch frustrating food rules and beliefs, and develop skills to eat, move and BE at ease. Rebecca is also a domestic same-race adoptee and is passio...

Episode 11: Keeping up with life and the pressures of faking it til you make it 18.09.2023

Katie and Laura get together after taking some time to recover from illness. They talk about the societal shame of not being "fine," not being able to talk about it, and how it correlates to adoptees' way of making others feel comfortable. Life can feel very heavy and it was refreshing to talk to each other about normalizing how we feel, even when it's not what others want to hear. Tune in on Appl...

Episode 10: Bells Palsy, Doggies, Avoiding Burnout 07.08.2023

Laura and Katie are back again and they catch up on health, talk about how not to burn out on life, and what's to come at the end of the month. They are super excited to bring back guests and are ready to rock the second half of the year. Adopting Wellness Instagram: @adoptingwellnesspod ( http://www.instagram.com/adoptingwellnesspod ) Email us: mailto:adoptingwellnesspod@gmail.com Adopting Wellne...

Episode 9: Therapy, Physical Activity, Debriefing missing KAAN/IKAA 17.07.2023

Katie and Laura are happy to come back to July as our last single episode month! August will resume our solo epsiodes at the beginning of the month and an interview with a guest at the end of the month. WE ARE SO EXCITED for our lineup!!!! We had a wonderful conversation surrounding EMDR, what we are learning about ourselves, what we are doing surrounding physical activity, and debriefing the mour...

Episode 8: June Vibes and Wellness Checks. 19.06.2023

Laura and Katie return in June to check in with each other, where they chat about their own health journeys, what they are learning in regards to healthy thinking and social norms. Hope you enjoy Episode 8! Leave us a message or review! Adopting Wellness Instagram: @adoptingwellnesspod ( http://www.instagram.com/adoptingwellnesspod ) Email us: adoptingwellnesspod@gmail.com Adopting Wellness Podcas...

Episode 7: Health from Pandemic to Now, Mother’s Day, and Friendship 15.05.2023

Laura and Katie had the opportunity to record this episode together, in person! There were check-ins on their personal lives in regards to their own health journeys as well as dove into how our health has transitioned from the start of the pandemic to now. They also talk about Mother's Day, how they handle these types of holidays, and how they move forward. Hope you enjoy Episode 7! Leave us a mes...

Episode 6: Advocacy, Connecting, and Prioritizing Wellness While in Community with Patrick Armstrong 17.04.2023

We are joined with our favorite human, Patrick Armstrong and deep dive into advocacy, adoption narrative, caring for yourself while maintaining connection within the adoptee community, how to prevent burnout, and what does self care mean in an environment that often takes energy, emotional labor, and time. And we laugh. A lot. Patrick Armstrong (he/him) is a transracial Korean American adoptee, po...

Episode 5: Expectations, Self Care, and Processing an Adoption Conference 03.04.2023

Katie debriefs some thoughts on attending an adoption conference from this past weekend and Laura shares about how she had a moment of self care while traveling and how that has impacted her intentions for the future as a parent. The discussion lands on expectations and the shame-filled word "should." We hope you enjoy this conversation and reach out to us for anything! Listen on Apple Podcasts or...

Episode 4: Parts Work, Tarot, and Creativity with Susan Carpenter Sims 20.03.2023

Episode 4 is out now! Laura and Katie have the amazing opportunity to interview our friend Susan Carpenter Sims. We dive into Susan's journey of using Internal Family Systems therapy, tarot, and collaging and how it has helped connect her to a deeper understanding of Self and wellness. We hope you enjoy this conversation and reach out to us for anything! Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Today'...

Episode 3: Checking In, Anxiety, and H2O 06.03.2023

Episode 3 is out now! Laura and Katie deep dive into their personal health goals after a month of setting them. They share the challenges, successes, and have real talk about checklists and drinking water. We hope you enjoy this conversation and reach out to us for anything! Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Adopting Wellness Instagram: @adoptingwellnesspod Email us: adoptingwellnesspod@gmail.c...

Episode 2: Organizing Our Lives with Jenn Chapman 20.02.2023

Episode 2 is out now! Today Katie and Laura talk to the beautiful Jenn Chapman @chappyplans about organization, planning and how this has been a part of her wellness. Jenn is a Korean-American transracial, transnational adoptee, wife to her husband Matt, and mama to their 7-year-old daughter, Norah. She is a part-time Connections Director at their church, planning/memory-keeping YouTuber, and PTA...

Episode 1: Intros and Our Why 04.02.2023

In the inaugural episode of Adopting Wellness we introduce ourselves, talk about our mission for the podcast, and share our core values - our "why." We also share a bit about our personal 3-month focus areas for wellness and talk about who our guest will be for the second episode. Can't wait to hear more from you! Adopting Wellness Instagram: @adoptingwellnesspod Email us: adoptingwellnesspod@gmai...

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