Mind Your Own Karma - Beyond The Bandage

Shelly is a private domestic adoptee. Born 2 years post Baby Scoop Era in North Carolina. She was raised a minister's daughter, along with her younger sister that her adoptive parents conceived. She was forced to become a birthmother at 17. She has 5 children, and her oldest daughter is adopted due to illegal rehomings. Trying to find answers for herself and her adoptive daughter....the journey be...

Lori Evans Ermi (she/her) wears a lot of hats! Lori is an adoptee, adopter, daughter, step-daughter, step-sister, half-sister, step-mother, single mom, entrepreneur, and former corporate executive now Professional Certified Coach and leadership consultant. Professionally, Lori has over 30 years’ experience in corporate leadership and organizational development and she wants to use this experience...

In her highly anticipated debut feature documentary, titled "Because She's Adopted," Kristal Parke delves deep into her own life story while also weaving together the narratives of other adoptees from diverse backgrounds. Adoptee Kristal Parke is a talented Cree filmmaker, producer, podcaster whose personal journey has driven her to explore themes of identity, belonging, and family in her work. Bo...

Rebecca's career in education started on the ocean, sailing around the world on a traditionally rigged tall ship. Through this two-year global circumnavigation Rebecca trained for a US Coast Guard captain's license and went on to work in non-profit outdoor education, teaching kids to sail on the Charles River in Boston and later on the Puget Sound of Washington State. Rebecca Wellington is...

Ashley is an adoptee, birth mother, and an adoptive parent. After going through foster care and being adopted by a Baptist family at the age of 4, she saw a lot of trauma in many forms. She was surrounded by adoptees and always knew adoption was special, so when she found out she was pregnant, she knew that adoption was the only answer. While there was plenty of drama that 9 months, she was able t...

Tim Perdion was born Thomas Griffin Demchak on March 1, 1969. Placed in the care of an adoption agency shortly after birth, he was adopted by his loving parents on April 28, 1969. Despite growing up in a seemingly perfect adoptive family, Tim wrestled with deep-seated feelings of anger, depression, and anxiety—a struggle that persisted into adulthood. The discovery of his biological roots at the a...

Candace Cahill is a first mother, late discovery step-adoptee, and the author of Goodbye Again, a memoir detailing her experience of losing her son twice. Candace is a modern-day Renaissance Woman and works seasonally as an Interpretive Park Ranger in Denali National Park & Preserve. Connect with Candace: Website: ⁠https://candacecahill.com/⁠ Book “Goodbye, Again” ⁠https://candacecahill.com/bo...

Stephen was born to a single mother at The Willows Maternity Sanitarium in Kansas City, Missouri in 1949. Kansas City was the hub of adoption in America for over four decades, and some 30,000 babies were born here over those decades. Stephen was later adopted by his parents six months later in Iowa. He always knew of his adoption but at age 13, he told my mother he wanted to know more. She reacted...

Brad is a Gen-X adoptee from the baby scoop era who grew up in New Jersey in the '70s and '80s. His adopters were wealthy, and his experience as a young child was great. However, he went on to experience many negative life events as a result of unresolved maternal separation trauma, and it wasn’t until 10 years ago that he connected the dots and started coming out of the fog. He started ad...

Elizabeth is both a reunited adoptee and an adoptive mother. Since 2000, Elizabeth Barbour has coached thousands of women to find their way back to solid ground when life gets chaotic and overwhelming. Elizabeth intimately understands the twists and turns of life’s transitions, having weathered the pain of divorce, the deaths of her parents, emotional struggles surrounding adoption, the heartache...

Ken DeStefano is an attorney living in New York, who is also a domestic adoptee that was born in the late 1960s. He was raised in a caring and loving home.  As an adoptee, he has had a largely happy life, but always wondered about the unknown.  That curiosity led to a search for his own birth mother and a reunification with her.  His debut novel, I Will See You Again...Hearts Will Sing , tells the...

Welcome Liz DeBetta to the podcast! Dr. Liz DeBetta, creator of Migrating Toward Wholeness© is an adoptee and independent scholar-artist-activist committed to changing systems and helping people navigate trauma through creative processes. She believes that stories are powerful change agents and when we write them and share them we connect and heal. Liz is a proud member of Actor's Equity, SAG-...

Rebecca Berg, MS, RDN (she/her/hers) is a Los Angeles-based Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and adoptee who specializes in eating disorders, mental health, and body image! She is passionate about helping adoptees learn how to connect to and care for their bodies. Alongside you, she gently explores food and body coping mechanisms with curiosity and compassion to cultivate understanding of how the...

Jennifer is an adoptee and an Arizona-based Sound Healer originally from Queens, New York, and was born in Croatia. She is now living in reunion with most of her birth family, with the exception of her birthmother that died 3 years ago before they could meet.   Jennifer’s background is in social work, and she found sound therapy quite by accident on an emergency trip to the dentist. Her dentist ha...

Michelle Madrid is the author of Let Us Be Greater: A Gentle, Guided Path to Healing for Adoptees and host of the Electricity of You Podcast. She is an international adoptee, former foster child in the UK, and an adoptee empowerment life coach who has been recognized as an Angels in Adoption® Honoree by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) and inducted into the New Mexico Women...

Jetona Smith Milby is a Kentucky Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has been practicing for 16 years. Going by the moniker of “Jet” or “The Traveling Therapist”, she enjoys *surprise surprise* traveling, animals, nature, dancing, reading, music, and astrology.  Professionally, Jet works with individuals, couples, groups, and families- providing a variety of services ranging from therapy, l...

Anita is an adoptive parent and is a passionate advocate for redefining parenthood, self-care, and mental health. As the owner of Udomom, she dedicates herself to supporting families during their journey to and through parenthood. Anita cultivates conversations around topics often silenced. Her mantra, 'I am human,' reflects her belief in embracing imperfection and self-compassion. Follow...

This story may not be for everyone! Russell Girten is an adoptee whose birth certificate was issued 9 days after he was born. He first was told that he was adopted at age 23, and when he began to tell his family and friends he was adopted, the common response was “I’m so glad they finally told him!” Russell didn’t have a strong desire to meet his biological family, but when he was 56, a close matc...

Welcome to the podcast! Meet Danielle Bruesch. Danielle was born July of 1968 in Reno, NV. She was in foster care for 4 months before being placed with her adoptive parents in Las Vegas NV. She grew up knowing she was adopted and was told she was chosen and special. At age 25, she accidentally found some identifying information in some medical records regarding  her biological mother, and the sear...

Due to the enduring emotional fallout that can be part of adoption, I highly support the gentle healing of Somatic Mindful Guided Imagery® (SMGI). For more information on this groundbreaking and highly successful method, go to ⁠https://www. SomaticHealingJourneys.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MY GUEST: Angie Grandt is an adoptive mom and mindset coach who is passionate about helping parents gain strategies to stop...

Due to the LONG-LASTING EMOTIONAL FALLOUT that can be part of adoption, I highly support the GENTLE HEALING SUPPORT of SMGI: Somatic Mindful Guided Imagery. For more information on this groundbreaking and highly successful method, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.somatichealingjourneys.com⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Or entered the world of energy medicine at 18 as she was searching for ways to release her excess...

Due to the LONG-LASTING EMOTIONAL FALLOUT that can be part of adoption, I highly support the GENTLE HEALING SUPPORT of SMGI: Somatic Mindful Guided Imagery. For more information on this groundbreaking and highly successful method, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.somatichealingjourneys.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Or entered the world of energy medicine at 18 as she was searching for ways to release her exces...

Due to the enduring EMOTIONAL FALLOUT that can be part of adoption, I highly support the GENTLE HEALING experience of SMGI: Somatic Mindful Guided Imagery. For more information on this groundbreaking and highly successful method, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.somatichealingjourneys.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donna is a transracial adoptee, born in the UK and raised there by a white family with lots of foste...

Check out this interview! She ticks all the boxes! Visit mindyourownkarma.com/podcast to listen to all the episodes. Miranda Barker, MSW LICSW, is an adoptive parent, an adoptive sibling, and a therapist. She has experienced working as an expectant parent counselor, child protection investigator and now as a therapist specializing in seeing clients that are part of the adoption constellation. She...

Monique Pangari was born in Australia in 1972 at the height of the ‘Forced Adoption Era.’ Relinquished at birth and adopted at 6 weeks of age, she grew up in a family with two older adopted siblings. As a result of this complex experience, along with the rollercoaster of FOUR ‘search and reunion’ journeys, early pregnancy and parenting, and now estrangement from multiple family members, she has no...