Counseling & Consulting

Adoption — Foster Care — Kinship Care + Donor Conceived

“All of us labor in webs spun long before we were born” — William Faulkner

Encompass Adoptees Mental Health Counseling

— Currently accepting new clients —

Counseling at Encompass Adoptees takes a person-centered approach with a focus on attachment, trauma, interpersonal relationships, and grief particularly with individuals and families who have experiences adoptive, foster, kinship care, (AFK) or adjacent related experiences. We work alongside the client/family to start where you are, and create a plan unique to your specific needs. Standard talk therapy, art-based sessions, and play-based sessions are available. We work with youth, teens, and adults. Family sessions and parent participation for younger clients are seen as valuable and are encouraged. Encompass Adoptees does not provide services related to medication, crisis, or emergency needs. Sessions are mainly in-person at the Encompass location, but telehealth is an available for adults, and may be possible for youth on a case-by-case basis. Free twenty-minute consultations are available for new clients upon request. For more information or scheduling please call or text Heather at 502-873-6723, or send an email to heather@encompassadoptees.org. Adoptive families can apply for PASSS funding, and sliding scale options are available as needed for adult adoptees, fostered, and kinship clients.

Understanding the Adoptee Perspective - Adoption “Competency”

The perspective of an adoptee/ a person who is relinquished or removed is uniquely influenced by these experiences and these early experiences inevitably affect the formation of our worldview, as well as general ideas of the people and world around us. [Relinquishment is used here to refer to the experience of one’s birth/first parent’s willingly choosing to do something with their future other than parent us, or their inability to choose to parent us, regardless of the reason (disability, drugs, conception circumstances, etc) and regardless of whether this experience is followed by foster care, time in an orphanage, and/or adoption.] These experiences often cause subtle shifts in our perspective, understanding, beliefs, and definitions. Common areas where this can seen include concepts related to boundaries, safety, control, etc.

Very few graduate programs include educational options related to trauma or attachment, and there is even less taught on adoption. Because of this, therapists working with adoptees must educate themselves in other ways to achieve what many people are calling adoption “competency” or becoming an “adoption-competent therapist.” This applies to therapists both with and without lived experiences (as an adopted, fostered or kinship person) because lived experience is not equal to “competency” or a compete knowing of oneself or anyone else. At Encompass Adoptees we do not use this language but advocate for a Continual Learning model that strives for growing expertise, rather than the idea that a single class can offer “competency,” or that a therapist can come to an end of learning all that is necessary. This is especially true when working with those who have experiences related to trauma, relinquishment/removal and/or adoption/foster care because new research, insights, and literature in these areas are continually being published.

Encompass Adoptees offers specialized counseling for adopted, fostered, and kinship (AFK) people, as well as those with similar adverse childhood experiences, and their families. The list of recommended books posted on this website is a partial list of resources that have been read in the commitment to continual learning. And we have posted it so that individuals and families can educate themselves, and so clients have a more transparent understanding of the training and education behind the counseling and programs being offered at Encompass Adoptees.

Encompass Adoptees Growth and Expanding Services: Donor Conceived People

Encompass has been providing resources and services for individuals of all ages with adoptive, foster, kinship care, (AFK) or similar adverse childhood experiences, as well as their families since 2017. As donor-conceived people (DCP) share their perspectives, our larger community is coming to recognize that DCP can encounter similar issues related to their donor parent, akin to those faced by AFK individuals. We seek to honor the experiences of those struggling with feelings of abandonment, rejection, overwhelm, guilt, and genealogical bewilderment. We believe that through psychoeducation, empathic support, and active participation in the therapeutic process, integration is possible to give you back a sense of empowerment and autonomy.

Meet Our Clinicians

Heather Gonzales, LPC

As an adult adoptee, I am especially interested in working with non-traditional families (including fellow adoptees, kinship or fostered people, and those who may have lost a parent due to death, divorce, deportation, or other separation), as well as those looking for help parenting children and teens with unique needs related to these experiences. Adoptees and their families frequently fall into this unique needs category— including, but not limited to trauma, grief, adverse childhood experiences, attachment injury, relinquishment/removal, identity, relationship issues, and reunion. I have spent the past seven years working to specialize in serving the adoption community and am dedicated to supporting healthy family relationships and building bridges toward better communication for couples, families, and parent-child dynamics affected by these difficult experiences. I have a strong commitment to self-education, reading and studying extensively on these topics in addition to my formal training, and have used this passion to offer adoption competent counseling. This education is enhanced and guided by my personal lived experience, my own work toward healing, my active participation within the adoption community, and years of listening and supporting other adopted, fostered, and kinshipped people of all ages, as well as their families.

I individualize my sessions to draw on each client’s unique strengths to meet their personal needs, and enjoy using art-based interventions including drawing, collage, metaphor, music, literature or poetry, and various other mediums when possible. I offer an active approach to therapy and use exercises and homework outside of sessions for those who want it. Using my passion for art, education, inclusivity, and teamwork, I strive to find new ways to support the adoptive, foster, and kinship (AFK) community and all the diversity found within it. I value the worth and dignity of all people and am committed to supporting and empowering those whose voices have been marginalized or silenced . I seek to empathically engage with clients and together work toward creating an increased sense of autonomy, empowerment, self-awareness, individual identity, internal validation, personal integration, genuine presence, and peace. Regardless of where you find yourself today, I am ready to partner with anyone ready to grow and work toward change.

Heather has a bachelor’s degree in Art Therapy from Capital University, a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Pennsylvania Western University, and additional training from educational workshops and conferences on trauma, attachment, adoption, dissociation, and art therapy.

See more about Heather Gonzales, LPC

Caitlin Day, MSW, LSW

I was drawn to this work because of a deep value for being truly seen and known. The opportunity to help others see and know themselves through therapeutic support is a privilege. My approach is relational and rooted in interpersonal neurobiology, with a focus on attachment. I work collaboratively and gently, because I believe in letting you and your family lead the way in your healing. I don’t think you need fixing - you might just want tools, new perspectives, and another person to carry your story alongside you.

My approach with children is play-based and child-centered. Our needs are unique and ever-changing - for this reason, I offer both directive and non-directive support in sessions. I enjoy incorporating sandtray, dollhouse and imaginary play, and art into our time together. For adolescents and adults, I like to use a blend of talk therapy, art, sand tray, and somatic work. I take an active approach - I will incorporate education and resources that fit your unique needs as appropriate. It is important to me to individualize our sessions and bring my own vulnerability and authenticity into our therapeutic relationship. Through empathic and relational care, I hope to help individuals and families feel more present, more empowered, more understood, and more stable.

I am a Columbus native, a dog lover, a sister, a daughter, a partner. I am a donor conceived person - I can understand the delicate balance of connection with raised family and the need to know all of yourself and your history. I carry multiple parts of myself and I understand that you do too. I bring into this relationship a professional background in child welfare, domestic violence, and school-based mental health, as well as lived experience in unpacking generational trauma and navigating parental separation and loss. I received a Master of Social Work from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Women’s Studies from Wittenberg University. I seek to complement my education and training with consistent self-education, research, and consultation with other professionals.

See More about Caitlin Day, MSW, LSW