incredible-marketing Arrow

The Guest House is a haven for men and women who are struggling with self-defeating behaviors brought on by traumatic life events and other underlying issues. We treat a range of conditions including addiction, anxiety, depression and mental health disorders. The symptoms and effects of traumatic life experiences and the maladaptive coping mechanisms that go with them can often be addressed with talk therapy and medication, but at The Guest House we seek and treat the root of your behaviors with holistic, experiential therapies alongside group therapy and one-on-one counseling. Here, we are committed to helping you find healing and recovery that can last your whole life. We believe in providing long-term solutions that target the core of your concerns while giving you the right tools to successfully manage your condition or symptoms.

Adoption Trauma

Adoption

We breathe as one, I am safe

I feel her pain, joy, compassion, anxiety, depression and live her life experiences

If she is anxious or fearful, I am born activated

If she is calm, I am peaceful

I push from her warmth into a cold, bright lit room

I am ripped away screaming and crying

It is not a natural cry but rather a primal sound. I cannot be consoled

I sit on my bed and cry, I want to be comforted. I don’t belong, life is too difficult, I want to be saved, where is my knight and shining armor, my biological mother

I am attached to everyone or I am attached to no one

I love or I am angry, I am good or I am bad

Who do I look and sound like, do I have siblings, who am I?

I have this pain that goes to my soul, it is a gaping wound that cannot be fully healed

It is a primal wound

This is not about speaking disparagingly about our adoptive parents

It is trying to maneuver adoptive family dynamics we are unfamiliar with or it is trying to maneuver biological family dynamics that we are strangers to, it can be both and we are trying to walk that fine line so family members are not hurt or become angry

It is about sharing our journey, discussing topics no one else would understand

It is grieving my biology and culture that has been forgotten

It is a pain to my core

–Baby Christine A./Dr. Sabra

This poem uniquely captures the experience of adoption trauma. Even in cases of loving and fulfilling relationships with adoptive families, it is still possible — even normal — for adopted children to experience a sense of deep loss or turmoil at the absence of biological parents. The bond between child and mother in particular is beyond everyday understanding. The connection forged in the womb cannot be broken; for better or for worse, everyone has their parents’ genes within them and carries this wherever they go and whoever they become. The inability to understand one’s biology and culture causes a crisis of identity that for many is a hindrance to living a full, free life comfortable in their own skin. The Guest House recognizes this trauma and is ready to help you move past it through holistic therapies and guided self-searching.