Encompass Adoptees Mentors & Interns
Meet Our Program Team Members
Our Youth & Teen Program Team is committed to the continued journey of processing their individual lived experiences and educating themselves on related issues as well as encouraging this in one another. They participate in an application screening, interview, orientation, group processing, and debriefs, as well as background checks. In addition, they complete a number of required trainings, readings, educational workshops, classes, or events every year on topics such as adoption & foster care, trauma-informed care, de-escalation, attachment, and others to help them better understand themselves and the youth we work with. Mentors agree to one year of participation to encourage stability for the youth in our program.
“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own. ”
Heather Gonzales LPC (she/her/hers)
Program Director
Mentor / Lived Experience- Adoptee
Heather has a bachelor’s degree in Art Therapy from Capital University, and a master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Pennsylvania Western University. She co-founded Encompass Adoptees in 2017, in its original form, and continues to serve the adoption, foster, and kinship(AFK) community. In addition to being an adult adoptee, Heather has accumulated experiences as a Kinship Support Specialist, as a Mental Health Specialist doing Community Counseling, and as a foster parent. She has served in a variety of children’s educational and care positions including working with Transracial Journeys Summer Camp for several years in their art cabin. Prior to this, Heather had a small woodworking business for nearly ten years. As an artist, Heather’s work was displayed at the 2019 Indiana Adoptee Network Conference, and at the Annual Encompass Adoptees Art Show. She plans to continue to create spaces for AFK individuals and our community to have a voice, learn, process, see one another in genuine ways, and gain insights through art.
Heather is a domestic kinship adoptee, adopted with her twin sister, and is in reunion. In 2015 she became active in the adoption community and began working to process her individual experiences as an adopted person. She has a strong commitment to reading and self-education on relinquishment, adoption, attachment, grief, and other related issues. Heather believes we must find the words to our experiences in order to understand ourselves, join community, integrate our experiences, and progress forward. At Encompass Adoptees, Heather uses her passion for art, education, inclusivity, and teamwork to find new and creative ways to support the adoptive, foster, and kinship(AFK) community and all the diversity found within it.
Emily Cooper (she/her/hers)
Mentor / Lived Experience- Adoptee
Emily Cooper is a Chinese Transracial Adoptee from Westerville, Ohio. She is entering her Junior year at The Ohio State University in their pre-vet program. She hopes to one day attend Ohio State's vet school and become a mixed-animal veterinarian. Outside of her academics, she is an avid reader. She also enjoys spending time with family, listening to music, and traveling.
Caitlin Cahoon (she/her/hers)
Teen Program Assistant
Mentor / Lived Experience- Donor Conceived Person
Caitlin joined Encompass Adoptees in 2021 and in relation to her work with AFK individuals and families, began to explore her own identity as a donor-conceived person with same-sex parents. Caitlin has since discovered her own donor father and many donor siblings across the country. She uses her personal and professional knowledge to support the adoptive, foster, and kinship community, along with the donor conceived community.
Caitlin received her Master of Social Work from The Ohio State University in 2024 and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Wittenberg University in 2018. Caitlin also serves as a training coordinator and board member for Encompass Adoptees. Prior experience includes school-based counseling, case management in child welfare, client advocacy in a domestic violence shelter, and direct service promoting cultural literacy and community access to the arts. Caitlin takes a trauma- and relationship-focused, restorative approach. Caitlin is a strong believer in the power of play and the necessity of honoring all parts of ourselves. Outside of work, Caitlin enjoys spending time with her husband and dogs, reading, and gardening.