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

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 experienced 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 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 614-600-6163, or send an email to heather@encompassadoptees.org. Adoptive families can apply for PASSS funding, and some sliding scale spots are available for adult adoptees, fostered, kinship, and other adult 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 be 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 complete 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 the 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

Adult Adoptee

I specialize in working with individuals and families with experiences related to adoption, foster care, and kinship care. As an adult adoptee, I'm committed to coming alongside others working through trauma, grief, adverse childhood experiences, attachment injury, relinquishment/removal, identity formation, relationship issues, or navigating reunion and move toward wellbeing and a sense of peace. I use my lived experience, my journey of processing, and my personal dedication to continual learning to actively partner with my clients. I use a collaborative, humanistic, feminist, and art-based (for those interested) approach that is curious, compassionate, and direct. Together we'll work toward solutions, reduced symptoms, deeper understanding, healthy family relationships, and empowered choices. Life offers many challenges, especially for those with early parental separation, or trauma. Deciding to start therapy can be difficult, and finding a therapist who understands our unique history can make a significant difference. Whether you are working through past hardships and trauma or current relationship difficulties, you don't need to do this alone.

I have spent over 10 years processing my own experiences and working to specialize in serving the adoption/ AFK community as a whole and all the diversity found with in it. I have a strong commitment to self-education, reading and studying extensively on these topics in addition to my formal training. This education is enhanced and guided by my personal lived experience, my own work toward healing, my active participation within the adoption community since 2015, and years of listening and supporting other adopted, fostered, and kinshipped people of all ages, as well as their families.

In sessions- I collaborate with clients and individualize the time to draw on each person’s unique strengths to meet their personal needs and goals. I enjoy using art-based interventions including drawing, collage, metaphor, music, literature or poetry, and various other mediums when possible. I offer an active and team based approach to therapy, and include education, resources, and personal processing exercise options outside of sessions for those who want it. Regardless of where you find yourself today, I am ready to partner with anyone ready to grow and work toward change.

See more about Heather Gonzales, LPC

Caitlin Day, MSW, LSW

Donor Conceived Person

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