The Adopted Teen Workbook

Book excerpt: Written for teens who were adopted, this compassionate workbook will help give you the strength, resilience, and confidence you need to thrive—now and on into adulthood. If you’re like many other adopted teens, you may wonder about your birth family. You may question why you were given up. And you may even grapple with feelings of isolation, abandonment, and broken trust. These feelings are valid and deserve to be addressed. This workbook is designed to help you open the door to questioning, explore painful feelings, and develop the skills needed to be a happy and grounded adult. The Adopted Teen Workbook teaches powerful self-resiliency, mindfulness, and somatic skills to help you explore your unique identity as an adopted teen. You’ll find tools to manage loss and grief, and activities that include checklists, contemplations, skill-building, and journaling to help you chronicle present, past, and future relationships with both your adoptive and birth parents. This workbook begins with your first recognition of having been adopted and the feelings that come with that. You will then explore memories of the past and begin work on understanding emotions of anger, shame, and loss. Finally, you’ll learn ways to heal these wounds, learn to trust, and fully connect with both yourself and others.