Workshop: The Different Parts of Me - for Young Adopted Teenagers (Galway)

Teenage years are an interesting time for young people and for their parents and they can be additionally interesting and sometimes challenging for adopted young people. The job of the teenager is to work towards their own identity - and that can be hard to do when you don’t know too much about your beginnings.

Many parents are concerned that their young teens find it hard to express themselves about what adoption means to them. It can be very helpful for young people to understand that others can have the same feelings as they do and this workshop can be a springboard for more discussion with parents.

Workshop purpose

The purpose of this workshop is to bring young teens together in a safe, fun and supportive setting to look at how adoption fits in to all the other parts of themselves.

The arrangements for the workshop will follow all public health guidelines in relation to Covid at the time of the event.

Activities will be used to keep the participants relaxed and engaged.

Workshop aims

We will be aiming to:

• Boost self-esteem by understanding how many families are made through adoption
• Explore some interesting facts about the teenagers’ birth countries
• Give opportunities to name some common feelings that many young people might have about adoption
• Look at some of the questions they might have about themselves
• Give ideas for managing questions others might ask the young person about adoption
• Assist with identity building by mapping out their “parts”- their interests, talents and help them explore which of these might have come from birth family and which from forever family

We suggest that parents take part in some of the workshop, with refreshments available while the teens work as a group.

Parents will be most welcome to contact us both before and afterwards to discuss their son/daughters participation. Handouts will be provided.

Workshop places are limited. If sold out, please contact [email protected]