Becoming a parent through adoption or allowing others to become parents through adoption is an important transition and probably the most profound event to occur in your life. It is an important decision to make. When you act on that decision it is life altering for you, your child, your community and sometimes communities and families in other parts of the United states and the world.
How do you know that adoption is right for You?
Are you still reflecting on whether this is the right decision for you or your partner ?
Are you a birth parent who is negotiating the transition practically and emotionally to choosing adoption as the best decision for you and your child or children?
Are you needing more information about what is involved practically and emotionally in the adoption process?
Do you need some support in moving through the adoption process now you have made the decision and you are dealing with the mound of paperwork and an abundance of feelings; the excitement and fears, the joy and losses that may now be surfacing?
Maybe you are in the wait period and need encouragement and reassurance. Maybe some preparation psychologically to make room for your adopted child? Do you need some understanding and guidance in how to establish a bond in the adjustment period after adopting?
Or maybe you are a Birth parent needing support after the adoption?
Whether you are just starting out in the process, or you are further along the path and just need some information and emotional support I am here to help. Call: 415 381 5889 for a free 10 minutes consultation by phone.
I am a therapist with training and expertise in adoption. I am also a single parent through international adoption. I have worked with every member of the adoption triad as well as many adoption workers.
I have traveled a similar journey that you are now taking. I have known the roller coaster of feelings between the excitement and the fear at various points in the adoption process. I have known the road blocks that can occur and the creativity and resiliency needed to keep moving forward. And sometimes simple Faith that is necessary to move beyond the road blocks.
About Cherry Jones
I adopted my daughter in 2001. In 2002, I became certified as an Infant massage Instructor and began teaching classes at UCSF Medical Center and other locations throughout the Bay Area. I studied early intervention and assessment at the Child Trauma Institute of San Francisco. For 4 years, I was fortunate to gain experience and work with many CPS referred foster/adopt children and their families, at an agency in Alameda County. As a Supervisor there, I trained many therapists in 0-5 years early intervention; trauma resolution; concurrent planning; and attachment focused therapy. I also became a volunteer therapist with an organization 'A Home within' which works with children who have been in foster-care.
I received my Masters in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and I became licensed as a psychotherapist in 1992. For 10 years I specialized in studying trauma , and became certified in therapeutic approaches that effectively address the physical and emotional symptoms of traumatic stress in adults and children.
I began learning about the healing benefits of a therapeutic relationship nearly 30 years ago. At that time I had just emigrated from England to America. It was 1981, I began as a certified Massage and Shiatsu Practitioner and had the good fortune to continue with my Shiatsu training by being an apprentice to my teacher for the following 2 years. In 1983 I started teaching and I have continued ever since - to learn from and to teach others.
Considering these 3 turning points in my life, I can honestly say that becoming an adoptive parent has been the most challenging, the most fulfilling and the most forceful in how it has caused me to transform myself both personally and professionally.
Now, in my Family therapy practice I focus on helping all people touched by adoption to heal and find home in their families and within themselves.
Our life is shorter than flowers
Then, shall we mourn?
No, we shall dance
Plant gardens
Dress in colours
And teach our children
To make the world more beautiful
Because our life
Is shorter than flowers
- from the Toltec culture
Press
Read an interview with Cherry Jones in Pacific Medical Center's Healthy Kids
You can contact me at: 415 381 5889 or cherryjonesmft@gmail.com
333, Miller Ave, 7E, Mill Valley, CA 94941
