Barbara Neiman - The Adopted Teen Workbook: Develop Confidence, Strength, and Resilience on the Path to Adulthood

What a wonderful resource for adopted teens and families! Neiman deftly captures the central themes of identity and loss, putting words to feelings that often go unspoken. Her workbook includes mindfulness and self-care, so needed in todays technology-saturated world. I love how she interweaves mindfulness and managing stress with difficult feelings and adoption narratives. Ill be recommending this to all of the adoptive families I know and work with!

Katie Naftzger, LICSW , author of Parenting in the Eye of the Storm

Barbara Neimans The Adopted Teen Workbook is a remarkable intervention in the challenges facing adopted youth and teens in foster or kinship care. Drawing on years of experience in the discipline of mindfulness, Neimans workbook provides a series of carefully devised exercises that engage body and mind, opening a space for meditation and reflection on the realities of loss and abandonment. This workbook has the potential to be a powerful tool not only for the adopted, but for those whose lives have been transformed by adoptive kinship.

Barbara Yngvesson , professor emerita of anthropology at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, and author of Belonging in an Adopted World

Adolescence is a joyous yet often challenging time for families as teens work through issues involved in identity formation. This is particularly true for adopted teens, who not only must determine who they are and where they came from but must face the issue of abandonment by their birth parents. Resources for adoptive families in this area have been lacking, but this void has been filled. In The Adopted Teen Workbook , Barbara Neiman offers a practical road map that will greatly assist adoptees and their parents in jointly navigating a safe passage to adulthood.

Dana E. Johnson, MD, PhD , professor in the department of pediatrics, Adoption Medicine Clinic, University of Minnesota

I am happy to share that I reviewed The Adopted Teen Workbook by Barbara Neiman. Having worked as a psychologist with adopted teens for the past twenty years, the book offers some very useful resources that can be used to further explore issues that adoptees experience. I think the workbook would be most useful as a supplemental resource for therapists so that teens can continue their explorations along with the support of their therapists.

Amanda L. Baden, PhD , professor and licensed psychologist in New York City, NY

Barbara Neimans workbook provides a practical, empowering tool for fostered and adopted teens that acknowledges their trauma and provides resourceful tools to assist them in their physical and emotional self-care and self-actualization. A resource which would be valuable to all fostered and adopted teens.

Judith Craig, BSW , transracial adoptee, and subject of the documentary Adopted ID

This workbook is a valuable contribution to the adoption literature. Barbara has provided teens, young adults, and their family members a treasure trove of creative and practical activities to help guide them through the myriad of feelings and experiences related to their adoption journey. Therapists will find this a welcome resource in their work with adoptees and their families.

Ricki Bernstein , adoptive parent and psychotherapist

This workbook is a comprehensive and compassionate guide, written by a woman who is both an adoptive mother and a skilled teacher of meditation, yoga, and wellness. Barbara Neiman covers a range of issuesfrom ethnic and racial family differences to feelings of vulnerability, abandonment, hurt, and shamewith sensitivity, real-life stories of those shes served, and easy-to-follow tips and practices. Use of these practices will enable any reader to handle the myriad challenges that might arise for an adopted or fostered teen. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

Sharon Rosen, LMT, CWC , is a self-care coach, meditation teacher, and author of Crazy World, Peaceful Heart

The exercises in this workbook, both written and physical, can benefit and empower all of usnot just adopted teens. The case examples that Barbara Neiman presents shine light on a once secretive topic, and the scenarios provide language and context for discussion, thought, and self-realization. I was adopted in 1957, in an era when the topic was unspeakable. As a young person I would have more than welcomed the support and guidance that this workbook affords.

Lauree Feldman, artist

Kudos to Barbara Neiman for meeting an extraordinary but often neglected needhow to support adoptive children in their process of claiming identity. This process, especially for preteens and teens, involves feeling whole while negotiating diverse environmentsbiological and culturaland doing all of this within their own skin. Building on the outcomes of research from researchers like Beatrice Beebe and Suzi Tortora who understand the importance of movement and the body in feeling connected, trusting, and content, The Adopted Teen Workbook provides practical steps and wise advice. The workbook activities stem from real lifethe depths of experienceas a mother and as a professional. This is a book I will recommend wholeheartedly to families, somatic educators, and mental health workers.

Martha Eddy, CMA, RSMT, EdD , author of Mindful Movement , and founding director of Dynamic Embodiment

Barbara Neiman has created a wonderful, easy-to-understand resource for the entire family, with a focus on adoption. The personalized, real-life case studies are an added gift that help teens relate to the subject and guide them through the exercises.

Carolyn Bosa , adoptive parent

Barbara Neiman brings personal and professional insight into to the challenges faced by teenagers who have been adopted. The Adopted Teen Workbook provides specific exercisesboth cognitive and mindfulthat are designed to help young adults navigate the emotional journey of separation from a birth family. Each page gently guides the reader to find value and purpose in the solitary experience of adoption. This participatory journal will enrich any youth that is ready to embrace the story of the multiple family. BRAVA!

Toni Smith, MFA , Body-Mind Centering Practitioner

This book gives teens a safe venue to explore and express feelings that they may not have had the opportunity to previously. I highly recommend it to teens, parents, social workers, and therapists as they explore the issues faced in adoption and foster care together with their family and clients.

Kelvin Antonelli, LCSW-R, psychotherapist

With this well-organized, comprehensive workbook, adopted teens may safely explore the many facets of their experienceat their own pace. It is full to the brim with suggestions and encouragement: physical activities to center and strengthen the body, meditations to calm the mind, ways to trust the heart, and support to build confidence to follow the inklings of spirit and intuition. Full of insight for adoptive and prospective adoptive parents as well! Highly recommended!

Puja A.J. Thomson , director of Roots & Wings, author of Track Your Truth as well as other health and wellness publications, and interfaith minister

Publishers Note

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.