Adoptee Therapy · New York
Adoptee Therapy in NYC
A space for adult adoptees, including transracial and international adoptees, to explore identity, belonging, and the questions that don't have easy answers. In Midtown Manhattan and online across New York.
Being adopted, being you
Why Adoptees Seek Therapy as Adults
Adoption is not a single event that ended in childhood. For many adoptees it is a thread that runs through adult life: in questions about where you come from, in the feeling of standing between cultures, in relationships where you work hard to be easy to love. You can love your family deeply and still carry all of this. Both things are true, and both belong in the room.
What we might explore
How Adoption Can Show Up in Adulthood
- Navigating multiple identities and feeling caught between cultures, especially as a transracial or international adoptee
- Disconnection from your racial identity, birth culture, or family of origin
- Questions about your history, and what reconnecting to your own story might look like
- Abandonment wounds that surface in relationships as people-pleasing or needing to be the "perfect child"
- Grief and loss that others around you may not recognize as grief
- Feeling like you should just be grateful, and guilt about wanting to explore the harder parts
No blame, no shame
Even When Your Parents Did Everything Right
Exploring your adoption story is not a verdict on your family. Even with loving, well-intentioned parents, adoptees carry an inherent task that was never theirs to choose: making sense of identity, belonging, and loss from a very young age. Therapy is a place to set that weight down, look at it with care, and decide what you want your story to mean now.
Many adoptees also notice patterns that overlap with codependency: anticipating everyone's needs, keeping the peace, earning love through achievement. We can work with those patterns gently, at your own pace.
How we work
Therapy That Meets You Where Words End
Some adoption experiences happened before you had words for them. That is why I draw on approaches that work with more than talking, woven into warm, relational therapy.
EMDR for early wounds
EMDR therapy can help process experiences of loss and relinquishment that live in the body, including ones from before conscious memory.
Sandplay for the wordless
Sandplay therapy offers a creative, hands-on way to explore identity and belonging when talking about it feels out of reach.
Skills for hard moments
DBT-informed skills support you through identity questions, family conversations, and search or reunion decisions.
A family systems lens
Adoption reshapes a whole family. A family systems perspective helps make sense of roles, loyalty, and belonging without blaming anyone.
Who it's for
Is Adoptee Therapy Right for You?
- Adult adoptees in New York, whether your adoption feels central to your life or you have never talked about it
- Transracial and international adoptees navigating race, culture, and identity
- Adoptees noticing people-pleasing, perfectionism, or abandonment fears in their relationships
- Adoptees considering, in the middle of, or recovering from search and reunion
- Anyone who has been told to just be grateful and wants a place where the whole story is welcome
About Samantha
An Identity-Centered Therapist for Adoptees
I'm Samantha, an Asian American therapist in NYC. I'm not an adoptee myself. My commitment to this work grew from my own experience of being biracial and navigating multiple cultural identities, and from years of sitting with adoptees as they explore belonging, family, and self. I bring a warm, culturally attuned, strengths-based approach, with room for joy and humor alongside the hard stuff.
I see clients in person in Midtown Manhattan and virtually across New York State.
Sessions & fees
Adoptee Therapy in Midtown Manhattan or Online Across NY
- Office at 286 5th Ave (NoMad), Midtown Manhattan - in-person Mon-Tue
- Virtual sessions available across New York State
- Individual therapy $225 per session - out-of-network, superbills provided
- Free 15-minute phone consult to see if we're a fit
Questions
Adoptee Therapy: Common Questions
I had a good adoption. Is this still for me?
Yes. Adoptee therapy is not only for people with painful adoption stories. Many clients love their families and still want space to explore identity, belonging, or questions about their history. You don't need a crisis to deserve that space.
Do you work with transracial and international adoptees?
Yes, this is a core focus of my practice. We can explore what it means to navigate race and culture as an adoptee, including experiences your family may not have been able to mirror, with care and without judgment.
I've never really talked about my adoption. Where would we even start?
Wherever you are. Some clients arrive with specific questions; others just have a feeling that something wants attention. We go at your pace, and approaches like sandplay give us ways in that don't rely on having the words ready.
Can therapy help with search and reunion?
Yes. Whether you're deciding if you want to search, in the middle of reunion, or sorting through what came after, therapy offers steady support for one of the most emotionally complex experiences an adoptee can navigate.
Do we have to focus on adoption?
No. Adoption may be one thread among many, alongside work, relationships, anxiety, or family. You set the priorities; I hold the map.
Do you take insurance?
I'm out-of-network, which keeps your care private and fully tailored to you. I provide superbills so you can seek reimbursement through your out-of-network benefits.
Your Story Belongs to You
The most difficult step in the healing process is often the very first one, reaching out. I'm glad you're here.