PAC offers free support groups for adoptive parents resident within Hampshire County Council.
These sessions are facilitated by experienced PAC counsellors and take place at venues in Winchester and Basingstoke. They provide adopters with a chance to gain support for their own situations and to hear other parents’ experiences and solutions.
Sessions are free and open to adoptive parents resident in Hampshire County Council. Refreshments are provided. No need to book - just come along!
Forthcoming dates
Basingstoke
Monday 3 June 2013 - 10.00am – 1.00pm (theme: Relational Play)
Monday 7 October 2013 - 6.00pm – 9.00pm (theme: Social Networking)
Venue: St Mary's Church, Goat Lane, Eastrop, Basingstoke RG21 7PZ. Map here.
Winchester
Monday 8 July 2013 - 10.00am – 1.00pm (theme: Relational Play)
Monday 4 November 2013 - 6.00pm – 9.00pm (theme: Social Networking)
Venue: Friends' Meeting House, 16 Colebrook Street, Winchester SO23 9LH. Map here.
Themes
The first half of each group meeting will be on a specific adoption related theme. The group facilitators will make a presentation on the theme for about ten minutes and then host a discussion on the topic. After the coffee break there will be open discussion, when any participant will be free to bring up any adoption related matter that is concerning them. Themes for the forthcoming sessions are:
Relational Play - How person-to-person play provides developmental repair and emotional well-being for adopted children with troubled histories. A broad range of activities for children will be introduced.
Social Networking - The impact of Facebook, messaging, mobile phones and the like on adopted children. The aim is to support those parents who want to explore these issues, whether current or for the future.
Group Facilitators
Louis Sydney is a child and adult psychotherapist and specialist adoption consultant at Adoptionplus as well as an independent trainer, clinical supervisor and consultant. He has worked with adopted or fostered children and families for over 10 years and was a family therapist, trainer and offered consultation at Family Futures for 9½ years. He has also trained in Theraplay and Dan Hughes’ Dyadic Developmental Therapy and Somatic Experiencing, a body and trauma focussed approach to therapy.
Kunu Gordon has been counselling for over 20 years and has several counselling qualifications. Her main work has been with students and staff at a university and in private practice, in both settings covering a wide range of issues including ones related to adoption. She completed PAC's Adoption Counselling Expertise course in 2006 and since 2007 has worked in PAC outreach surgeries. Kunu is a party to adoption.
Feedback from previous groups
“I went to the support group in Winchester and enjoyed it a lot. It is a good opportunity to meet other adoptive parents and share problems and experiences. It is always helpful to know how other parents deal with similar issues and it’s great to share ideas. As there are always members of PAC present, you can also get some professional advice. I can only recommend giving it a go”.
“Rather than going to self-help groups, I prefer to go to support groups which have professional facilitators because they always seem so much more positive and constructive”.
Confidentiality
Sessions are confidential, except for where a child protection concern (current or historical) may arise.
Download flyer: PAC Local Support Groups for Hampshire Adopters.
Download flyer: Support for Adoptive Parents in Hampshire
