Post Adoption Coaching and Consulting - about us

Who is Dr. Katz? (if not the tv cartoon psychologist?)

Though coaching is not any form of intensive psychotherapy, my training and experience as a clinical psychologist, school psychologist, psychoanalyst, group psychotherapist , special educator and marriage & family therapist over the past forty years has helped me and enriched me in my work as a coach. However, all of that training did not help me to be sensitive to and understand the meaningfulness and significance of the adoption experience because it was never taught, acknowledged nor regarded as important in all of my formal academic training and education. When I entered private practice and worked with people who had been adopted, who had relinquished children, who had adopted, I realized it's significance and that I had to develop my own knowledge and understanding. This adoption education of mine was greatly augmented by my own personal adoption experiences. After having experienced the joy of adopting a child of my own, journeying on a search and experiencing reunion with my own birthparent, and the experience of integrating many adopted relatives into my life, I have become attuned, involved , informed and impassioned in my work as an adoption coach with those whose lives are intimately touched by the process of adoption.

I now know both personally and professionally of the challenges, the complexities and the vulnerabilities created by that process and the great benefits to be gained with adoption coaching.


Dr. Melodee Kelly

I would like to welcome you all to our Post Adoption Family. Family has been and continues to be the most important theme in both my personal and professional life as a mother, grandmother, educator, author, therapist and adoption professional. I have spent twenty five years working with special needs children and their families and teachers. I won the coveted Annenberg Grant for creating the first therapeutically based public school in New York City history which is based on the therapeutic value of the family. For the past eight years, I have worked more intensely with families and individuals in private practice. I am very enthusiastic about being involved in the POSTADOPTIONFAMILY program which benefits the adoption community by providing post adoption coaching services via internet, phone and in person; professional education and training in adoption dynamics and issues and a free "answer coach" program. We hope that this expansion of services enriches the adoption community and supports the flourishing of our children.


Benefits of Working With Dr. Katz, Adoption Coach

1. You will have the security and reassurance in knowing that you are working with an experienced and skilled adoption professional who has come to know you and your family and to whom you can turn to whenever you need assistance.
   
2. You will learn that hopelessness is a feeling and not a fact of life; you will increase your emotional understanding and self regulation of your feelings.
   
3. You will be helped to develop your own innate understanding, wisdom and skills and enjoy the increased confidence and self-esteem that it brings
   
4. You will save energy and heartache by learning to identify self defeating patterns; and to anticipate pitfalls and obstacles.
   
5. You will be assisted in developing plans, strategies, constructive pathways and creative channels for achieving your goals and solving your problems
   
6. You will work to enhance your health and wellness while promoting psychological growth and resiliency
   
7. You will optimize your skills as a parent and develop the art of communication which will increase your effectiveness in your family and in the world.
   
8. You will deepen your self understanding and broaden your capability for self acceptance and forgiveness
   
9. You will be helped to resolve your resistances to positive growth and leave behind your cycles of stagnation and frustration.
   
10. Children benefit from the insight and understanding of the interaction between adoption's influence and the educational process which a coach who is also trained as a school psychologist and teacher can offer. This can help to avoid and minimize learning difficulties and plan constructive action.
    
11. Search and reunion are emotionally charged , complex and disorienting experiences. The perspective of a guide who has taken that journey can provide the support and self understanding which facilitates sound judgment and competent action
    
12. You will benefit by learning to coach yourself and others to promote your long term growth and effectiveness
    

Dr. Katz's Resume

Dr. Melodee Kelly's Resume