John R. Gregg
@johnrgregg.bsky.social
Adoptee living with a mental illness & substance use disorder. Addiction professional with focus on family preservation. Supporting displaced people on their recovery journey.
“As they’ve had so much trauma and chaos in their lives.” I totally relate to this. I never was upstate, but my life was very chaotic and I was just trying to survive mostly. It wasn’t til I got sober that I started thinking about adoption. It’s cool that you work with incarcerated adoptees. 👊🏻
March 9, 2025 at 12:45 AM
“As they’ve had so much trauma and chaos in their lives.” I totally relate to this. I never was upstate, but my life was very chaotic and I was just trying to survive mostly. It wasn’t til I got sober that I started thinking about adoption. It’s cool that you work with incarcerated adoptees. 👊🏻
Awesome. Glad to connect. Reach out if you need support or just wanna “have coffee”. 👍🏻
March 8, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Awesome. Glad to connect. Reach out if you need support or just wanna “have coffee”. 👍🏻
Oh it’s going to happen. But I’m still pretty new and have already been pretty aggressive about criticizing adoptee treatment. So for now, until I’m more settled & confident, I’ll pick my spots when colleagues will actually listen and then come REALLY hard. 🥚
March 8, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Oh it’s going to happen. But I’m still pretty new and have already been pretty aggressive about criticizing adoptee treatment. So for now, until I’m more settled & confident, I’ll pick my spots when colleagues will actually listen and then come REALLY hard. 🥚
Same. I needed to hold myself accountable, so I left “Adoptee Twitter”. All I was doing was saying same things over and over, but I wasn’t really DOING anything. That’s why my new job is so meaningful to me, because now I’m actually backing up my words with actions.
March 8, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Same. I needed to hold myself accountable, so I left “Adoptee Twitter”. All I was doing was saying same things over and over, but I wasn’t really DOING anything. That’s why my new job is so meaningful to me, because now I’m actually backing up my words with actions.
Haha! I should give it more than 24 hours, huh? 😜
March 8, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Haha! I should give it more than 24 hours, huh? 😜
bsky.app/profile/john...
The first thing I noticed when procuring a new job at a substance abuse facility. And my own lived experience has shown that adoption was not discussed in treatment settings unless I brought it up and even then it was more of a curiosity rather than a valuable piece of info
The first thing I noticed when procuring a new job at a substance abuse facility. And my own lived experience has shown that adoption was not discussed in treatment settings unless I brought it up and even then it was more of a curiosity rather than a valuable piece of info
My boss said that they don’t ask about adoption during intake. I think I’ve convinced her that is a mistake. The evidence of trauma>addiction & adoption>trauma is plentiful. But recovery professionals still largely haven’t seen connection and are STILL under serving their adopted patients. 🥚
March 8, 2025 at 3:52 PM
bsky.app/profile/john...
The first thing I noticed when procuring a new job at a substance abuse facility. And my own lived experience has shown that adoption was not discussed in treatment settings unless I brought it up and even then it was more of a curiosity rather than a valuable piece of info
The first thing I noticed when procuring a new job at a substance abuse facility. And my own lived experience has shown that adoption was not discussed in treatment settings unless I brought it up and even then it was more of a curiosity rather than a valuable piece of info
Yeah even if you are in reunion, getting medical history is difficult and you are often at the mercy of bio relatives to give it to you and if you do it can still be inaccurate…bad memory, speculation, inaccuracies, etc.
March 8, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Yeah even if you are in reunion, getting medical history is difficult and you are often at the mercy of bio relatives to give it to you and if you do it can still be inaccurate…bad memory, speculation, inaccuracies, etc.
This is great.
“I don’t care if Mother Teresa said she’d be a great Mom, it’s still 20k for a white one.” 🤣
“I don’t care if Mother Teresa said she’d be a great Mom, it’s still 20k for a white one.” 🤣
March 8, 2025 at 3:02 PM
This is great.
“I don’t care if Mother Teresa said she’d be a great Mom, it’s still 20k for a white one.” 🤣
“I don’t care if Mother Teresa said she’d be a great Mom, it’s still 20k for a white one.” 🤣
What kind of work?
March 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
What kind of work?
That’s incredible. Being online you’d think that everyone is clueless about adoption. But actually it seems like folks are actually listening and learning. So yeah, it’s wild, but also very reassuring.
March 8, 2025 at 2:45 PM
That’s incredible. Being online you’d think that everyone is clueless about adoption. But actually it seems like folks are actually listening and learning. So yeah, it’s wild, but also very reassuring.
You as well, Maggie.
March 8, 2025 at 1:27 AM
You as well, Maggie.
Reposted by John R. Gregg
Asking about adoption at intake alone isn't enough. The intake form needs to reflect "adopted, family history unknown" as a possible response. Practitioners need to understand what to do with the information. "Unknown" is NOT the same as "no history of." She's got some work to do to make it right.
March 8, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Asking about adoption at intake alone isn't enough. The intake form needs to reflect "adopted, family history unknown" as a possible response. Practitioners need to understand what to do with the information. "Unknown" is NOT the same as "no history of." She's got some work to do to make it right.
💯 My own story is that I was unable to get a correct mental health diagnosis until after I’d been in recovery for 10 years, because of lack of family history. Only after reunion was diagnosis corrected and I’d been taking medication that made my illness worse. Trust me I hope to talk about that soon
March 8, 2025 at 1:23 AM
💯 My own story is that I was unable to get a correct mental health diagnosis until after I’d been in recovery for 10 years, because of lack of family history. Only after reunion was diagnosis corrected and I’d been taking medication that made my illness worse. Trust me I hope to talk about that soon