Episode 15 - Melissa Corkum

Jun 12

Mending Families is hosted by Melissa Pemberton and she brings you weekly content that is a mix of trauma aware interviews, parenting tips for those caring for kids from adversity, and stories from people just like you as they share their beautiful messy moments. Melissa hopes that when you listen each week, you will feel encouraged, inspired and take a little something away to help you and your family move from broken to mended.

As an adoptee and adoptive mom, Melissa Corkum provides insight and resources to adoptees and their parents through her writing, coaching, and speaking. She is a Safe and Sound Protocol Practitioner, Cultivate Connection Facilitator, and Certified Enneagram Coach. Additionally, she co-authored Reclaim Compassion: The Adoptive Parent’s Guide to Overcoming Blocked Care with Neuroscience and Faith. Melissa and Patrick live in Maryland and have six kids and two grandchildren.

On today’s episode, Melissa shares about how she uses the Enneagram in her personal life, as well as her professional life and how she has found it to be so helpful. She also talks about Blocked Care and Compassion Fatigue, which you can read more about in her new book, Reclaim Compassion. Melissa also gives us some great insight into Polyvagal Theory (I promise it’s not boring!) and how she uses the Safe and Sound Protocol to help families move into healing.

To find out more about Melissa and the many different hats she wears, you can find her at www.reclaimcompassion.com, on Instagram @postadoptionresources or @melissacorkum_, on Facebook @theadoptionconnection, and at www.theadoptionconnection.com

Topics Melissa mentions:

Brain-based Parenting by Dan Hughes and Jonathon Baylin

Find more about Stephen Porges and the Polyvagal Theory HERE and HERE

To find a SSP practitioner - www.integratedlistening.com

Purchase the Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child by Jayne Schooler that Melissa referenced when talking to your kids about adoption

What Happened to You? by Brucy Perry and Oprah Winfrey

Parenting After trauma podcast with Robyn Gobbel

The Adoption Connection podcast - listen to these episodes to learn more about the enneagram: 85, 114, 124, 142, 1171, 186

Where to find Mending Families:

Instagram - @mendingfamilieswa

TikTok - @mendingfamilieswa