Upcoming Webinars
Recognizing the Relinquished: Adoptee-Centric Counseling
As a part of its Innovations in Counseling series, the NBCC Foundation invites you to a free webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, from 1–2 pm EST. Live webinars are available at no cost, and documentation of 1 clock hour of continuing education is available for registrants who attend the full webinar.
Although they comprise less than 2% of the total U.S. population, adoptees are approximately four times more likely to attempt suicide than their kept peers, and they are grossly overrepresented in mental health and substance use disorder treatment. Despite this, adoption as a cultural consideration has not been well studied in counseling scholarship and remains a rare topic of focus in counselor education.
This webinar, presented by a reunited adoptee who is a clinical mental health counselor and counselor educator, will equip practitioners and educators with greater knowledge, awareness, and skills related to serving adoptees with cultural sensitivity. Social and historical considerations will be reviewed, risk factors will be explored, and participants will learn practical strategies for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of adoptees who come to them for care.
After this presentation, participants will be able to:
- describe how relinquishment and adoption are linked to higher risks of devastating mental health outcomes and disproportionate utilization of mental health and substance use disorder services compared to kept peers.
- identify the consequences of maternal-child separation from adoption as an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE).
- integrate adoption-friendly intake and assessment procedures into standard clinical assessments.
Sara W. Bailey, PhD, NCC (she/her), is a counselor educator, researcher, and clinician with areas of focus in adoption, addiction, aging, and andragogy. She serves as the Counselor Education Program Director at the University of Lynchburg and provides counseling services at Full Life Counseling and Recovery, PLLC.
Dr. Bailey’s teaching philosophy emphasizes accessibility of content, active engagement, and the use of humor and humility in the classroom. As a supervisor and mentor, she values authentic connection and supports emerging professionals in identifying their purpose and professional goals.
NBCC Foundation has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 805. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. NBCC Foundation is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Each state sets its own requirements for licensure, including continuing education requirements to maintain licensure. Questions about CE requirements for state licensure should be directed to your state board. You can find their contact information on our state board directory.
