I was born in Wichita, Kansas in the 60s, and my birth mother gave me up for adoption at birth. For the first three months of my life, I was in foster care, and then, was adopted by the Campbells, a very nice white couple from, most recently, Northwestern Kansas, prior, Pennsylvania.

Very little was known of my heritage, other than my father was listed as unknown, and my mother had “Indian, French, and English” ancestors.

I did find out later that she was from Oklahoma, hence the name of my psychotherapy business, Five Tribes Therapy. It is almost certain that I am “blood” with these people, the Five Civilized Tribes, i.e., Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole.

I am very proud of my heritage, but was raised as a white child by white parents. As an adult, after I moved to the West Coast, I started attending pow wows, making efforts to become more familiar with my native culture, and to find my roots. As noted on the About Me page, I have spent quite a bit of my professional life working with indigenous cultures, trying to “give back.”

It’s a constant source of consternation that when I am on the “Rez” that I am accepted as Native, as I have the physical features, but off the rez, I’m part of the white dominant culture.