Lupe and Love's Reconciliation. 3 of 3, 5plusME!

Hi, I'm Crystal. I am a Native, Mescalero Apache, Mexican American adoptee, and the Owner and Creator of Loveinmvmt Living llc. Immersion 4.0, based out of Portland, Maine. As a former foster youth, transracial adoptee - survivor - now thriver, I have made it my mission to bridge the gaps in trauma care access for marginalized communities and individuals living with past trauma. With one in eight American children suffering a confirmed case of neglect or abuse by age 18, there are more than 437,000 children in foster care in the U.S., and that number continues to grow yearly. At 15 months, I was removed from my biological mother and placed in the Foster care system. I temporarily lived as an orphan at Maclaren Hall Institute in El Monte, California. In 2003, the City of Los Angeles closed Maclaren Hall after finding them guilty of multiple sexual assaults and negligent accounts of the children beyond leaving them in dirty diapers and not feeding them.

My mission as a Coach and first-hand survivor is strengthening our women and survivors in restoring justice, harmony and balance for our children, family, and communities. LIL programs include the CASEL Curriculum and students' cultural references in all aspects of learning, providing students with practical social and emotional skills and tools to address trauma and connection. For this reason, using the term “healing-centered engagement” shifts the focus from an individual's specific experiences of trauma to a more integrative approach that focuses on culture, land, civic action and collective healing. I am calling for the strength of spirit, connections for leadership, survivors, youth, therapists and educators to harness knowledge and co-design projects for healing, indigenous people, and preservation. In the past, healing programs for women have included traditional healing methods and bush medicines for cultural renewal activities such as dance, song, craft and rituals. The ways we think about reciprocity, being good relations, and realizing community healing is to undertake a healing gathering forum and identify the healing needs and priorities of the community. Often schools treat trauma, SEL and equity as separate issues. To increase the understanding of intergenerational trauma and healing of people, we must remember our Ancestors and the many Women who have played a central role in caring for our people. *Your Endorsement, Sponsorship or Gift is intended for service and advocacy prevention services, harm-harm-reduction and Systems of Care grounded in the public health approach and working toward coordinated programs that take a comprehensive view of cultural learning and the well-being of all young children by recognizing the centrality of self-determination and the strengths of First Nations cultures in historical healing trauma and driving an intergenerational healing movement.*

For those who may not know, transracial adoption is defined as children whose parents adopt from a different race than their own. I don’t have anyone in my immediate family who is biologically related or looks like me. I have no adopted siblings, and my biological siblings and I are in the process of reunification. I’ve always wanted to know where I came from, whether I looked like my mom or my dad, and who, if any, my siblings were. Navigating my identity, learning to embrace my culture, knowing my privilege, and educating myself and others about my experience as a transracial adoptee can sometimes be isolating. I have always been curious about how other children process their adoption and develop their identity. And from first-hand experience, I know the burdens of surviving sexual trauma are experienced in dramatically uneven ways for survivors their family members, and former foster youth who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). From a health and wellness perspective, the lack of access and trauma care resources available for BIPOC, marginalized communities, MMIW survivors, and their families are non-existent or underfunded. These communities are often targeted by sex-trafficking organizations based on systemic racism, bias' and oppression that causes more intergenerational trauma, insecurity, self-abandonment and low self-esteem. I know all too well what it feels like because, at 19, I escaped my traffickers. Survivors are asked to handle the physical, psychological and spiritual impacts of interpersonal trauma and the structural trauma of racism. Meanwhile, barriers to resources that encompass the healing of these overlapping forms of trauma remain high.

In cultivating a national network of survivor ally-ship, my research has led me to understand the complex division between indigenous and BIPOC communities and the resources available to handle the aftermath of trauma. I have realized that any effort to deliver trauma healing care lacks historical, social and cultural context, and access remains insufficient. The systemic inequities in the “wellness” industry are more apparent than ever. In the United States, countless individual, cultural, historical and systemic factors complicate how people experience, myself included, and recover from trauma, addiction, homelessness, mental health and sexual assault. Decontextualized healing theories, practices and practitioners who lack resources and cultural humility can further harm and perpetuate lasting adverse effects on individuals on the road to recovery in positive functioning in the mental, physical, social or spiritual well-being. Trauma can cause extreme stress and can overwhelm the person's capacity to cope. Excessive stress can impact a person's emotional, mental and spiritual well-being because it can manifest in their physical body. Focusing on the biological aspect of health history related to identity, transracial adoptees don’t have any biological information about themselves. In my experience, I have to ignore things about my health, concerns and painful “issues in my tissues” because when doctors inquire about my health history, I don’t know my epigenetic factors. Emotionally and physically, when it comes to being taken from your family, not having any records of your health and knowledge of medical conditions adds to the uncertainty of personal identity and creates another layer of fear and anxiety in learning how to navigate. As a teen, I found that having to fill out medical forms with N/A drew my attention to the ample question mark space left blank around health history and the fear in my head. For many people, these questions are pretty standard and easy to answer, but for me, not so much.

As a trauma-trained educator, I raise awareness and create brave spaces and develop programs for prevention and harm reduction that recognize and heal the imprints of sexual violence and trauma as it arises within survivors’ physical bodies and mental, emotional and interpersonal connections. For youth and educators alike, the relevance and the ability to skillfully manage thoughts, feelings, sensations, and behavior is necessary to learn to navigate in aspects of experience (physical body, breath, thoughts, emotions, and wisdom and intuition. Adapting mind-body techniques for managing stress and creating opportunities to tap into the physiology of the nervous system through breathing techniques and experiences that support self-management techniques in daily life. One pathway, among others, to increasing a sense of safety in healing specifically for BIPOC survivors involves enhancing access to BIPOC healers who understand somatically, in their bodies, what it means and what is required to navigate through the dual, inescapable attacks of individual sexual trauma and collective racial trauma. 1) Impact Leaders who know intimately not only about survival – yet also embody the possibility of thriving through the reclamation of their inherent wholeness, worthiness and belonging. 2) Healers who hold the individual and collective pain alongside BRAVE the possibility for individual and collective repair. Humans need to feel connected, safe and embedded within a coherent community of other humans.

In August of 2021, through Facebook, I found my biological family.

Where I came from, my roots and the generational trauma complexities of being born in East Los Angeles in 1988, my Uncle Shadow, my nieces and nephews, my brothers and my sisters, all presently face. Overcoming systemic barriers, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, the largest county child welfare agency in the country. My story is a representative of cases that, through perseverance, hope, patience and love, could take place anywhere. Unearthing lifelong inquiries, prayers, and heartbreaking realities that I could never have anticipated I would find. 3 of 3 5+ME. Co-Create, Elevate, and Integrate!

Sponsorship allows me to continue "on the ground" research, data collection and implementation of care, providing direct, diverse training for life skill development and social-emotional learning for marginalized communities in rural and urban settings and across indigenous communities. Creating more virtual - Telehealth opportunities, gateways and LIVE* trauma-informed program experiences, offering trauma care services for harm reduction, reaching multicultural communities across the globe. I never thought I could dream of this opportunity, nor would I have to answer such a daring call in this lifetime. Through survivor-led experiences, we can amplify my research and bring professional and evidence systems that inspire and motivate our communities and place a child's well-being and competency at the forefront of our learning and healthcare systems. In the initial stages of my biological family reunification, funding provides immediate support for Adoptee/Sibling Search & Reunion, Travel Expense - "Home for the Holidays", Celebration of Life for my Mom, Round-Trip, and Research in 2022-2023. The possibility for collective healing is dependent on our collective commitment to dismantle beliefs, behaviors, systems, and structures that harm and dehumanize Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, so that we may all return to a community of belonging and so that equity, justice and healing may take root. I seek creative collaboration, partnerships, scriptwriters, grants and investors interested in amplifying my mission. Private Yoga, Healing Retreats, Youth Services, Athletic Training, Small Outdoor Group Training, Goddess Circle Retreats, Personalized Mentorship, Presentation and Speaking Opportunities, Non-Profit Collaborations and Partnerships in Los Angeles, California. Note* Additionally, funding and endorsement create trauma care access and service in collaboration with Waking Women’s Healing Institute for trafficking survivors, domestic abuse, homeless men and women, and those living with substance abuse and long-term recovery.* Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women - Families, Tribal Officers, Task Force Agents and Indigenous Elders, Oneida, Chippewa, Ojibwe, Anishinaabe and Menominee people and community, Teens and Young Adults in the following States (* Notes; the Highest percentage in region-specific to trafficking, assault, gender-based violence and in need of immediate access and care for survivors and family members*) of MMIW across the United States include Maine, California*, New Mexico*, Michigan, Alaska, Washington*, Arizona*, British Colombia*, Wisconsin* (University of Wisconsin, Madison). Your support, either through donation or word of mouth, means so much. Please, share my story! It may inspire and restore the faith of others, especially fellow adoptees of the world. Thank You. Always; CL