Mentor Skills Lab

Our Mentor Skills Lab gives adoptee mentors a hands-on, supportive space to practice and refine the skills that make mentoring effective and empowering. Through guided role plays, real-world scenarios, and reflective feedback, mentors build confidence in rapport-building, pacing, communication, and repair—all while staying grounded in adoption competence and trauma-informed care. It’s a safe, interactive environment where mentors can try, learn, and grow before meeting their mentees.

Our Training Team

  • Bonni Goodwin, PhD, LCSW

  • Robin DiAngelo, PhD

  • JaeRan Kim, Ph.D., M.S.W.

  • Amy Geller, DSW, LCSW

  • Ashley Toland, DSW, LICSW

  • Spring Hecht, MSW, LICSW

Meet The Trainers

Publications by our Team

  • Adoptive parents' perspectives on adoption adjustment and post-adoption support

    Journal of Public Child Welfare by Bonni Goodwin, Elissa E. Madden, Payton Harrison

  • When We Become Ours, A Young Adult Adoptee Anthology

    By Shannon Gibney, Nicole Chung, Mariama Lockington, Meredith Ireland, Mark Oshiro, Stefany Valentine Ramirez, Eric Smith, Kelley Baker, MeMe Collier, Susan Devan Harness, Lisa Nopachai, Matthew Salesses, Sun Yung Shin, Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom, Jenny Heijun Wills Afterward: JaeRan Kim

  • Out of the Fog and into Consciousness A Model of Adoptee Awareness

    By Susan F. Branco, JaeRan Kim, Grace Newton, Stephanie Kripa Cooper-Lewter, Paula O’Loughlin

  • Post-Adoption Contact Experiences of Birth Mothers

    Adoption Quarterly by Donna M Aguiniga, Elissa E Madden, Bonni Goodwin, Scott Ryan

  • Virtual coaching for child welfare workers–a tool to promote learning

    Journal of Public Child Welfare by Julia M Kobulsky, Emily Smith Goering, Bethany R Lee, Chelsea Gray, Catherine Moon, Charlotte Lyn Bright, Bonni Goodwin

  • You Should Be Grateful: Stories of Race, Identity & Transracial Adoption

    By Angela Tucker

  • Korean Adoptees Who Adopt: Ethnic, Racial, and Adoption Socialization with Second- Generation Adoptees

    Adoption Quarterly by JaeRan Kim, J., Lindley, J., Zhou, X., Lee, H., & Lee, R. (2024

  • The Inclusive Family Support Model: Facilitating Openness for Post-Adoptive Families

    Child & Family Social Work by JaeRan Kim & Angela Tucker (2019)

  • Supporting Adoptees through Mentorship and Mutual Aid

    Presentation at University of Washington-Tacoma by JaeRan Kim (University of Washington Tacoma), Michelle Bagshaw (University of Washington- Seattle), Angela Tucker (Adoptee Mentoring Society) and Beth Yu Simpson (AIREroots).

    Read our blog post