Hi! I’m Kristal
Kristal Parke is an adoptee, advocate, and the host of Because She’s Adopted. Through honest conversations with adoptees, experts, and thought leaders, she explores adoption, trauma, identity, and healing, creating space for stories that inspire understanding, connection, and hope.
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“Healing doesn’t begin when the pain disappears. It begins when we finally tell the truth about what happened.” – Linda Pevac
Healing Adoption Trauma Through Creativity, Recovery, and Radical Honesty
What happens when the wounds of adoption are compounded by childhood abuse, addiction, and betrayal from someone entrusted with your healing?
In this profoundly honest episode of Because She’s Adopted, Kristal sits down with adoptee, author, and trauma survivor Linda Pevac to explore what it truly means to heal after decades of carrying invisible pain. From the lasting impact of relinquishment to the dangers of unethical therapy, Linda shares how creativity, emotional sobriety, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) became essential tools for reconnecting with herself. Her story is one of resilience, not because her trauma disappeared, but because she chose to face it with courage, compassion, and unwavering honesty. Whether you’re an adoptee, trauma survivor, mental health professional, or someone supporting a loved one through healing, this conversation offers hope, validation, and a powerful reminder that recovery is possible.
The Primal Wound and a Lifetime of Hypervigilance
The episode begins by examining one of the most misunderstood aspects of adoption: the lasting impact of early separation. Linda describes how being relinquished at birth left her nervous system in a constant state of alertness, shaping how she experienced relationships, safety, and the world around her. Rather than seeing hypervigilance as a personal flaw, she reframes it as an adaptive response to early trauma. Their conversation reminds listeners that understanding our survival responses is often the first step toward healing them.
When Therapy Becomes Another Source of Trauma
One of the most heartbreaking parts of Linda’s story involves her experience with an unethical psychologist. She shares how vulnerable trauma survivors can be manipulated by professionals who misuse their authority, highlighting the importance of recognizing unhealthy therapeutic dynamics before they cause further harm. For many listeners, this discussion may validate experiences that are rarely talked about openly.
Emotional Sobriety: Healing Beyond Addiction
Sobriety was only the beginning. Linda explains that while giving up alcohol was an essential first step, true recovery required confronting the unresolved trauma beneath it. She and Kristal discuss the concept of emotional sobriety, learning to regulate emotions, process grief, and care for the parts of ourselves that have carried pain for years. Their conversation highlights how genuine healing comes not from avoiding difficult emotions, but from meeting them with compassion and curiosity.
Holding Boundaries While Caring for Adoptive Parents
Later in the episode, Linda reflects on caring for her adoptive parents during the final years of their lives. Rather than offering a simplified story of forgiveness, she speaks honestly about the emotional complexity of remaining compassionate while refusing to silence her own truth. Maintaining healthy boundaries became one of the greatest acts of healing she could offer herself. Her story acknowledges that family relationships, especially within adoption, are rarely simple, and that healing often requires making peace with complexity rather than certainty.
Creativity and Internal Family Systems as a Path Toward Healing
Throughout the conversation, Linda returns to one central idea: healing happens when we learn to care for the younger parts of ourselves that have carried fear, grief, and shame for decades. Through creativity and Internal Family Systems (IFS), she discovered a new relationship with those wounded parts, not one built on criticism or avoidance, but on compassion. Her journey offers a powerful reminder that healing isn’t about erasing our past. It’s about learning to live with it differently.
Listen to this episode on the
Because She Was Adopted Podcast
Linda Pevac’s story reminds us that healing isn’t measured by how perfectly we’ve moved on from our past—it’s measured by our willingness to meet ourselves with honesty, compassion, and courage.
This episode challenges long-held assumptions about adoption, trauma, addiction, and recovery while creating space for conversations that too often remain hidden. Whether you’re navigating your own healing journey or supporting someone you love, Linda’s wisdom offers hope that even the deepest wounds can become places of growth.
If this conversation resonated with you, please consider sharing it with a friend, leaving a review, or subscribing to Because She’s Adopted. Every share helps amplify adoptee voices and create more compassionate conversations around trauma, identity, and healing.
With gratitude,
Kristal
