D.E.A.R. Abby Counseling Diversity Empathy Advocacy Respect

I center your experience & empower you to be your own hero

My Why

The adoption narrative, skewed from the adoptive parents’ point of view, often negates the adult adoptee experiences of grief, loss, and identity confusion. Dr. Hasberry speaks from the voice of the adult adoptee who has done the work to feel confident in her own skin. Her work focuses on healing your trauma wounds, finding your voice, and making you the hero in your own story.

In addition, that adoption narrative also mutes the voice of birth parents, ignoring the often-predatory nature of the adoption industry, the impossible, but often temporary, situations of birth parents, and the feelings of grief and loss that they experience. As a teenage birth parent who experienced a kind of adoption coercion that she calls “birth mother grooming”, Abby works with birth mothers to address the trauma wounds endured from their relinquishment experiences.

About Me

Hi, I’m Abby. I am a licensed therapist, author, and educator. I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in both sociology and African American studies, a Master of Arts in teaching degree, a Doctor of Philosophy in curriculum & instruction, a Master of Science in Industrial & Organizational Psychology, and a Master of Education degree in counseling & development. I am a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT & LCMFT).

Throughout my career I have used my education and experiences to help others develop themselves personally and professionally. I consider myself a lifetime learner who loves learning formally through research and training and informally from my interactions with people. I have lived and traveled all over the world and love to experience new places and cultures.

My Therapeutic Modalities

My primary therapy specialties are adoption with focus on transracial adoptees, adolescents and young adults battling anxiety and transition, racial identity development and racial trauma, birthmothers healing from disenfranchised grief, and family relationships. As a trained teacher, I approach each client and their family system through a developmental lens. I consider not only your lived experiences, but also the developmental stage at which you experienced them and how the combination of the two may have affected you. I have been trained in Brainspotting & Internal Family Systems (IFS) and believe that the client is the expert in his/her own life. I consider myself diversity focused, trauma-aware, and Narrative Therapy informed.

My Clients

After years in education as a college professor, middle school teacher, and principal, my joy is working with older adolescents and young adults, but I also am passionate about working with birth mothers & adult adoptees of any age. My ideal client is reflective and purposeful. My clients are typically young adults transitioning to careers and learning to “adult”, adoptees of all ages discovering their identities and processing trauma, and birth moms processing post adoption.