BOOK LORI HOLDEN
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Lori Holden
Specialties:Adoption relationships, adoption's complexities, parenting in the BothAnd, grieving in the BothAnd. See offerings.
Home base: Denver, Colorado
Website: LavenderLuz.com
Lori Holden is recognized as an expert in the complexities of adoption, which every adoptive parent should know. Her first book, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption (2013) is on required reading lists at adoption agencies in the US and Canada. Lori originated the innovative Open Adoption Grid and collaborated on the resulting Inclusive Family Support Model. Lori has interviewed insightful guests on her podcast Adoption: The Long View, and her award-winning blog LavenderLuz.com has helped countless adoptive parents like her navigate their most tricky situations since 2007.
Lori is a re-imaginer and reformer of how we might “do” adoption differently for better outcomes. The groundbreaking Adoption Unfiltered (2023)—coauthored with adoptee Sara Easterly and birth mom Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard—reveals the candid thoughts and feelings of those most directly involved. Both of Lori's adoption books are regarded as required reading for parents, therapists, family law attorneys, and social workers.
Lori is driven by a passion to shift conversations about adoption from simplistic “adoption is wonderful” and “adoption should be abolished” to more nuanced, informed, and purposeful dialogs. Nominated by Senator Michael Bennet, Lori was honored as an Angel in Adoption® by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. She is a sought-after speaker/keynoter/workshop leader for adoption and child-welfare agencies, parent support groups, and adoption conferences and camps. She coaches individuals and couples around adoption-related issues.
With her sister Sheri Fisher, Lori co-authored The Root To Rise Yoga Teaching Method. Yoga’s “yoking” of opposites (the Sanskrit translation of "yoga") informs the framework she has developed on shifting from an Either/or mindset to a BothAnd heartset in relating to self and others.
Lori has lived in Japan, in the Middle East and Spain. She and her husband raised their daughter and son in Denver and have now launched them into young adulthood. To say they are proud of Tessa and Reed becoming fully themselves is an obvious understatement.
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