Surviving Sibling Loss, Transracial Adoption, & A Brother's Safe Space

The Broken Pack: Stories of Sibling Loss

Chapters
0:12
Intro
1:07
Who is Karen?
2:21
Who was Karen’s brother?
4:35
Growing up together: Safety, Security & Surviving
12:59
Losing Kevin
15:55
Anniversaries, Grieving, and Ancestral Connection
17:24
Family gatherings without Kevin
19:21
Learning Kevin Died
20:38
Understanding Kevin’s pain
22:30
An Understanding Therapist
25:43
Realizing Others were supportive
26:58
How Karen is doing now (5 years later)
28:06
Kevin Protecting her today
33:35
Learning from her grief
34:26
Favorite memories
36:48
Other loss
The Broken Pack: Stories of Sibling Loss
Surviving Sibling Loss, Transracial Adoption, & A Brother's Safe Space
May 31, 2023 Episode 13
Dr. Angela Dean / Karen Thomas

Surviving: Sibling Loss, Transracial Adoption, and Losing Safety

In this powerful episode of The Broken Pack: Stories of Sibling Loss, a podcast, host Dr. Angela Dean delves into the profound impact of sibling loss with guest speaker Karen Thomas. Karen shares her unique experiences as a transracial adoptee who lost her brother, Kevin, to an overdose.

For Karen Thomas, surviving sibling loss is complicated by multiple circumstances.  She shares  what it was like to be transracially adopted and how that connection with her brother, adopted from another family into their shared family, has helped and also deepened her grief of him as well as how connecting to him and her ancestors has helped her.

Content Warning: Information presented in this episode may be upsetting to some people. It contains talk of drug use, addiction, and overdose. If you believe you are witnessing an overdose, call 911 or your country’s emergency number immediately even if you are administering Narcan. If you are in the US and would like support for yourself or someone else with substance use, suicidal thoughts, or other topics discussed in this episode, please call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or Text your 5-digit ZIP Code to 435748 (HELP4U) or call a warmline. For more immediate crisis call 911, 988, or go to the nearest emergency room.

In the USA an updated directory of warmlines by state can be found at https://warmline.org/warmdir.html

A warmline directory for trained peer supports in over 20 countries can be found at https://www.supportiv.com/tools/international-resources-crisis-and-warmlines (some of these may be hotlines)

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If you would like more information or to share your own sibling loss story, please contact Dr. Angela Dean at contact@thebrokenpack.com or go to our website, thebrokenpack.com.

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Thank you!
Angela M. Dean, PsyD, FT, GTMR

Credits:
The Broken Pack: Stories of Sibling Loss  is produced by Not Done Here Media

"If Tomorrow Starts Without Me" © ℗ 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
     Performed by Fuji Sounds (feat. Joe Mylward)
     Written by Joe Mylward and Brian Dean
     Licensed for use to The Broken Pack
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