About
You may notice there there are a great deal of references to quilting and sewing stitched (pun intended) into the pages of Mended Heart Counseling Services, LLC . This has been completely by design. Please read on for more information.
It all Started...
with a baby blanket that happened to be a quilt. The blanket that was given to me by my Birth-Grandmother and came with me at placement. The quilt was of Dorthy and the Wizard of Oz. It has always struck me that Dorthy must find her way back home. I'm not sure that's what Grandma was getting at, but it indelibly sent me down this path towards finding my way home... to myself. Dorthy also helped others on her path home, empowering them to see their full potential that they all possessed, but were not fully aware of. She didn't do the work for them she just walked with each of them the best she could.
On my own journey I saw the lack of adoption competent services available for youth and adult adoptees. It became my mission in life to help others come home to themselves.
As I became more aware of the challenges that face adult adoptees, and especially transracial adoptees in finding their identities and connections to their full stories, quilting has resonated with me as a metaphor for growth, love, loss, grief and connection. So as for naming my practice, it was only right that my practice honor the woman who sent me on a path to recognizing, there really is no place like home.
Quilting Together
Everyone has a journey, or in my mind, a square to quilt.
We start our life off wholehearted and life has a way of tearing our little hearts to shreds. As we grow it's our job to become the quilters of our own hearts and our own little square. We have to find the pieces of our shredded hearts and painstakingly put them back together. Sometimes we hyper-focus on Appliqué, bedazzling, and try to create templates to fit in. But to belong to ourselves we must step away from the sequins and rhinestones and start to make meaning of the tattered shreds.
Sometimes if we are courageous we seek out sewing lessons and we learn that no matter how tattered or worn-out our hearts are, we don't need much to actually make meaning from the frayed edges, stained fabric, and scraps left behind. All we need is a little gold thread, a steady hand, a good eye, and love to bring out the beauty in us that already exists.
If we are lucky by the end of our lives our hearts are expansive, meaningful, whole, and we get to pass on our knowledge about quilting and the gold thread to the next generation because in the end we really all are just quilting our own squares on the ever-expanding quilt that connects us all, the quilt of life.
With Care and Hope for the Future,
Becca Flatt, MSW, LCSW
