Beth Syverson

Beth found out her son Joey was using drugs when he was in crisis at age 15. Now 3 years later, Beth is an outspoken advocate for compassionate boundaries and the need to destigmatize addiction and mental health issues.

Beth and her son created Unraveling Adoption podcast in August 2021, while he was in recovery, as a way to help transform our pain into something that could help other families. Our goal was to help ONE person, and we've met that goal many times over. About 6 episodes in, Joey relapsed, but he gave Beth his blessing to continue the podcast until he's back on a recovery path. While Joey has been away from the mic, Beth has interviewed all kinds of influential guests -- former drug addicts, other parents of struggling teens, an autism self-advocate, a hypnotherapist, and an adoption documentarian.

After one of Beth's talks about addiction, one of the audience members quit alcohol that very day. At another talk, Beth was talking about how she's handled her son's addiction and maintained a positive relationship with him. A mom was there who had just found out about her son's drug use 3 weeks before, and he had run off when they took away the keys to the family car. She felt so much more equipped to handle this situation after hearing my webinar.

Joey was adopted by Beth and his dad, and he has identified relinquishment trauma as one of the main causes of his addiction and mental health issues. As an adoptive parent who didn't know adoption trauma was "a thing," I am now committed to bringing awareness to relinquishment trauma, and helping adopted people reclaim their voices.

When Beth isn't working on Unraveling Adoption podcast or speaking on adoption, trauma, and addiction, she is a professional musician and music teacher. She lives in Southern California with her wife Jan, 2 dogs, and 4 horses.