KAAN 2024 Conference: Full Schedule

Join KAAN from June 21 – 23 for three days of keynotes, films, presentations, roundtables, performers, exhibits, support forums, and life-changing community. KAAN offers an Adoptee-Only track, as well as sessions for a general audience that are open to all. There are programs for adults aged 18+ and youth aged 8-17. Everyone is welcome, including adoptees, birth families, family members (adoptive parents, spouses/partners, siblings, and children of adoptees), service providers, and Korean Americans. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at tech@wearekaan.org.

Register now at tfec.org/kaan2024

Donate to KAAN
KAAN is a Project of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, fiscal sponsor. This permits KAAN to operate as a nonprofit under TFEC’s 501(c)(3) designation. The official registration and financial information of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, at 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement. The Foundation for Enhancing Communities is registered in each state requiring such registration for charitable solicitation. Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. Thank you!

9:00am CDT

Speaking With(Out) Words: Adoptees & Creative Expression

We can’t advocate for more representation in media if we don’t know how to describe the type of representation we want to see. This session is about empowering adoptees to use their voice, understand that their voice matters, and how to give language back to our community. Featuring a live demonstration by Jon & KJ on guitar, this practical, hands-on roundtable session gives adoptees a safe space to play and experiment and collaborate with each other.

Speakers

KJ Roelke

K.J. is a Korean adoptee and creative raised in Dallas, Texas. With an undergraduate degree in Worship Arts, he has spent the majority of his life exploring how technology and the arts can help build bridges and bring people together with a sense of awe and fun. He is a multi-medium... Read More →

Jonathan Hurley

Co-Owner, Artist Relations / BDM, Production Chief, 3rd Power Amplification

Jonathan Hurley is a Nashville based, successful professional touring & session guitarist, and part-owner of legendary boutique guitar amplifier company- 3rd Power Amplification. Jonathan has shared the stage with industry greats like Brett Carslile (Great White), Tony Harnell (TNT... Read More →

Saturday June 22, 2024 9:00am - 10:15am CDT
Renewal A: 2nd Floor

Fishbowl Session (Adoptee-Centered But Non-Adoptees May Attend To Listen)

10:30am CDT

Recovering People Pleasers – Reclaiming Nervous Systems

Please note: this session will repeat as an Adoptee-Only session at 9:30 AM on Sunday, June 23.

Back by popular demand! Did you learn to appease others growing up? Do you still feel trapped in a cycle of people-pleasing and blame yourself for not breaking the cycle? We’ll explore the intricate web of people-pleasing by exploring how it's propagated through media and mainstream adoption narratives and learn how it's connected to trauma. We’ll then share ways to reclaim our voices and shift our nervous system. We hope to build community through sharing personal stories, understand the roots of people-pleasing behaviors, and equip participants with tools and resources to break free from these patterns.

Speakers

Midnite Townsend

Midnite Townsend (she/they) is a movement enthusiast and recent recipient of a masters in somatic social justice counseling. With 20+ years of performing and teaching everything from circus arts to pilates to burlesque/drag, Midnite believes in building community, healing trauma... Read More →

Grace Clark

Grace Clark is a Korean transracial adoptee living in Denver, Colorado. Grace is currently in graduate school at Naropa University, where she is studying Somatic Body Psychotherapy. Eventually, she plans to get her P.hD in clinical sexology, specifically examining paraphilia. Grace... Read More →

Jamie Barnett

Hello! My name is Jamie, she/her/hers. This is my third year attending KAAN. I am a Chinese Adoptee living in Boulder, Colorado. I am currently in my third year of Graduate School to obtain my Masters in Mental Health Counseling with a focus on Somatic Dance/Movement Therapy!

Saturday June 22, 2024 10:30am - 11:45am CDT
Renewal A: 2nd Floor

Fishbowl Session (Adoptee-Centered But Non-Adoptees May Attend To Listen)

9:30am CDT

Love Cannot Be Color(Blind): Part II

Building from last year’s discussion about how colorblindness shows up in how non-adoptees relate to adoptees, this session will focus on adoptees’ responses. How do we think about and represent ourselves as adoptees, as immigrants, and/or as people of color in relationships with ourselves and others, particularly when colorblindness is present? This is a fishbowl session where non-adoptees are invited to observe and listen to the conversation, but not respond.

Speakers

Dr. Katie Bozek

Executive Director, KAAN

Katie Bozek, PhD is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She has worked in the mental health field for the past 20 years providing services that are aimed at helping people be able to be and show their authentic selves. She currently serves as the Executive Director of KAAN... Read More →

Dr. SunAh Laybourn

SunAh M Laybourn, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Memphis, an Affiliate Faculty Member for the Center for Workplace Diversity & Inclusion, Affiliate Faculty Member in the International and Global Studies Department, and a former Academic Research... Read More →

Sunday June 23, 2024 9:30am - 10:45am CDT
Lakeshore A: Lobby Level

Fishbowl Session (Adoptee-Centered But Non-Adoptees May Attend To Listen)