One of the beliefs that guide Wise Insurance Group is giving back to our community. I’ve personally had the pleasure of being a counselor with Patti Pickering’s 2012 My TreeHouse summer camp. It was an incredible experience to work with the kids and better understand what they encounter growing up in their family. Patti is on the forefront of working with families and their adopted children. She’s making a difference in peoples’ lives across the DFW area, Texas, and the world!
My TreeHouse was born out of a trip where Patti, along with two other “supporters”, accompanied a friend who was adopting a 9 month old girl from China. The new mom was stepping into the uncharted waters of being a single mother, with an adopted daughter, and building a family overnight. Patti’s involvement with this family, as well as several others who’d adopted children from China, Russia or domestically, showed her the need for an organization designed to meet the needs of adopted children and their families.
My TreeHouse offers a safe place for children and their families to honestly share experiences of adoption while developing friendships and community. They provide a wide range of services designed to meet the unique needs of families with adopted children. My TreeHouse offers 1 and 2 day workshops with separate programming for parents and children to enhance the family’s understanding of and relationship with their child.
In addition to the workshops, My TreeHouse also officers;
- Summer camps for children
- Respite care for parents
- Discussion / support groups for children and parents
- Sensory integration therapy
- Counseling for adoptive families
The mom who inspired Patti to start this organization shared with me that My TreeHouse has been an invaluable resource for participating families in three key areas;
- The discussion / support groups provide a sense of normalcy in how the parents and the adopted children view themselves, their families, and what they may be experiencing
- It provides a safe place for kids to integrate with their new families and each other while grieving the sense of loss from their birth family
- Gives tools for parents and their kids to explore personality styles in a framework to communicate with each other using a common “language”
From the original journey to China and the subsequent founding of My TreeHouse, Patti’s passion about adopted kids and their families comes through in the workshops and camps. She’s impacting lives today and helping create a future legacy that will transcend lives to come.
To learn more about My TreeHouse, get involved or donate financially, go to http://on.fb.me/WyGbkb or call Patti at 214-364-4554.
Patti Pickering
6333 E Mockingbird Lane
Suite 147-626
Dallas, Texas 75214
