The Mindful NPE Chats With Grey Genetics About Her DNA Surprise
Imagine sitting in a restaurant waiting for your dinner date to arrive and finding out from your iPhone that half of your family is not what you expected. Then heading to the bathroom to call Ancestry and ask, "Could this be wrong?"
NPE ('not parent expected') experiences can change so much for those who make the discovery about themselves. In addition to changing understanding of ‘family’, it can alter ethnic background and family medical history. If you have interest in finding out how the medical aspect of an NPE discovery matters, take a listen to the episode of the Patient Stories podcast by Grey Genetics.
Maggie Chenard has taken her own experience and turned it into an opportunity to help others find self-compassion after an NPE discovery. I’m not an NPE myself but work with many people who are and wrote down this quote by Maggie to save for later. This is insightful advice that could work in many difficult news-sharing situations:
“I pretty quickly figured out that if I wanted real support through this, I was going to have to tell these people what I needed before I actually told them...I made it simple for them. I told them I have something deep, important, and serious to talk to them about, and would they please not say anything unless they think they have something helpful to say...And it was great after that. ”
Check out the other ways to connect with Maggie's message in the show notes at the link to the episode:
https://www.greygenetics.com/not-parent-expected-npe-mindful-npe/
MORE PODCAST EPISODES RELEVANT TO THE TOPIC OF DNA FAMILY DISCOVERIES
Grey Genetics has also spoken with myself and another guest on the topic of an unexpected paternity discovery in other episodes of Patient Stories.
NPE Alicia discusses the identity crisis and disenfranchised grief that came along with her discovery. Link to that podcast here: https://www.greygenetics.com/not-parent-expected-npe-dna-identity-changing-family-history/
I shared about the search for DNA family and discoveries in my own family and my work with adoptees, NPEs, and other individuals in the episode here: https://www.greygenetics.com/to-gift-or-not-to-gift-that-at-home-dna-testing-kit-brianne-kirkpatrick/ and visited with Eleanor again in 2020 for another podcast updating listeners of new resources that have become available since the first episode.
I hope you’ll take a listen and then consider sharing with someone in your life you think will benefit.
-Brianne, founder of Watershed DNA'