A Space for Adoptees with Shania Ives from The Dunbar Project

Over 18s only

Join us as we welcome Shania Ives to takeover our community space for the day and learn more about the organisation she founded- The Dunbar Project CIC.

The Dunbar Project is a mental health organisation that has spent the past five years supporting adoptees, through an intersectional lens.

Bringing together her professional knowledge and lived experience, Shania strongly believes that adoptee voices should be at the centre of conversations about adoption. At the heart of her work is a passion for creating spaces where adoptees feel seen, heard and understood, and supporting them to move beyond simply surviving towards thriving and living the full, meaningful lives they deserve.

About Shania

Shania (she/her) is an Integrative Psychotherapist, adoptee and founder of The Dunbar Project CIC.

Her work is rooted in decolonial and intersectional approaches, challenging dominant narratives around adoption and Western-centric approaches to therapy. She is particularly passionate about exploring how identity, belonging and systemic inequalities shape our experiences of mental health and wellbeing.

Alongside her therapeutic and community work, Shania's research has focused on the experiences of minoritised adoptees. Her earlier research explored how Black adoptees make sense of their mental health, while her most recent research examined how minoritised adult adoptees experience feeling safe, heard and supported in therapy.

About Talkaoke

Talkaoke is a live, television-style talk show format developed by The People Speak art collective from East London. It is a unique way to hear the latest ideas people are talking about and to discover new ones together.

The conversation is a creative medium and a journey from one unexpected subject to another. It can be topical, funny, deep, surreal, or something else. The participants generate the subjects and the host in the middle keeps everybody engaged.

Picture a doughnut-shaped table with a mic in the middle, like a chat show set, except there’s no host telling you what to think and no script deciding what’s “on topic.” Whoever’s holding the mic steers the conversation. People rotate in and out. Strangers end up talking to strangers about things that actually matter to them, face to face, in real time — not through a screen, not through an algorithm deciding what they get to see.

The People Speak have been running this format for almost 30 years, in places ranging from the Science Museum to King’s College London to youth services across the country.

For more information on Talkaoke and The People Speak you can check out their website

Link to our FAQs + Safeguarding statement

https://thepeoplespeak.org.uk/talkaoke/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK1gSCZI_bk

Contact the host of Our Adoption Project: Conversations-A Space for Adoptees w/ Shania from The Dunbar Project

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