Ryan Anderson

Today’s conversation is one that takes us across continents, cultures, and the complex search for identity that so many adopted people navigate. Ryan Anderson is an intercountry adoptee who now lives in Scotland. Ryan was born in Morocco and adopted at six months old after being found on the streets of El Jadida. He was fostered by a Moroccan family prior to being adopted at 3 months of age and came to live in Scotland with his adoptive parents in 1990 when he was 6 months old—but it wasn’t until he was 18 that Ryan even learned he was adopted. For 13 years, he kept that secret to himself, carrying the weight of shame, confusion, and longing.

Today, Ryan is an advocate for adoptees and mental health awareness. His journey has taken him around the world—literally walking the streets of Morocco, appearing on Moroccan television in hopes of finding his biological family, and facing some very precarious situations along the way. Ryan is open about his struggles with identity, mental health, and substance use, and the steps he’s taken to heal.

This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. For more information go to http://www.jigsawqueensland.com/episode-notes

 Your host is Dr Jo-Ann Sparrow - President of Jigsaw Queensland (www.jigsawqueensland.com)

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 We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and the many lands that our clients now live on and we wish to acknowledge and show our respects to Elders past and present for their continuing connection to culture and the contributions they make to community. We acknowledge how much we have to learn from them and their unique understanding of connection and adoption and their recognition that at the base of every change is truth telling and healing.