Parenting Help

This week on the Parenting Help Podcast, we're honored to host Dr. Lisa Pion-Berlin, CEO of Parents Anonymous and an esteemed expert in family strengthening and parent advocacy. In this episode, Dr. Pion-Berlin shares: How to access evidence-based approaches to fostering stronger family connections The transformative role of Parents Anonymous in empowering caregivers Practical strategies for navigating complex parenting challenges Drawing on decades of research and experience, Dr. Pion-Berlin offers valuable perspectives for parents, educators, and professionals invested in family well-being.

Dr. Eli Lebowitz joins us to share how the parent focused treatment program results in the reduction of symptoms of anxiety in their children.

Join Jaclyn Pederson, CEO of Feeding Matters, as she shares expert advice on pediatric feeding disorders (PFD). Learn when to seek medical help, find community support for families, and discover self-care strategies to support your child's health and well-being. Perfect for parents navigating the challenges of PFD.

Adolescent mental illness is extraordinarily hard on all members of the family, especially if others have not yet worked through their own challenges, trauma, or patterns of maladaptive behavior in the presence of big emotions. Tracey Yokas shares her family's story in the book Bloodlines. On our podcast we talk about what she had to do as a Mom, wife, and individual to understand and begin to heal her own trauma before she could really help her daughter.

Join us as we talk with Dr. Jill Saxon about how to recognize, understand, and shift our accommodating behavior with our anxious children. We learn more about the SPACE program to support parents in making changes in thoughtful and intentional ways, as well as some examples of how accommodating shows up in different settings.

In this episode we discuss development and outcomes of the new group program to improve children's mental health. We cover how MAGPIES was developed from evidence based techniques, and using the feedback of the participants and parents.This is a neuroaffirmative program for children to help them with emotional regulation, self—esteem, social skills, and anxiety.

John and Katie talk about a typical scenario where parents can get trapped in a power struggle with their teen - and several strategies for changing our behavior to better support what our kids need to learn!

Many of our guests have helped us to understand what anxiety is, how to take a compassionate perspective on challenging behavior in the presence of anxiety, and offered tools for emotional regulation (of ourselves as well as our children or clients). In this episode, we are going to add to our toolboxes - and talk about setting boundaries with children who are struggling to regulate. Dr. Emma Waddington is a clinical psychologist working with families and children in Singapore. She takes us on an exploration of the many ways we can set boundaries for ourselves, our children, and our families - and still enrich our relationships with our children. She offers brave insight into her own journey as a parent as well as the experienced clinician's lens on some of the reasons that boundaries are healthy for everyone.

Dr. Sarah Cassidy and Dr. Lisa Coyne join us to discuss their new book, Tired of Teen Anxiety. It is a step by step guide for teens on how to do the things that matter to them despite anxiety. We discuss their work with individuals and families who struggle with the impact of anxiety - and focus on how parents can help their children work through anxiety.

In this conversation, Dr. Stapleton helps us explore how rules can be workable in our lives, moving us toward the things that matter - and how we can determine if a rule is not functioning well for us in a particular context.

We talk with noted author and psychologist Dr. Sarah Cassidy about her work for children with anxiety, her new book Tired of Anxiety, co-authored with Dr. Lisa Coyne, and the importance of collaboration with families and across settings.

In this episode we have the pleasure of talking with Dr. Diane Hudson about self-compassion in parenting. Diane brings a beautiful, gentle, and pragmatic set of ideas to those moments when we feel we just aren't getting it right as parents. We talk about the importance of patience and genuine curiosity for our own learning in parenting neuro-divergent children, the value in understanding our rules and expectations, and how to support our children through melt-downs and tantrums.

Joining us to talk about right-spotting is Stevie Allen, Board Certified Behavior Analyst with Green Mountain Behavior Consulting. Stevie has developed an impressive amount of experience supporting both students and adults using Acceptance and Commitment Training, through her work at Two Roads Academy and now as a behavioral systems analyst and executive coach. In this episode we discuss the importance of right-spotting, and how shifting our behavior as adults in this way can support the behavior change we want to see in our kids.

Dr. Sean O'Dell joins me to talk about the challenges parents face when they are advocating for their children in medical and educational systems. We talk about difficult conversations, maintaining focus on our goals for our children as they grow, and navigating the many providers and services our children may need.

In this episode, we flip the tables a bit and find that I am the one being interviewed. We talk about the acceptance and commitment training approach used at Vigeo Behavior Consulting, and some of the themes that are emerging in our parent and teacher coaching. This audio is published with the gracious permission of Dr. Lynne Kenney, a pediatric psychologist on the language and executive functions team at Wellington-Alexander Center for the Treatment of Dyslexia in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Kenney is the nation's leading pediatric psychologist in the development of classroom cognitive-physical activity programs for students grades K-8. Dr. Kenney develops curriculum, programming, and activities to improve children's cognition through coordinative cognitive-motor movement, executive function skill-building strategies, and social-emotional learning. This interview was a part of the Cogni-Suite Executive Function Training this fall, and I was honored to be asked to be a part of that learning. Please take some time to see the amazing work Dr. Kenney is doing to enhance learning through the integration of neuroscience and movement at lynnekenney.com

Dy Thompson of Behavior Cusp, LLC joins us to share some insights, strategies, and tips for understanding and managing the challenges you might be working through if you or your child have ADHD.

Dr. Chris McCurry joins us to talk about how parents can support children with anxiety. We talk about what anxiety is, where it comes from, and the importance of learning to change how we relate to our anxious thoughts and feelings, rather than trying to get rid of them. Chris brings some clear strategies for helping learn how to do this.

John and I talk about parenting self-compassion, parenting challenges around anxiety and distress tolerance. Wrapping up with discussions on how to engage in values directed behaviors even in the presence of parents' or the child's discomfort.