Safe Home Podcast

In this very special episode, Beth Syverson, host of Safe Home Podcast, explains her pivot to Unraveling Adoption. This is the last episode of Safe Home, and the first episode of Unraveling Adoption. She explains what the new title means, what the future plans are, and she provides ways for everyone to help get the new podcast launched. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Lainie Liberti and her 23yo son Miro Siegel. Lainie Liberti is a best selling author, international speaker, teen mentor, worldschooler, partnership parenting paradigm advocate and mother. In 2012 Lainie co-founded Project World School with her son and has lived in community with over a 100 teens in over 20 international locations. Lainie founded Transformative Mentoring for Teens in 2020 in response to the growing need to support teen's mental health. Lainie just released her first book, Seen, Heard & Understood, Parenting and Partnering with Teens for Greater Mental Health, the number 1 best seller on Amazon in the Parenting New Releases. Her book is right in line with what we've been advocating here at Safe Home - that parents do their own work and partner with their kids instead of being an authoritarian figure over them. Beth talks with Lainie and Miro about unschooling and worldschooling because they lead a fascinating alternative life. But over the top of everything is the partnership that they've nurtured which allows them to both live as their fully authentic selves. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Carolyn Balagot, an advocate for neurodiverse people. In her family, she, her husband, and her 3 kids are all neurodiverse in one way or another - primarily with ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has worked at her children's school as a 504 case carrier, advocating for students' needs. Her kids all went to school at Orange County School of the Arts, where I used to teach and which I highly respect and admire. Especially in an arts school, all kinds of diversity are celebrated, including neurodiversity. Carolyn will talk to us about her family's challenges and triumphs, and help us know how to better advocate for our neurodivergent loved ones or community members. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Amanda Lipp, a documentary filmmaker and social entrepreneur working at the intersection of mental health, storytelling, and technology. Amanda has produced over 80 short documentaries about mental health and social impact - covering topics such as youth psychosis, schizophrenia, art therapy, cyberbullying prevention, and housing relief from wildfires. A passionate mental health advocate, she has given over 150 speeches around the U.S. since age 18 sharing her journey navigating the mental health system. Amanda is passionate about mental health leadership, policy change, and tying films to mental health research studies. She serves on the Mental Health Advisory Panel at Google, and the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Committee (ISMICC) created by Congress to advise on federal mental health policy. Amanda formerly served on the board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the largest grassroots mental health nonprofit in the U.S. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Doris Blumenthal, an adopted person who lives in Northern California. Her adoption story is one of the adoptee narratives in the documentary Reckoning with the Primal Wound, which you've probably heard me talking about before. The filmmaker Rebecca Autumn Sansom was on this podcast in Episode 30. If you haven't seen Reckoning with the Primal Wound yet, I highly recommend it, and I also want to let you know that this episode contains spoilers. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Bonnie Harris, a New Hampshire-area director of Connective Parenting, where she is a parent educator, counselor, coach, and speaker. She wrote two parenting books: When Your Kids Push Your Buttons and Confident Parents, Remarkable Kids: 8 Principles for Raising Kids You'll Love to Live With. AND she has her own podcast Tell Me About Your Kids where anyone can listen in on her parent coaching sessions. Bonnie has a master's degree in Early Childhood Education And is the proud mother of two adult children raised with her connective approach. In today's episode, Bonnie will help us answer the question: HOW CAN WE BE MORE CONNECTED WITH the KIDS in our lives? ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with a family friend of hers from church - Katherine Osborne. Katherine shared with the church that she was recently diagnosed with OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I thought it might be good for our audience to learn from an eloquent teen how OCD feels. Nowadays people joke that they have OCD when they're bothered when something doesn't quite line up, or if one tile is a different color. You see memes about OCD all the time. But that's a very simplistic view of OCD that doesn't honor the lived experience of people who struggle with this disorder every day of their lives. In this episode, Katherine explains her own lived experience of OCD, and she mentions things she's learned so far. But of course neither of us are OCD experts or healthcare professionals. We recommend getting professional help if you or someone you know might be struggling with OCD or any mental health issues. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Catherine Becker, founder of the support group called Joys and Challenges of Relative Caregivers. She's a grandma who is raising her three young grandkids while her daughter struggles with addiction. When she tried to find a tribe of other relatives in her same situation, she didn't find a group that went deep enough or that was small enough to create personal connections. So she made her own group. Her organization is raising money to provide financial assistance to grandparents and other relatives who are caring for or who have adopted their family members' children. ===============

**TRIGGER WARNING** This episode will be talking directly about suicide, so this might not be for everyone to listen to right now. But we at Safe Home believe this is a very important topic so we hope you'll listen when it's safe for you to do so. In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Frank King, a comedian who wrote for The Tonight Show for over 20 years and who performs standup worldwide. Along the way, he focused his creative attention on the topic of mental health, and specifically suicidality. Now known as the Mental Health Comedian, he talks openly about his own suicidality and, using humor as a tool to open up the conversation, he informs people about suicide prevention, destigmatizes mental illness, and helps people feel seen and heard. He has a few wonderful TED Talks: including A Matter of Laugh or Death, Mental with Benefits, and Born To Be Funny. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Rev. Veronica Silva, a New Thought minister and a nurse who has struggled with alcoholism since she was young, but who has been in recovery for 26 years. Veronica has been on a spiritual journey since June 24th, 1996, when she got sober from alcohol and drugs. She has had a passion for spirituality as a result of attending AA meetings and finding a God of her understanding. She is SO passionate about God that she recently became a Minister in 2020 - right in the middle of the pandemic. She is a true believer in going right into the discomfort of life to free ourselves from our suffering. She is a registered nurse and works at a cardiac procedures unit and loves helping others during their times of fear and anxiety. Here at Safe Home, one of our biggest priorities is to destigmatize addiction and mental health, so by hearing stories from people like Veronica, we are able to humanize addiction, find commonalities, and discover the way others have found their healing path. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Emmalinda MacLean, co-founder of More Than Sex-Ed, a Los Angeles-based non-profit whose mission is to nourish healthy development through honest conversation about sex. She is the Director of Curriculum & Instruction at More Than Sex-Ed plus she wrote a children's book around the topic of consent called “Everybody, Every Body!” In case you couldn't guess, this episode will talk openly about sexual topics, so this episode might not be safe for work. ===============

Safe Home is on vacation this week, so we're replaying one of our favorite episodes. When we started Safe Home Podcast in August 2021, this episode was the most important one we did. Our family wants everyone to know the dangers of having cough medicine and other OTC drugs unlocked and available to teens. Joey almost died twice from overdosing on Coricidin. Take a listen to one of our early episodes that you might have missed, and enjoy a new episode next week! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/safe-home-podcast/message

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Lori Holden, an adoptive mom of 2 teens, author of the book The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole, written with her daughter's birth mom and featured on required reading lists with adoption agencies across the country. She's also a blogger at LavenderLuz.com, and host of the podcast Adoption: The Long View. Lori is an influential voice in the adoption world, advocating for openness in all kinds of adoption relationships. She often keynotes at adoption conferences and speaks to new and prospective adoptive families, helping them realize the benefits to EVERYONE of maintaining transparency in the adoption process. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Nicole Miller, a certified drug and alcohol counselor and coach from Oregon who teaches addiction pharmacology at Portland Community College. Even though she's very knowledgeable about all kinds of drugs, I brought her onto Safe Home Podcast to help us focus on fentanyl. It's such a dangerous drug, and deaths from fentanyl poisoning have skyrocketed in just the last 2 or 3 years. Our family really wants to raise awareness about fentanyl, so Nicole will help us all understand the risks and what we can all do to prevent deaths caused by fentanyl. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Helanna Johnson, our life coach Heather Ross's daughter who died in December 2021 from fentanyl poisoning. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Colin Parrott, a 16-year-old from Huntington Beach who has been struggling with depression. He has gotten help with his mental illness from his awesome mom Debbi and from modern medicine. But perhaps the best tool he's found has been poetry. He's written a whole book of poetry about his depression called Shards. The process of writing poetry has not only helped him make sense of his mental health, but his poems help others understand what he and others with depression go through. Near the end of the episode, Colin will be sharing a poem or two from his new book, so stick around until the end! Joey and Beth both also struggle with depression, which you can hear about in Episode 11. It is something that our family is very open about, because you know what - depression kills! We're very glad that Colin was willing to come on Safe Home Podcast to share his story. We believe that the more people talk about things like depression and other mental health issues, the more we'll be able to help each other, and the more lives we'll save - quite literally. =============== RESOURCES: Colin's information: Colin's poetry book Shards: https://www.amazon.com/Shards-Colin-James-Parrott/dp/B0B1C1PMMD LA Times article about Shards: https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2022-06-04/shards-uses-poetry-to-tell-huntington-beach-teenage-poets-battle-with-depression Colin's website: http://colinjparrott.com/ Colin's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colinjparrott Other Resources: Other Parents Like Me - https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/ Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling =============== Safe Home is created by Joseph Nakao and Beth Syverson Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao Cover art by Joseph Nakao, photo by Beth Syverson Email questions or comments to Safe Home at Hello@SafeHomeFamilies.com Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube Support Safe Home on Patreon: Patreon.com/SafeHome www.SafeHomeFamilies.com =============== TIME STAMPS: 1:36 Colin's poetry-writing and other writing experience before his depression 3:32 How Colin's depression and self-harm started and what it looked like 6:26 What Colin's parents did to cause Colin to feel safe to tell them when he was self-harming 8:14 How meds worked for Colin's depression 10:36 Colin's poetry-writing in NYC 14:48 Colin's advice for kids who are struggling with depression symptoms 17:30 Colin's advice for parents of struggling kids 19:52 Colin reads his poem “Sunrise Relapse” --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/safe-home-podcast/message

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Darcy Mittelstaedt, an adult adoptee originally from Korea, and adopted into a dysfunctional family in Nebraska at age 2. Once she came out of the fog, as they say in adoption-land, and came to terms with her relinquishment trauma and chaotic adoptive family life, she turned toward her adoption agency. She now helps inform the adoption agency's families about relinquishment trauma and the struggles that interculturally adopted people have. Hers is a story of resilience and hope that I'm sure everyone, whether or not you are affected by adoption personally, will appreciate hearing. ===============

This week's episode is very special because #1 Joey is with us for this one. And #2: It's going to be a 3-way conversation with me, Joey, and our life coach Heather Ross. If you've listened to any of our episodes, you've probably heard me mention her, or you might have heard one of her 2 episodes we've already published - #10 and #34. In this Safe Home episode, we will be talking about how the CRAFT method has helped our family, and you'll hear from both sides - the parents' side and the teen's side. CRAFT is an acronym that stands for Community Reinforcement and Family Training. This is the approach that is scientifically proven to get more people into recovery than the old-fashioned approaches like tough love and interventions. The basis of CRAFT is the positive rewards that the loved one heaps on the addicted person when they are doing favorable behaviors. A key concept in CRAFT is that the relationship is more important than their sobriety. This method shifted our family so much that I credit it to keeping our son alive for these past few years. I'm very excited to share some details of the CRAFT approach with you. =============== RESOURCES: Heather's information: Website: HeatherRossCoaching.com Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-with-your-childs-addiction/id1543141299 Other resources mentioned in this episode: Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change: https://motivationandchange.com/family-services/resources-for-families/ The CRAFT Approach: https://drugfree.org/article/craft-approach-encouraging-healthy-constructive-positive-changes-family/ Never Use Alone: https://neverusealone.com/ or 800-484-3731 How to get free Narcan: https://www.goodrx.com/naloxone/narcan-naloxone-at-home-free Safe Home is created by Joseph Nakao and Beth Syverson Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao Cover art by Joseph Nakao, photo by Beth Syverson www.SafeHomeFamilies.com TIME STAMPS: 3:30 Overview of Joey's struggles 6:40 Joey's new job has helped stabilize him 7:40 Alternative healing we've found to be helpful 11:32 How Heather and CRAFT helped save our family 16:24 Putting our kids under the microscope 19:29 Addiction causes hiding and masking 21:20 Changing the conversation with our addicted loved one 23:28 What Joey and Helanna received from substances 27:04 The goal is CONNECTION, not sobriety 33:25 Why some parents have trouble with the CRAFT Method 36:30 Sliding through life pre-crisis, asleep at the wheel 39:08 What our kids want from us 41:16 Enabling, Narcan, “rock bottom,” and stigma --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/safe-home-podcast/message

Movies & Conversations with Alex Kaplan from Of Substance Saturday, September 10, 2022, 10am PST OfSubstance.Eventbrite.com =============== In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Renee Knapp, a vice principal at a high school - or she would call it a deputy principal at a district high school where she lives in SW of Western Australia. But on top of that, she's an independent consultant at Think Effective Consultancy, where she works with schools, communities, and passionate individuals to improve mental health and wellbeing outcomes through a proven process and framework for change. She is the Chair and co-founder of a Community Based Mental Health Action Team and she's an Ambassador for the Australian & New Zealand Mental Health Association. RESOURCES: Renee's information: Think Effective Consultancy website: https://thinkeffective.com.au/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/www.thinkeffective.com.au Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkeffectiveconsultancy/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn8qrZZ0hmktyC7Ot0QIXuw Other resources mentioned in this episode: Mind Matters (Australia): https://www.positiveschools.com.au/2012%20Mind%20Matters.html GoZen videos for kids: https://gozen.com/ Reach Out for teens and young adults: https://au.reachout.com/ New 988 mental health crisis line: https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/988 www.SafeHomeFamilies.com =============== TIME STAMPS 1:50 The Big Picture work that Renee is doing to help kids' mental health 2:20 Renee's background and interest in mental health 7:30 Behaviors are not the problem 11:05 Common mental health problems in high school 15:00 Advocating for a CULTURE of well-being at school and Beth's horrible experience with Joey's high school's culture 20:23 Examples of Renee's framework in action 27:10 Finding passionate individuals who can hop on board 29:50 Framework instead of programs 32:40 Suicide as leading cause of death 37:35 Creating a plan for well-being in the school and community 39:13 Belonging and connection is the cure --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/safe-home-podcast/message

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Dayna Del Val and Mazz Marry, a married couple from North Dakota who are bringing alcoholism out into the light with their podcast, Daily Dose of Dr Marry & DD. They are here on Safe Home Podcast to talk about how addiction affects everyone, not just the person struggling with addiction. They, like our family, believe that the opposite of addiction is connection, and they are aiming to destigmatize addiction so we can all heal. =============== MOVIES & CONVERSATIONS about addiction and shame event With Alex Kaplan from Of Substance Saturday, September 10, 10-11:30am PST $15 (Half off for Patreon members, Open House attendees come free) Get your ticket here: https://ofsubstance.eventbrite.com ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Sue Bowles, an Ohio-based master certified life coach, memoirist, and public speaker focusing on the topics of disordered eating, anxiety, depression, and sexual assault survival and recovery. Her company is called My Step Ahead, whose motto is “you only have to be a step ahead to help the person behind you.” That is certainly how we operate at Safe Home, too. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Pam Lanhart. She's the Director of the Minnesota based non-profit organization “Thrive Family Recovery Resources” that she started in 2016 to help families with addicted loved ones. She's a certified recovery coach, peer specialist, speaker, author, and advocate for those dealing with substance use disorder - and their families.. She has a book and a FB page called “Praying Our Loved One Home” that our Christian audience members will especially love. She recently lost her young adult son Jake to the disease of addiction, but like our dear friend Heather Ross, she is forging ahead, more determined than ever to help families so they can help their struggling teens and young adults who are battling with addiction. Pam subscribes, as I do, to the CRAFT approach of treating our addicted loved ones with unconditional love and positive regard, no matter where they are in their sobriety. RESOURCES: Pam's information: Thrive Family Recovery Resources: https://thrivefamilyrecoveryresources.org/ Praying Our Loved One Home Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/prayingourlovedonehome Praying Our Loved One Home Blog: https://pamlanhart.com/praying-our-loved-one-home Praying Our Loved One Home Book: https://www.amazon.com/Praying-Our-Loved-One-Home/dp/B07NWZZS16 Pam's coaching website: https://pamlanhart.com/ Wild Hearts Adventures: https://www.wildheartsadventures.org/ Thrive! Family Addiction Support informed by CRAFT and Invitation to Change Private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ThriveFamilySupport Other resources mentioned in this episode: The First Day film: https://thefirstdayfilm.com/ Raising Human Beings: Creating a Collaborative Partnership with Your Child by Ross W. Greene, PhD: https://www.amazon.com/Raising-Human-Beings-Collaborative-Partnership/dp/1476723761 The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict by The Arbinger Institute: https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Peace-Resolving-Heart-Conflict/dp/0369343972/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1660195659&sr=1-1 Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brené Brown: https://www.amazon.com/Braving-Wilderness-Quest-Belonging-Courage/dp/0812985818/ref=monarch_sidesheet Motivational Interviewing: https://motivationalinterviewing.org/understanding-motivational-interviewing What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey: https://www.amazon.com/What-Happened-You-Conversations-Resilience/dp/B08PW4Q284 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/safe-home-podcast/message

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Tiffany Gay, a Philadelphia entrepreneur, mindset coach, and public speaker. Several years ago she experienced severe depression and anxiety, but through prayer, a shift in her mindset, and identifying her "Why" she was able to survive through her mental health breakdown. She regained everything back that she lost, including her mind, and now she helps others shift their mindset and find the root cause of their struggles. Her mission is to serve, support, coach, and mentor individuals with shifting their self-defeating, unfulfilling, unproductive, and unhealthy patterns of thinking. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Yvette Harpootian, a certified life coach from Rhode Island who is passionate about helping women get out of overwhelm, get more done, and release anxiety and self-sacrifice in order to feel better. I thought her message would be welcome here on Safe Home Podcast since many in our audience are parents of adolescents. I know when Joey was in crisis mode, I almost completely lost myself for a while there, before I got connected with Heather Ross, OUR life coach, who BTW went to the same coaching school as Yvette. In this episode, you will receive practical tools from Yvette that you can put into practice right away. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Leela Davis. She is a neurodivergent who combines her lived experience self-healing her Bipolar 1 and CPTSD symptoms and managing ADHD symptoms with training in the healing modalities that she found the most powerful in her own healing journey. She is certified: as a Holistic Health Coach, in Somatic Attachment Therapy, as a Yoga of Sound and Vinyasa Instructor, in Astrology and Human Design, and has spent decades as a multi-passionate creative finding healing in the process of art-making-performing. Her mission is to mentor and support folks with emotional and mental health challenges or diagnoses and live a meaningful and beautiful life beyond the limitations ascribed to certain diagnoses. Her vision is a world where all medical and healing practitioners will learn to heal by addressing the roots of symptoms rather than covering up the symptoms. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Jude Gorini, a Brazilian who lives in Northern Italy. He identifies as gender queer, and works as an author, podcaster, intuitive coach, and creative artist. He has struggled with Bipolar, addiction, and gender identity issues and shares his life story openly in order to help others. I met Jude recently when I recorded on the podcast that he co-hosts with Leela Davis, What I Didn't Tell My Therapist. He really resonated with our family's story, which intersects in many ways with his own. You will love his warmth and honesty, not to mention his sexy accent. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Lorah Gerald, an adoptee, an intuitive, a Kundalini Yoga Instructor, and writer. Lorah hopes to help others heal their trauma, adopted or not, by sharing her lived experiences as an adoptee as well as her education in breath work, energy healing and natural intuitive abilities. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Rev. Bobbi Becker, the Senior Minister and Spiritual Director at Namasté Center for Spiritual Living in Long Beach, California. In this episode, Bobbi tells her story of being a gay New Thought minister who grew up in the Mormon church and whose whole family was touched by addiction and mental health issues. You will be inspired by her commitment to her own spiritual growth which included the acceptance of her sexual orientation. She is not afraid to speak out and take action within social structures about women's rights and LGBTQ+ rights. You will find out what saved her from the addiction route that many of her family members took. ===============

SHOW NOTES: In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with one of Joey's friends, 19yo Cheyanne Alsop. Like Joey, Cheyanne was adopted, her adoptive parents later got divorced, and she struggled with mental health issues throughout her adolescence. Cheyanne's harrowing childhood would leave most people completely paralyzed emotionally. But because of her willingness to get help and to work on her own emotional toolbox, Cheyanne has graduated high school, she's got a job, and she's on her healing path. Her story gives us all hope for our struggling kids, and she and Joey give some great advice to teens and parents at the end of the episode. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Jeanette Matthew. She lives in North Yorkshire in the UK, and she is a certified coach who helps individuals and organizations transform their uncertainty, overwhelm, and lack of clarity into goals, action plans, and confidence. Her specialty is helping people deal with anxiety. Jeanette has delivered workshops around the world offering psychological hacks to managing and preventing anxiety, and teaching people the mindset tools we can adopt preventatively to see every day triggers through a different lens. In this episode, Jeanette gives plenty of practical tools to help our teens - and ourselves - manage anxiety. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Tracy Struckman, an Indiana-based recovery coach who has 8 years of recovery from a destructive heroin addiction. She now helps others who are struggling with addiction to find long-term recovery. She is just completing her licensure to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and she does online consulting and workshops for people who struggle with addiction as well as their families. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Tamara Gabbard. She lives in the jungles of Costa Rica with her toddler Rubi-Jean. Tamara is a Copywriter and Content Marketing Strategist, and she also identifies as a Soul Consultant and Clairvoyant. She combines her skills in both the practical and spiritual realms to help people who are struggling to break through the overwhelm that life can bring when trying to make an impact on the world. Like our son Joey, Tamara has done extensive personal research with psychedelics and other substances. She's 5 years sober now, but she uses some of the things she learned through her psychedelic trips to inform her work, especially finding the root causes of whatever obstacle people get stuck on. Tamara's story is pretty extraordinary. Even if you can't relate to her exact experience, I know you will be inspired by her talk to dig a little deeper to help yourself and your struggling teen. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with her long-time piano student, 19-year-old Taylor Cox. Taylor graduated from high school in 2021, and has had a year of pivoting, personal growth, and some common teenage challenges since then. She talks openly about her struggles in the hopes that her story will help other families with struggling teens at this tricky post-high school juncture. Listen through to the end and you'll be rewarded with an original song performed by Taylor. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Joey joins Beth to talk with Jason Wilson about the science and side effects of cannabis. Jason is a botanist, educator, author, and podcaster whose primary interest right now is cannabis. He studies the chemistry and microbiology of cannabis, and has unique expertise in quality management systems and regulatory compliance in the burgeoning cannabis growing industry. He published a science textbook “Curious About Cannabis” and has a podcast with the same name. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth and Jan, Joey's moms, give a State of the Family update. They talk about what's been happening with all 3 family members, and share their vision for Safe Home Families as well. ===============

THIS PODCAST EPISODE CAN BE SEEN IN VIDEO FORMAT ON YOUTUBE AT: https://youtu.be/cQeNVrW0v2U In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Alex Kaplan, co-founding Executive Director & Chief Vision Officer of “Of Substance,” an innovative nonprofit that makes premium, entertaining short films to help us all overcome the shame, blame, and stigma we experience in our struggles. Having overcome his own challenges with substances, Alex has been through the wringer, but he has turned his life around and is now helping other struggling people to find connection, a sense of belonging, and hope. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Erik, who spent three decades living under the dark cloud of active addiction, but who is now whole and walking on the recovery path. It's a dramatic transformation story that testifies to the power of love and hope in our addicted loved one's recovery. Erik misused meth for over 30 years, and he alternated between living under a bridge, in jail, prison, rehabs, and halfway houses during that time. Joining in the conversation in the second half of the episode are his sister Beth and their 89-year-old mom Laurie, who realized they were helpless to “fix” Erik. But they never gave up hope that he would find recovery. And he did! Find out what it was that turned Erik's life around, and hear from all three family members, who are dear friends of Beth, Jan, and Joey, as they recall the traumatic experiences and triumphs of their family. =============== RESOURCES: Resource mentioned in this episode: Oxford House - https://www.oxfordhouse.org/ Other Resources: Other Parents Like Me - https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/ Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling =============== Safe Home is created by Joseph Nakao and Beth Syverson Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao Cover art by Joseph Nakao, photo by Beth Syverson Email questions or comments to Safe Home at SafeHomePodcast@gmail.com Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube Support Safe Home on Patreon =============== TIME STAMPS: 1:28 Erik's adolescence and the start of his addictive behavior 5:17 Finding a sense of community on the streets 6:34 Introduction of meth and life got way worse 10:59 The revolving door of incarceration 20:30 What ended up turning Erik around? 30:04 Erik reflects on his parents and his own parenting 34:47 Erik's sister Beth and mom Laurie join the conversation 48:27 Erik's miraculous transformation through the responsibility of work --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/safe-home-podcast/message

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Ross Leppala, professional powerlifter, coach, host of the Project UnchainED podcast, and creator of The Belonging Blueprint course. He suffered from bullying and suicidal ideation when he was young, but sports, especially football, turned his life around. He became a powerlifter and powerlifting coach, and he has expanded his skills to help his athletes and others with their personal growth as well. He helps his clients create a sense of belonging within themselves. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Emma Stevens, whose new memoir The Gathering Place: An Adoptee's Story was written during her treatment with EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). EMDR has helped her deal with her adoption trauma and other developmental trauma from her troubled childhood. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Boston musician Spencer LaJoye, who identifies their gender as non-binary. They came out as bisexual in college and years later came out as non-binary, all within Christian communities. Beth became aware of Spencer when she heard their song “Plowshare Prayer,” a unique prayer for all those against whom prayer has been used as a sword. The song has gone viral around the world, and you will hear Spencer's back story plus the entire song toward the end of the episode. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with transformational healer Ellen Newhouse, who uses Acupuncture, Sound Healing, and Energy Medicine in her private practice. This episode focuses on sound healing as a way to transform negative emotions, open up the heart, connect with our loved ones, and create more compassion in the world. Ellen leads Beth in several sound healing exercises in the episode and also shares about her personal journey of healing and growth. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Kaitlyn Vosburg who is an advocate for people with DID - Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. She has a TikTok account called “apartofeight” where she shares real life scenes from her own journey with DID. Kaitlyn sheds light on a topic that isn't discussed much, but which affects 1% of the population. ===============

In this week's episode, Beth interviews her parent coach, Heather Ross, who recently lost her daughter to fentanyl poisoning. Clips of Heather's previous podcast episodes with her daughter are heard throughout this episode. RESOURCES: How to find Heather: Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/ Heather's Living With Addiction podcast: https://anchor.fm/heather-ross9 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heatherrosscoaching Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heatherrosscoaching/ Other Resources: Other Parents Like Me - https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling =============== Safe Home is created by Joseph Nakao and Beth Syverson Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao Cover art by Joseph Nakao, photo by Beth Syverson Email questions or comments to Safe Home at SafeHomePodcast@gmail.com Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube Support Safe Home on Patreon =============== TIME STAMPS: 1:35 Clip #1 with Heather & Helanna from Sept. 2021 Living with Addiction podcast 2:49 Heather is driven to continue helping other families 4:40 Helanna's childhood and background 7:35 Clip #2 with Heather & Helanna from Sept. 2021 Living with Addiction podcast 13:55 Similarities between Heather and Helanna wanting to numb out 14:30 Clip #3 with Heather & Helanna from Sept. 2021 Living with Addiction podcast 15:13 People pleasing and masking 32:09 Helanna's rehabs and relapses 33:50 Clip #5 with Heather & Helanna from Oct. 2021 Living with Addiction podcast 35:40 Helanna's last few days 37:41 Details about fentanyl 39:26 Getting “that phone call” 45:31 How Heather has stayed sane since her daughter's death 50:40 Clip #6 with Heather & Helanna from Oct. 2021 Living with Addiction podcast 52:00 What Heather wishes she would've done differently 56:17 Destigmatizing addiction --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/safe-home-podcast/message

In this week's episode we will dive into a wonderfully effective and low-tech healing modality called EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique - or it's sometimes just called Tapping. Beth's guest is Andy Bryce, one of 26 remaining Founding EFT Masters in the world. EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques, which combines psychology and acupuncture. Andy takes Beth through a mini EFT session as part of this episode. THIS EPISODE IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS A VIDEO ON YOUTUBE because of the visual content of the tapping session. Find the video of this episode here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYoW-LxFFes2EX71ENcFVCQ ===============

In this week's episode you will hear another family's story of adolescent addiction and recovery. Dawn McCord's son Carson had a tumultuous adolescence but he found recovery through wilderness therapy. Dawn's new memoir "Chasing Carson: A Family's Journey through Adolescence, Addiction and Recovery," provides an honest account of their whole family's healing process. ===============

This week's episode is about All The Diversities. Beth interviews Lyric Holmans, a non-binary, autistic self-advocate who runs the blog and Facebook page “The Neurodivergent Rebel” plus their company Neurodivergent Consulting. ===============

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with an adult adoptee, Rebecca Autumn Sansom, who recently created an adoption documentary called Reckoning with the Primal Wound, a film that juxtaposes her own powerful adoption story with the wisdom of Nancy Verrier, who wrote The Primal Wound, the book that is considered to be the adoptee's bible. RESOURCES: Information about Reckoning with the Primal Wound: Website + Tickets: https://reckoningwiththeprimalwound.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reckoningwiththeprimalwound Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reckoning_with_theprimalwound/?hl=en Other resources mentioned in this episode: Nancy Verrier's book The Primal Wound: http://nancyverrier.com/the-primal-wound/ Blonde Records: https://blonderecords.com Time.com's article about the adoption industry: https://time.com/6051811/private-adoption-america/ “Off and Running” documentary by Nicole Opper: https://offandrunningthefilm.com/ Adoptees On Podcast: https://www.adopteeson.com/ Adoptees Connect: https://adopteesconnect.com/ The F-Word Series: https://www.thefwordseries.com/ Other Resources: Other Parents Like Me - https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/ Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling =============== Safe Home is created by Joseph Nakao and Beth Syverson Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao Cover art by Joseph Nakao, photo by Beth Syverson Email questions or comments to Safe Home at SafeHomePodcast@gmail.com Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube Support Safe Home on Patreon =============== TIME STAMPS: 1:37 How Rebecca got the idea for the film 4:11 Adoptive parent's perspectives 7:11 Film screening info for 2/26/22 8:51 How the film triggered Rebecca and others 19:22 Adolescence and identity crises 25:05 Is Rebecca anti-adoption? 26:47 How the birth of Rebecca's child affected her 29:15 Money in the adoption industry 30:58 Does Rebecca ever feel infantilized as an adult adoptee? 41:15 Advice for dealing with Joey's adoption pain 45:55 Renting the film its eventual release 47:28 Join the Adoption Army! 49:03 Blonde Records info --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/safe-home-podcast/message

In this week's Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with podcaster, motivational speaker, and writer Lona (LC) Currie. LC has recovered from long-term drug and alcohol misuse, and after he became stable as a sober person, he transitioned to his true gender. He was considered a “lost cause” by many, but now he is openly sharing his addiction experience to give others hope that recovery is always possible. His story will encourage everyone to come back home to their authentic selves. ===============

In this week's episode, we're sharing an interview Beth had on another mom's podcast recently: Rebecca Greene's The Whinypaluza Podcast. Here are some of the topics we cover: - Why being a reactive parent isn't helpful during times of stress. - How teens can easily hide their drug use from their parents. - What kinds of signs you should be looking for in your teenage children. - How excessive drug use can lead to disregard for things they once loved. - How relapse is a very real reality when dealing with a teen who struggles with addiction. ===============

In this episode, Beth learns about hypnotherapy with Pamela Topjian from Breakthrough Hypnotherapy. She talks about her own healing path from childhood trauma, how she got into hypnotherapy, and how hypnotherapy can help create more peace and heal trauma for teens and parents. Joey checks in at the end of this episode, too. ===============

In this episode, Beth talks with learning disabilities specialist Jill Stowell from Stowell Learning Center. She talks about how early childhood affects a person's ability to learn, and she gives great ideas to parents that will help them advocate for their child and find solutions for their learning challenges. ===============

Emily Jaworski Koriath talks with Beth about the intersection between her career as a singer and voice teacher, her own trauma, and Somatic Experiencing, a body-centered method of healing trauma that she has found to be extremely effective for herself and others. =============== Emily Jaworski Koriath's Information: Emily's Website: https://www.emilyjaworskikoriath.com/ Other things mentioned in this episode: Alexander Technique: https://alexandertechnique.com/ Steven Porges' Polyvagal Theory: https://www.polyvagalinstitute.org/ and his book The Polyvagal Theory: The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe Sharon Loeschen's Safe Home episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEuFl8lg9yw&t=1s Helping Clients Move Forward from Developmental Trauma--An Integrative Somatic Approach by Kathy L. Kain To Write Love On Her Arms Dr. Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing resources and education: https://www.somaticexperiencing.com/ Voice and Trauma Research and Connection Group Rilke's poem with “No feeling is final”: https://onbeing.org/poetry/go-to-the-limits-of-your-longing/ =============== TIME STAMPS: 1:43 Emily's unusual music career journey 5:20 How Emily's interest in trauma work began 8:40 The connection between Emily's singing voice and trauma 10:51 Emily's trauma 13:05 Emily's voice students' trauma and her responsibility as a teacher 18:38 Connections with our animals 19:44 Modeling self-care and co-regulation 24:02 Emily's openness around her depression 28:00 Somatic Experiencing 35:00 Car accident example 40:16 Disconnection from our body 44:30 SE on Zoom 51:00 How Emily's SE sessions are structured =============== Safe Home is created by Joseph Nakao and his moms Beth Syverson and Jan Mabie Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao Email questions or comments to Safe Home at SafeHomePodcast@gmail.com Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube Support Safe Home on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/safe-home-podcast/message