Teenage Kicks Podcast

Owen Wood suffered from anxiety as a young teenager. He tells me how he coped, what his parents did to support him, and what helped him at school during those years. We talk about how travelling on a budget during Race Across The World taught him to have faith in himself, and how he copes with the nerves of travelling alone now. Owen says that, just because you're an anxious teenager, it doesn't mean you're going to be an anxious adult. The trick, he says, is to try new things anyway, and to have faith in your own ability to take care of yourself. The more you experiment and realise that you can survive difficult things, the more confident you become. Who is Owen Wood? 22 year old Owen Wood lives in Hertfordshire and is currently training to be a commercial airline pilot. However, you might know his name from season 4 of Race Across The World, which he won along with his friend Alfie Watts. After winning on the show last year, he went straight back out to Southeast Asia to do it all over again! He's now planning on doing the same in Australia later this year. We talk about how it felt to be on the TV programme, and stress and excitement of the race. You might be forgiven for thinking that Owen owes his travel confidence to a carefree attitude to life, but he talks openly about his struggles with anxiety as a teenager. He's now an ambassador for teenage mental health charity The Mix, a website for teenagers and young adults where you can find information and support for most issues you might face as a teenager. Useful links: Free counselling at The Mix Owen on Instagram

Evan Transue started suffering with panic attacks at the age of 5. He had no family history of trauma, and due to his seemingly great life, his panic attacks went misdiagnosed for over 10 years. During this time, he developed other mental health conditions, and eventually turned to substances to numb the pain. Eventually he was diagnosed with panic disorder, and had an aha moment that changed his life.We talk about what panic attacks feel like, how they can lead to depression, and how parents can help support teenagers as they learn to deal with them. Evan now hasn't had a panic attack in 10 years.Who is Evan Transue? Evan is the host of The Health Detective Podcast and owner of Bucks County Light Therapy and Functional Medicine Center. He graduated from Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN) in 2017. Prior to finding FDN he and his mother had suffered with a variety of health challenges for over a decade. The FDN system transformed his and his mom's lives so profoundly that all of his work is now centered around spreading its teachings. Evan speaks professionally to middle and high school students about mental health challenges and to date has spoken to 50,000 students.More teenage parenting from Helen Wills Helen Wills Counselling and Parent Coaching Actually Mummy parenting teens blog Helen on InstagramThank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham

Parents often worry about the teenage years. The term 'threenager' is frequently used to describe the toddler tantrums that leave parents tearing their hair out. I used it myself, with an eyeroll and a wry smile, but now that I've been through the teenage years I'm apologetic about that. I think it's patronising, and it doesn't help our relationships with our teens. Katia Vlachos has experienced this from the teen point of view, and it took her until adulthood to realise that her 'good girl' behaviour wasn't serving her. She talks to me about how easy it is to raise a people-pleasing teenager (even when we think we're on the receiving end of full-scale rebellion), and why it's not such a good thing to have a teenager who sticks to the rules. Who is Katia Vlachos?Katia Vlachos is a coach and author of a new book called Uncaged. Raised in a traditional Greek family, Katia's early years were spent trying to please others as the perfect daughter and student, but she often found ways to embrace her rebellious spirit - including sneaking out at night and driving off into the sunset on the back of her boyfriend's Harley Davidson. As she grew up, Katia became more weighed down by this 'good girl' persona she'd be trying to live up to until one day, when she was in her 40s, she faced the reality that the life she was living had been designed to make other people happy and not herself.After a series of life-altering events – including the death of her beloved father and the end of her 17-year marriage – Katia confronts how being obsessed with being seen as 'good' has affected her life decisions and sets out on a path of self-discovery and reinvention. Unpicking how she had been conditioned since childhood to chase societal approval and put the needs and desires of others above her own, Katia used her experiences to write a book about her story and inspire other women who are fed up of feeling guilty for wanting more. Katia's book - Uncaged: A Good Girl's journey to reinvention Katia on Instagram Katia on LinkedIn KatiaVlachos.com How to Fail podcastMore teenage parenting from Helen Wills Helen Wills Counselling and Parent Coaching Actually Mummy parenting teens blog Helen on InstagramThank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham

Today's guest is content creator and copywriter Tom Pinks, who is The number of teenagers saying they don't drink alcohol is 39%.Tom talks about how he was bullied at secondary school before eventually finding a way to take control and stand up for himself. He was also dealing with his mum's diagnosis of cancer and says that it could have been quite a dark time had it not been for the resilience that kicked in as he learned to take care of his emotions.He also talks about feeling shy when he started university - have a listen to Tom's top tip for making friends in a new environment! Tom says this is when he started using alcohol to hide his shyness and pretend to be more extroverted than he was. Whilst he says it didn't feel like a problem in the moment, he struggled to keep up with the drinking of Freshers and eventually realised it was too much.Tom told me how he eventually cut down on drinking and became isolated as he distanced himself from friends who were drinkers. He was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and had to take time out to address it. He tells us how difficult that experience was, and what help is available now to young people going through similar, from free counselling to support of communities online. Tom's experience of being sober since then is fascinating to listen to - from being fully alive at the music gigs he loved, to the experience of dating without alcohol.Who is Tom Pinks? Tom is a mental health professional, writer and podcaster for The Mix, the UK's leading digital support service for under 25's. A former teacher, Tom now spends his time ensuring as many teens have the resources they need to thrive in life. Whether this be written guides on navigating relationships, identity, and general wellbeing, or podcasts with experts on how to manage and improve mental health.Tom has been living sober for almost 18 months, and is an advocate for clean living after witnessing the many benefits this brought into other parts of his life. He now practices transcendental meditation daily, and puts his love and energy into hosting events across London designed to help young people make new friends.Useful links: The Highly Sensitive Person (affiliate link) The Mix - essential support for under 25s, including free counselling Tom's blog about sober datingMore teenage parenting from Helen Wills Helen Wills Counselling and Parent Coaching Actually Mummy parenting teens blog Helen on InstagramThank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham

My guest today has written a book about how much we underestimate teenage girls, and why we'd do well as parents to listen more to what they have to say. Chelsey Goodan has interviewed dozens of teenage girls about what's going on in their lives, and what they need from adults in order to thrive. We talk about perfectionism and self-esteem, shame around sexuality, and the best way to get teenagers to develop a healthy relationship with their phones and social media – spoiler alert, it doesn't involve banning apps and confiscating their phones.Chelsey talks about her own experience of being a people-pleaser as a teenager. Always wanting to be the 'good girl', Chelsey didn't realise how much this tendency was hurting her. She goes on to tell us how she became a 'recovering perfectionist' and gives some ideas to support mothers who have carried perfectionism into their parenting journey.She also tells me that trying to protect our girls can backfire by giving them a victim mentality. Instead, she says, we need to empower teenage girls to trust their own inner voices, know what they need, and have agency over their own safety and directions. She answers the question "is social media dangerous" and has an interesting take on how we can introduce our teenagers to smartphones. Chelsey has written a great book about how what teenage girls are really feeling and how judged they often feel. It's a brilliant explanation of what's going on for our daughters and how we can support them more constructively to be the best they can be emotionally. You can find Chelsey's book here: Underestimated: The wisdom and power of teenage girls (affiliate link) Chelsey's website Chelsey on InstagramMore teenage parenting from Helen Wills Helen Wills Counselling and Parent Coaching Actually Mummy parenting teens blog Helen on InstagramThank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham

TW: Self-harmAd: This episode is sponsored by training provider Flourish, and my guest today is an expert in supporting teenagers with the emotional challenges that often come with adolescence. Charlotte Gordon is a nationally recognised youth worker and trainer who has deep expertise in addressing anxiety, depression and distress, and empowers those who work with teenagers to have the practical life skills they need to help young people develop emotional resilience and well-being. Her approaches are especially effective in supporting neurodiverse young people.As a single mother, Charlotte founded KIP Education to reach the young people who often fall through the cracks in traditional educational settings. Her programmes aim to cultivate self-awareness, mindfulness, critical thinking, communication skills and social empathy, empowering young people to manage stress and develop a strong sense of social consciousness and human values.She talks to us about a parenting course that offers practical advice and the opportunity to improve our knowledge around mental health, wellbeing and safety. The Flourish Empowered parenting course bundle covers topics such as vaping, gang violence and supporting LGBTQIA+ children. Listeners can get a 15% discount on the course by using code KICKS15 at checkout. USEFUL LINKS Flourish Empowered Parenting Course Bundle - used code KICKS15 Flourish's Empowered Parenting courses bundle offers practical advice and the chance to test and improve your knowledge, helping you address challenges around mental health, wellbeing and safety. It also covers specialist topics such as vaping, gang violence and supporting LGBTQIA+ children. Written by child development and education specialists, these courses empower you to approach modern parenting with confidence. Each course lasts around 30 minutes and can be taken in your own time, with our without your child. Find out more about Charlotte at Kip Education. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills Helen Wills Counselling and Parent Coaching Actually Mummy parenting teens blog Helen on InstagramThank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham

*TW - Suicide and self harm This week's guest is the parent of a 17-year-old transgender boy. She talks about how it felt to support her son as they came to the realisation that their assigned gender did not match who they knew themselves to be. She describes how difficult it was for her son despite her family's acceptance and support of his decision, compared to other teenagers she knows of who have not been supported by their families. I ask her why she thinks some parents don't accept their children's LGBTQIA+ feelings. Heidi told me the hardest part of her son's transgender journey was their decision to change their name. She says she went through a period of mourning for the daughter she gave birth to. We talk about how difficult it can be as parents to allow our children to determine for themselves who they're going to be, without trying to influence them. She gives some insight into what age she thinks is best for a teenager to undertake surgical transition, the controversy around puberty blockers and how normal gender and sexuality changes are to our own teenagers' generation.Heidi also talks about her own teenagers years growing up with undiagnosed bipolar, and how easy it was to miss amongst all the teenage hormones. Who is Heidi L Gross? Heidi published her first personal and heartfelt work, Embracing Love: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing and Celebrating LGBTQ+ Identity. Inspired by her journey as the mother of a transgender son, the book aims to support parents who are navigating similar experiences, offering them insight, compassion, and guidance. More from Heidi Embracing Love: A parent's guide to nurturing and celebrating your child's LGBTQ+ identity - https://amzn.to/42nGW5EAlso listen to What your transgender teen wants you to know Overcoming self-harm Mental health, sexuality and self-harm recoveryMore teenage parenting from Helen Wills Helen Wills Counselling and Parent Coaching Actually Mummy parenting teens blog Helen on InstagramThank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy page Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham

It's a question I see asked a lot. There's a whole Facebook group dedicated to discussing the issues parents have when their children are preparing to leave home for university, and the questions come in cycles. Right now, it's UCAS forms and university choices, as the deadline for applications looms. In a couple of months it will be questions about A-Level revision and exam dates, and then will come the angst - in rafts - over teenagers whose parents don't think they're ready. (I have a sneaking suspicion it's the parents who aren't ready most of the time, not the kids.My guest in this episode speaks to this parental fear as a parent herself, and as a psychologist who supports families of children and teenagers with type 1 diabetes. Professor Deborah Christie talks about how any disability makes it more difficult to leave home, especially for the often chaotic lifestyle of university. With data* suggesting that over a third of young adults have a long-term physical or mental health condition, disability or illness, could this be something your listeners might be interested in? Deborah offers reassurance and tips for success, whatever your fears for your child as they gain independence and have to look after themselves. * Research commissioned to mark the integration of Abbott's FreeStyle Libre 2 Plus sensor withInsulet's Omnipod® 5 Automated Insulin Delivery System.More for parents of teenagers preparing for university Don't fear the empty nest (podcast) 10 Tips for coping with empty nest syndrome (read) Being diagnosed with diabetes as a teenager (podcast) How to keep your teen safe at university (read) 60 Gifts for university students (list)Who is Deborah Christie? Deborah Christie is a professor of paediatric and adolescent psychology at University College London NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust. She is an internationally respected academic and award-winning clinician; with an outstanding record of peer-reviewed publications, teaching and leadership with over 200 peer reviewed papers and chapters and a bestselling book, Psychosocial Aspects of Diabetes in Children, Adolescents and Families. She co-authored the expert reports on Psychosocial Issues of infection and the Impact of bereavement for the UK government Infected Blood Inquiry.Who is Helen?Helen wills is a counsellor, a parent coach, and a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham.

Welcome to series 9 of the Teenage Kicks podcast, and a brand new set of brave conversations with people who had something difficult to go through in their teenage years. This episode features Jon Wilson Cooper, who - through his career choice as a counsellor - has explored his own relationship with his mental health at length, including how he feels about having grown up with a sibling with disabilities. We discuss everything from the embarrassment of being seen in public with his deaf brother, who had behavioural difficulties as a result of his disability, the jealousy of the attention given to his brother, and the shame of feeling this way. Jon says there's a difference between shame and guilt, and the challenge for our teenagers - and for us as their parents - is to reject the shame (which is paralysing) whilst managing the guilt effectively. Who is Jon Wilson Cooper?Jon is a qualified psychotherapist, trainer, and organisational consultant with over 38 years' experience of helping people with their mental health. He is the Founder and Director of The Albany Centre for personal and professional development, which is a counselling training institute and therapy. He also runs Mosaic Counselling Services CIC (a low-cost counselling service) in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He has worked in the UK, America, and India in a variety of settings with a wide range of clients, including those with addiction issues, mental health problems and histories of personal trauma. Jon has a special interest in helping individuals raise awareness of their blocks to emotional well-being and making positive life choices.Jon is also a TEDx speaker whose talk on why people hate was chosen as one of the top TEDx talks of 2024. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su-0oL1QdHMJon welcomes connection - you can find him here: Connect on LinkedIn The Albany Centre Facebook Follow the Albany Centre on FacebookMore teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a counsellor, a parent coach, and a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham.

In this final episode of my 8th season of Teenage Kicks, we hear from Betty and James Mukherjee, of Race Across The World fame. Watching the show we saw the brother and sister relationship develop as they completed challenges together, but they say it wasn't always like this - they fell out like typical siblings when they were growing up. They talk about how they handled their feelings during the harder times on the trip around Southeast Asia (remember when they lost their passports?) and the moment when Betty opened up to James about her diagnosis of MRKH, a medical condition which means she doesn't have a uterus. I ask Betty what it was like to be diagnosed at the age of 16 with something that changed her perception of her life, and I ask James how it felt to know at a young age that his sister's life had changed. They both talk about the need to allow feelings, their own and each other's, and - importantly - to open up about those feelings rather than keeping them locked in. She describes herself as a 'glass half empty' kind of girl, and how important it is to notice when she starts to catastrophise and take steps to change her previous patterns. Betty now shares the reality of her daily life on Instagram and in her women's wellbeing community It's a Balance Thing. She says it's important for her to talk to her friends (even though they couldn't understand) and to share with others going through the same. She recommends MRKH Connect for other people living with MRKH. James tells me about the moment on the show where he gets a hug from a cameraman after feeling emotional during that conversation, and how important it feels now to help men understand that allowing emotions is also important for them. He recommends Andy's Man Club as a good place to start if you're struggling to open up about mental health. You can also message James on Instagram. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a counsellor, a parent coach, and a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham.

It can be very isolating when your child is diagnosed with a new and scary condition. It always helps to hear from someone who's been through it beforehand, and today's guest has experienced ADHD with bells on in her family and with her teenager. Claire Quigley West tells us about how her teenage years were affected by undiagnosed ADHD. She goes on to explain her son's diagnosis, and how she is finding the challenge of parenting now she has a teenager with ADHD.Read the full transcript or watch this episode on Youtube.Who is Claire Quigley West?Claire is the host of the podcast All Aboard ADHD, which helps parents navigate the ADHD journey. Her ADHD journey began in 2017, when her son was diagnosed at the age of 6. She also has an 8 year old daughter who she says almost certainly has ADHD, although not yet diagnosed. She also has her own adult diagnosis of ADHD.Out of a desire to do everything in her power to support her son, and to ensure other parents never felt as alone as she had, Claire founded ADHD Winchester, as a local parent community in 2021. She has since trained as an ADHD coach (working with tweens and teens).Find Claire at All Aboard ADHD and on Instagram @allaboardadhd.More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a counsellor, a parent coach, and a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham.

Today's guest had an unusual childhood, with a modelling career as a child, and winning Miss Spain at the age of 17. She grew up in the limelight and with a hectic professional schedule. She also attended boarding school in a different country to her family. I talk to Lorena about how a life in the limelight from a young age has influenced her parenting styles and what she teaches her kids about achieving your goals and the reality of success. Who is Lorena Bernal?Born in Argentina, Lorena moved to Spain as a young child and her modelling career kicked off when she was just 7, culminating in her being crowned Miss Spain as a teenager in 1999. She then went on to become a successful actress in Hollywood before moving to the UK with her family and pivoting her career behind the scenes to certify as a life coach and mindfulness practitioner as well as establish her company, Live Love Better. She now balances her career with writing her first book and raising her three sons.Find out more on Lorena's website, and at Live Love Better, her coaching and mental health community. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a counsellor, a parent coach, and a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham.

Today's guest speaks of horrific emotional bullying at school as a teenager. She struggled to make friends after she was accepted to a selective school, and her self-esteem suffered. Her parents had sacrificed to get her into the school, so Angela didn't feel she could complain to them. Instead, she felt guilty for having attracted the abuse. This is all too common for children who are bullied - the feeling that something must be wrong with them. Angela tells me how this impacted her through her adult life, and how she eventually turned around her view of herself. She now helps others who are dealing with the effects of bullying, be that at school or in the workplace. Who is Angela Roth?Angela journey from being badly bullied in school to becoming a leading figure in the heart-centered coaching industry is a testament to her resilience and commitment to helping others. Growing up in Birkenhead as one of eight children, Angela faced significant challenges but emerged with a determination to make a positive impact in the world.Despite enduring bullying throughout her school years, Angela developed a strong sense of empathy and a desire to protect and assist those who were vulnerable. This early experience shaped her character and set her on a path of service and leadership.After pursuing a degree in mathematics, economics, and business at the University of Manchester, Angela joined the police force, driven by her desire to serve the community. Despite facing obstacles such as sexual harassment and corruption within the force, Angela remained steadfast in her commitment to making a difference. More information HERE!More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a counsellor, a parent coach, and a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Malloy Podcasts.

This is a podcast that will change how you look at the problems you're going through. Carrie's voice is full of wisdom, and she knows what she's talking about, because she's been there too. Carrie Grant, MBE, is a TV presenter, vocal coach, activist, and World Vision ambassador who has worked with the charity for over 10 years. She was awarded an MBE in 2020 “for services to music, to media and to charity”.She partners with World Vision on the podcast series Raising Changemakers, where she hears from children who are making big changes in their global communities by campaigning to stop harmful practices like child labour, child marriage and FGM.Carrie explains what teenagers can do if they're appalled by the state of the world. She also tells us about her own difficult experiences with Crohn's disease, a life-changing condition she had to learn to live with at a very young age. She also talks about what it's like to raise neurodivergent children. Her book, A Very Modern Family, tells her family's story of neurodiversity. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a counsellor, a parent coach, and a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Malloy Podcasts.

The big question in this episode is whether or not to give your child a smartphone, and what's the right age for your teenager to have a smartphones. Ofcom research in the UK in April 2024 claims that nearly a quarter of 5-7 year olds have their own smartphones, with 65% using WhatsApp and other messaging services.Hannah Oertel is the Founder and CEO of Delay Smartphones, a pioneering initiative dedicated to protecting children from the dangers of smartphones. As a therapist and intervention coach, she says she's observed a concerning rise in anxiety among clients, and didn't want her own children to have a childhood based on smartphones.Hannah developed a non-judgmental parent-to-parent approach that empowers parents with research and alternatives, encouraging them to delay smartphone access until age 14. With Hannah's leadership, Delay Smartphones has garnered support across the UK and recently expanded into the US.More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email hhelen@actuallymummy.co.uk.There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Malloy Podcasts.

Think of this podcast as a reframe on your teenager's risky behaviour. By the end of the episode, you'll be able to put your teen's risk-taking into context, and you'll feel much more relaxed as you go through the rollercoaster with them. Who is Daphne Adler?Daphne Adler has been described as “a mother rooting for all mothers.” And I think we all need one of those in our camps when it comes to the teenage years. Daphne has used her analytical and consulting skills to support parents in a new book Debunking Teenagers. In it, she gives us 200 research-based parenting strategies to help adolescents successfully navigate what she calls the “tempteen” years.The book answers the questions all parents of teens have:· Why are teenagers constantly tempted to behave recklessly, and what can parents do about it?· Why is telling your son or daughter to “just say no” a hopelessly ineffective strategy?· Why are teens constantly taking selfies?· And how can you keep your child safe behind the wheel?Other books I recommend: Hold on to your kids - Gabor Maté The teenager in the greenhouse - Graham RamsdenMore teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com.There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.

We've talked a lot about anxiety on the podcast. In this episode, Marneta Viegas talks about how "crippling" self-esteem got the better of her as a teenager. If this is you - or your child - have a listen, and find out what can be done to help teenagers relax. Marneta tells me about her father's sudden death when she was a teenager, and how that filled her with guilt - another self-esteem thief. 19:20 - Strategies for improving self-esteem and helping teenagers relaxWho is Marneta Viegas?Marneta is the founder of Relax Kids Ltd - a leading expert on children's relaxation. She has been running her relaxation programme for the last 25 years and it has helped over 5 million children at home and in school. Marneta has written 20 children's meditation books and has recorded over 500 meditation audios. She has developed a unique (award winning) 7 step method to teach children to self-regulate and manage their anxiety. Marneta's father died suddenly when she was 18, just before she went to university. I'm going to ask her about her relaxation programme, and for her tips on how – as parent's – we can help our teens learn to relax more.More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com.There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.

"Loneliness is a condition that's just as bad for you as cancer", says Dr Richard Pile, a GP and specialist in loneliness. He goes on to say that the age bracket most affected by loneliness is young adults aged 16-24. Loneliness at a young age can leave mental health 'scars' in the same way that physical injuries stay with us for the rest of our lives. So it's important to help our teenagers identify when they're lonely, and learn what to do about it. What can we do to prevent loneliness in teenagers? Try to mitigate the effects of academic pressure. Richard sees a lot of teenagers who are isolating thanks to the stress of expectations from schools and ambitious families. We need to help our kids work out what makes them happy, and encourage them to spend time doing more of that. Help them realise that feeling lonely at times is normal. Boredom, stress and loneliness help kids learn who they are and work out what they want to do next. It's only a problem when it's long-term. Digital connection is valuable (especially during the pandemic) but a lot of young people got out of the habit of connecting in a physical space because of the ease of online interactions. We need to help our kids learn how to enjoy being with other people more often. Fight the "cult of the individual". Wellbeing comes from interdependency with friends and family - community. Who is Dr Richard Pile? Richard is an NHS GP specialising in Lifestyle Medicine and Cardiology. Outside of the surgery, his other jobs include promoting lifestyle medicine amongst the public and health professionals, training & appraisal, and being a mentor and coach.He has written for the national press and the British Medical Journal and is the author of a book on wellbeing.More from Richard : Listen to Richard's TEDx talk on loneliness in young adults. Get Richard's book Fit For Purpose (affiliate link) His website Feel Good For Life Other links, including Richard's newsletter, podcast and social mediaMore from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please get in touch.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham.

In this episode, we talk about academic pressure and the anxiety it can create for our teenagers. But more than that, we talk about FAILURE. Fear of failure, what failure really means, and how to help our teenagers when they think they've failed. Amelie Moore is a former language teacher who thinks it's vital that kids learn to fail. Amelie says teenagers need to know that failure is not the end of the road, and that offering a safe, non-judgmental space for them to make mistakes and reflect, is how they will learn how to reach their goals and overcome challenges in their own way.As someone who felt overwhelmed by academic anxiety in her own teenage years, Amelie believes there's a different way to help teenagers succeed whatever their school record.She says to teenagers listening: "You are not broken, you don't need fixing, you are amazing, unique individuals full of potential."Get more from Amélie Moore? Amélie's website It's Mindcraft coaching

TW: Self-harmMy guest for this episode goes by the name of That Hoarder.As a compulsive hoarder, she says she struggles with many aspects of hoarding behaviours, which she talks about on her own podcast That Hoarder - the first ever podcast by somebody who actually hoards rather than by a professional. She started her podcast to keep herself accountable and to help others with this stigmatised and hidden condition, as well as to raise awareness of hoarding disorder.She says that very stigma is why she does this anonymously. This is a sensationalised and shamed mental illness and speaking more openly about it is an essential way to spread the word and help people. While a lot is still not understood, she told me that there can be signs of hoarding as early as childhood or teenage years.2:45 - People judge hoarding as being about laziness, but it's a manifestation of something else that's wrong. That's why TV shows that sensationalise the condition aren't helpful. Why clearing the space isn't helpful. 7:00 - Seeing hoarding as a coping strategy. My guest talks about feeling "wrong at her core" and having out of control emotions. 12:00 - Understanding what might drive self-harm. 14:38 - Signs of hoarding in a teenager. Which hoarding symptoms begin between the ages of 10-20, before escalating in later life. 21:00 - What might have helped prevent hoarding disorder developing?38:00 - Why professional help is needed to help someone combat their hoarding disorder, and what kind is most helpful. 39:25 - An effective strategy for successfully managing self-harm. 56:00 - When is it hoarding, and when is it just a messy teenager? How can parents help a teenager who hoards?Resources: Overcoming self-harm Overcome Compulsive Hoarding podcast Advice for children of hoarders Hoarding Disorders UK MindMore from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please get in touch.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham.

"The only person who can help you is you"Harriet Barnsley survived a serious road traffic collision in 2014 when she was 21. She was hit, as a pedestrian, by a car travelling at 101miles per hour. She woke from a month-long coma to learn that her best friend had been killed at the scene.Harriet lives with a long list of injuries and is physically disabled. She suffered a traumatic brain injury in the collision, and went on to develop bipolar as a result.2:00 - Being bullied at school for being good at her work, wanting to do well, and not conforming to the tough girls' standards. Harriet says what a relief it is as an adult to realise that we're "not trying to ruin each other's lives" any more!8:00 - Proof that we're all feeling as insecure as each other - no one is invulnerable.11:00 - How time makes hard things easier to bear, and the joy of finding a real connection in friendship.14:20 - Harriet describes the incident she was involved in.19:45 - Recovery from severe injuries and how it affects mental health. 22:00 - Is it tough love? How parents can support an injured child - the tricky balance between empathy and resilience. 25:00 - Why worrying doesn't help your teenager, and how to make peace with your anxiety as a parent and be present for your child. 28:00 - What it's like to live with life-changing injuries.29:00 - The mental health effects of ignoring the emotional impact of a road traffic collision. Harriet describes her psychosis and mental health breakdown, and how it "set her free". 34:00 - What it's like to live with bipolar.36:30 - How to get through the worst thing you could possibly imagine. Making the choice to do hard things. 40:00 - How to get through a parent's worst nightmare. 49:00 - Harriet's main piece of advice: if you're struggling with something, TALK to someone. Trying to ignore your feelings never works. Harriet is now writing a memoir - Thrown, about coping when your life is thrown off course. She volunteers for a number of mental health and disability charities and is training to be a counsellor. More from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please get in touch.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham.

Human trafficking isn't just something that happens far away from the UK, to naive people in desperate situations. It could happen much closer to home than you think; it could even happen to your teenager. In this episode I talk to Ruth Dearnley about what modern day slavery looks like and how your teenager could fall into a trap without realising what's happening. Ruth says human trafficking is a "global, organised, criminal business" that doesn't look anything like the Taken films, as we imagine it. Often it's framed as an exciting new job, or a travelling opportunity that looks legitimate, which is why people sign up willingly to be trafficked before they realise they're trapped - physically, financially, or through intimidation. Before you think about this happening abroad, it's right here in the UK. There is a high degree of trafficking in our care system, in factories, and in our farming industry. And if you've heard of County Lines in the context of drug trafficking, modern day slavery is happening there too. It often happens through grooming, and vulnerable teenagers are more prone to following the road to being groomed - when someone already feels unsafe, it's easy to convince them that the hand being offered is an opportunity. A high percentage of trafficked people have been homeless.Listen to the episode to hear a truly amazing story about human trafficking. Find out more about human trafficking and get help Get the STOP app Every Child Protected Against Trafficking Trafficking through County LinesWho is Ruth Dearnley? Ruth Dearnley is the founder and CEO of an anti-human trafficking organisation called Stop the Traffik. She wants to create a world where people are not bought and sold, through the prevention and disruption of modern slavery and human trafficking. She focuses on prevention rather than cure, and believes that bay taking a data led and tech enabled approach, people can connect and grow powerful networks that turn insight into action, creating communities that are high risk and low profit to traffickers.More from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please get in touch.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.

In this episode we talk to Bharti Lim, who is determined that young women should have as many opportunities to work - and claim senior roles - in tech. She says the reason girls often don't consider careers in tech is because they don't see women like them in the industry. She wants to change that, and joins me on the podcast to tell me how she thinks parents can help. 7:00 - Parents will be reassured to know that Bharti's teenage years weren't full of perfect moments, yet she still has a very successful career in tech. 10:00 - Growing up in an Asian family with first generation parents. Experiencing depression and self-harm as a teenager. 15:00 - Masking as a teenage girl with ADHD.19:00 - The value of counselling and psychotherapy to understand yourself and your feelings, particularly to undo unhealthy patterns adopted in teenage years. 27:00 - How to inspire more girls into tech. Some examples of jobs in tech, and why girls might be more tech-savvy than they realise. Why tech isn't a boy's job. 38:00 - How to encourage interest in tech, and why it's more glamorous than you think. Who is Bharti Lim? Bharti is a cyber security strategy manager at Computacenter, who run work experience days. She has worked in the cyber security industry for over 18 years, and has realised the importance of being visible, not only in the workplace, but for the next generation of young women in tech to see that there is no such thing as 'a man's job'. She is passionate about initiatives around diversity and inclusion, gender and ethnicity, and is an active advocate of change. Bharti was a finalist for the CRN Women in Channel Awards 2021 and a SHE awards winner in 2020. Her TEDx talk explores how we can positively redefine the 'old boys' network'.More from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please get in touch.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.

Ad: This episode is sponsored by tutoring organisation Explore Learning. If you have a teenager, it's pretty much inevitable that you're going to come up against exam stress and GCSE results at some point, and it's quite possible you've considered getting a tutor for your child.Carey Ann Dodah from Explore Learning has more than 20 years experience in education. She's also been a school governor, and chair of the PTA, and has two teenagers of her own, so she gets it. I ask her to give us her best strategies for effective study, online learning tips, and how parents can navigate educational challenges when we're worried, especially about GCSE exam results. 5:30 - Is getting a tutor really worth it? Why parents aren't always the best people to support their teenagers academically, and the value of a tutor.12:45 - How do we help our teens transition to adulthood? 16:40 - Why maths and English are the most useful subjects to have a tutor in.21:30 - What's the most important thing a child will learn from a tutor?22:45 - Is it ever too late to get a tutor for GCSEs?25:30 - Is there ever a reason NOT to get a tutor for our teenagers?31:00 - How to choose a tutor for your teenager. More about how Explore Learning works and the benefits of working with experts who help you find the best tutor for your teen. Explore Learning offers maths & English, SATs, 11 Plus & GCSE tuition both online and in person at UK centres. Check out their website for more information. More from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please get in touch.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.

Jay Simmons is a student and a transgender teenager. I met Jay at a TEDx talk, where she delivered a – quite frankly – incredible talk aiming to address those misunderstandings. She said, “if you love transgender people, listen to this talk. If you hate transgender people, also listen to this talk.” Her motivation to do the TEDx talk and to speak with me on the podcast today, comes from a desire to help people understand and to give other transgender people a way to explain it to their families.6:30: Feeling different as a child, but not knowing what that was about. Jay explains that puberty felt like an out of body experience. She eventually found a website that suggested that this is how some transgender people feel. That didn't resonate - Jay thought she would have known if she was transgender, so it took a while for her to realise. When her voice dropped, that was when she really realised she didn't feel like herself as a boy. 10:25: What is: Trans-feminine Dissociation DepersonalisationWho is Jay Simmons?Jay is a 6th form student studying media, drama and computer science. A few years ago, she realised she was transgender and with that, also realised that there are a lot of ways that transgender people are misunderstood.Click the link to watch Jay's TEDx talk What does transgender mean anyway? Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please get in touch.There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy page Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.

Dr Beth Mosely MBE talks to Helen about feeling different as a teenager, rebelling agains her parents to figure out her own identity, and trying to fit in with her peer group. We talk about what causes anxiety in teenagers, how it manifests, and what we can do as parents to help teens accept themselves in order to manage anxious feelings. We discuss: Social media - why it isn't to blame, and what to do about it Why filters in photos might be a good thing Feeling different Why teenagers don't really trust their friends Preparing our children for the reality of growing up in a world we didn't experience How to understand how your child sees the world, and support it when we don't get itWho is Beth Mosley?Dr Beth Mosley, MBE, is a clinical psychologist who works with children and adolescents, and the author of Happy Families, a family handbook to help parents understand their child's mental health, and how to help them with anxiety. Beth is often asked to appear on TV and radio to talk about mental health on BBC News, ITV, Channel 4 news, as well as BBC radio.Her book Happy Families is available now (affiliate link).More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com.There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.

If your teenager is thinking of travelling over the summer, or taking a Gap year before, or after University, you might be worried about a few things: How will they finance their student travel? How can they stay safe? Will a year out have a detrimental effect on their job prospects? Lee McAteer is the co-founder of Camp New York, a brand new camp in America, where young adults have the opportunity to earn money and gain work experience in a structured and safe environment, before travelling with their earnings. He says student travel is an amazing opportunity, and gives his tips on how to make sure it adds to students' CVs too.Who is Lee McAteer?Known as ‘Britain's Best Boss', entrepreneur and student travel expert, Lee McAteer, has announced his much-anticipated come back in the student travel sector.McAteer, co-owner of the largest independent wrestling company in Europe, PROGRESS Wrestling, has teamed up with USA visa sponsor IENA, the world leaders in cultural exchange programmes, to launch a new travel experience in summer camp cultural exchange.Camp New York will offer participants an experience of a lifetime to work at a USA summer camp in the New York tri-state region. All participants will receive a fantastic salary with all food and accommodation costs covered as part of their package.Lee McAteer, co-founder of Camp New York said: “I'm so excited to announce my travel come back project with the launch of Camp New York."More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com.There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.

Does your teenager drink? If they're of legal age, how much do they drink, and do you worry that it's a problem? Is the partying at University becoming more of a regular drinking habit? What is normal drinking at that age, and when should you worry about addiction?Ian Hawkins talks about how his addiction began at university, how it helped him, then got in his way, and how he recovered. He talks about anxiety, using alcohol as a coping mechanism, and to "fit in"socially, and when he realised it was a problem. He has advice for parents who are worried about their teenager's drinking.Who is Ian Hawkins?Ian Hawkins is a keynote speaker and business journalist who has risen to the top of his game – in spite of a lot of physical and mental challenges. Born with congenital heart disease in the 1970s, the odds were stacked against him. At the age of 6, he fell seriously ill, resulting in a 3 month hospital stay. Surviving this ordeal, he had to endure further challenges, including a traumatic struggle with alcohol addiction. But Ian says it's adversity that has driven him to fight and become the success that he is today, working with some of the best known performers and on some of the best TV programmes in the UK.More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com.There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.This episode is produced by Michael Cunningham.

TW: My guest today is Debra Blackman. Debra tells us about sexual abuse that happened to her as a child, so if that's likely to be difficult for you to hear, please do switch off from this episode.Growing up in a family with an affluent facade, Debra suffered in silence from sexual abuse by a family member until she was 17. Her mother failed to see her plight. When the family moved home, Debra experienced bullying and isolation, and struggled to face the situation she was in. The abuse from her father reached a breaking point when she was 18, and she finally stood up to him, leading to her being kicked out of her own home with just £5 to her name.It's not surprising that this difficult start took Debra down a toxic path in her relationships over the next few years, but today she is a top flight banker and CEO, providing an example of how it's possible to overcome even the worst kind of experiences and build a life you can love.Debra tells us how her behaviour reflected what was happening to her, how therapy changed her mindset about her life, and how she hasn't allowed the abuse to define her. She also says how hard it was to walk away from the abuse when she was very young, and acknowledges that she wasn't ready to tackle her trauma until the time was right. Who is Debra Blackman? Debra is the owner of Viessentially, an exectuive PA service. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com.There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Do you know what bulking and cutting is? Has your teenager asked you to change what you feed the family, veering between carb-loading and keto-style meal requests? If you're worrying about your sporty teenager's attitude to food, this episode is worth a listen. My guests are Kate Shilland and Fran Taylor, registered nutritionists who have seen how teenage athletes are influenced by TikTok creators to resort to sometimes extreme measures to get 'the perfect physique'. We talked about toxic masculinity, self-esteem and body image in young men and teenage boys in last week's episode, and this is the perfect follow up conversation for anyone who's 14 year old is asking for a gym membership and scrutinising their diet. Kate and Fran explain how good nutrition will help boys as well as girls build the muscle they need for strong athletic performance, without the need for special powders and supplements. Who are Kate and Fran? Kate & Fran are Registered Sports & Public Health Nutritionists with over 15 years' experience in helping people understand how to fuel their bodies better in order to perform better. They work with teen athletes and their parents, and have teenage athletes of their own; they say the consistent thing they see is that there's a lack of good sports nutrition advice for young people, and an overload of terrible information, especially on social media, that can be challenging to navigate.That's why they started Performance Canteen, a go-to resource of easy to follow, science-backed facts on sports nutrition and practical recipes and tips on how to make healthier choices. The aim is always to make the healthy option the easy option, to arm young athletes and their parents with the knowledge and skills needed to build the best versions of themselves, whatever the goals may be.Their recommendations and resources are based on feedback from teens, parents, teachers & coaches, with the aim of providing everyone with the same good information. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast or want to hear more on parenting teenagers contact me on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

As the mother of both a teenage girl AND boy, I've seen how both of them have absorbed the messages in society about toxic masculinity, and I've been shocked at how polarising those are. I know the effect of attitudes towards women from my own experiences and my daughter's; but I've also seen how damaging some of the narrative around that can be to boys and young men.Boys and young men across the UK are struggling; research shows a decline in mental health and well-being, increased isolation, a lack of safe spaces and trusted relationships, and a higher risk of engaging in gangs, violence, substance misuse, and weapon-carrying amongst boys since Covid.This is a hugely sensitive issue, so I'm going to say straight up, if anything we discuss in this episode feels difficult for you, please do raise it with me – I really think this is a conversation that needs to be opened up much more widely.Instead of toxic masculinity, Hayley talks about healthy masculinities. She says it's an area of civil society that is often misunderstood.What is Toxic Masculinity?I think Toxic masculinity is a phrase that's thrown around without too much thought, and with a certain amount of anger. I get why, and it's hugely important that the issue of attitudes towards women and girls is continuously raised - as the mother of a teenage girl it feels really scary sometimes. But we also need to consider the impact on boys. Hayley Roffey is a mum who has been working with children and young people for 2 decades, through the Global Fund for Children – she instigated their healthy masculinities initiative when she realised that there was an alarming suicide trend amongst boys and young men. Hayley tells us about the Healthy Masculinities programme and how it aims to change the messages boys are getting so that they can take responsibility for themselves in a way which supports them to be authentic. We also talk about bullying at school, acceptance versus challenge as a parent, and the joy of having really ugly braces as a teenager. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast or want to hear more on parenting teenagers contact me on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Climate expert and campaigner Mark Ballabon says that today's teenagers feel under immense pressure, and have a lot of anxiety around the state of our planet. His book, Home, is described as a coming of age story for the Greta Thunberg generation. He talks to me about how teens are feeling, why some of them shut down conversations about the environment, and what we - as parents - can do to help them work out how they feel about climate change and activism. 2:30 - Mark describes his own teenage years as "a bit of a car crash". He was sent to a very academic school and found it very stressful. Mark talks about academic pressure and how it made him very introspective and self-conscious. He says it was this that eventually made him stop caring what other people thought, and start questioning the bigger issues of life. 7:15 - Mark talks about how we all compare ourselves to others, especially in the world of social media. He says "every single relationship that you will ever form in your life depends upon your relationship with yourself."10:00 - Why empathy is so important for authenticity, and how important it is to understand each other. It's why Mark used young editors from all over the world to help him write his book. 14:00 - Why we must never - as parents - use the same slang that our kids use. 16:30 - How to listen well so we can empathise with our teenagers, and how to show up with our own authentic feelings and model emotional maturity. 25:45 - "We don't understand people because we're always assuming that we do." A brilliant quote about what stops us communicating effectively and understanding our kids. 28:20 - How should we cope with our teenagers' fears over climate change.34:00 - Are some forms of climate activism detrimental to the cause?40:00 - What more can we do individually to save the planet?Find out more about Mark Ballabon Read Mark's book HomeMore teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast or want to hear more on parenting teenagers contact me on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Young maverick entrepreneur Morgan Boult was a rebel at school and told he would never amount to anything. But at 19 and Managing Director of a successful call centre, already in its 6th year of trading and incorporated when he was aged 13, he is the epitome of proving everyone wrong. But there is more to Morgan Boult's story. Here is someone amazingly unique and earmarked for bigger, greater things. During a difficult time at school, he was a rebel who saw a tough time growing up. Add to this his mother who was a headmistress and father, a successful actuary, the pressure on him was enormous for perfect school years and a steady adolescence. But in true Sir Richard Branson style, Morgan had other ideas. Forming his first business at school selling sweets he showed business savvy almost immediately expanding beyond schoolboy expectations; getting a card machine contract with a credit card company, opening a fully functional shop in his parent's garage, and because of demand bringing two rucksacks a time full of products to school.Morgan talks about how - just because you're a square peg in a round hole at school - it doesn't mean your teenager is going to be a dropout. Morgan's parents struggled when he was constantly in trouble at school, but he says he was always going to be fine - it's just that school didn't work for him. Morgan gives advice to parents on the best way to support a teenager who isn't conforming, and says not to lose faith in them.More about Morgan Boult: Morgan's business Hero PA Morgan on LinkedIn Atelier 21 SchoolAlso listen to this episode with Hazel Davis, a teenage runaway who's now a successful journalist. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast or want to hear more on parenting teenagers contact me on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Trigger warning: episode deals with suicidal ideation. Suzanne also briefly mentions the impact on her life of being raped. My guest in this episode is Suzanne Alderson. When Suzanne's 14 year old daughter Izzy became suicidal, following a period of sustained bullying, Suzanne found herself in a desperate place. While her daughter was immediately wrapped in professional care, Suzanne found that there was no support available to help her or her husband make sense of it all and give their child the best kind of care. One night on suicide watch, she decided if she ever got through this time, she would ensure no other family had to navigate this journey alone. Suzanne has since set up a digital community to try and help other families facing their child's mental illness. Parenting Mental Health is now a registered charity that supports and connects parents of young people with poor mental health.Her book ‘Never Let Go' provides parents with the methods and knowledge they need to support, shield and strengthen their child as they progress towards recovery.6:00 - Suzanne talks about the impact of sexual assault on her own teenage years. She mentions promiscuity, shame, low self-esteem, and how different life looked from the point of view of someone who experiences this at a young age. 9:00 - What are the unhealthy coping strategies we use when we have difficult feelings, and what would serve us better. The value of personal therapy and EMDR in processing and coming to terms with our emotions around what has happened to us. 16:00 - How emotions show up in the body and what to do about it. (See book, The Body Keeps the Score.)23:30 - Why we can't fight our children's battles for them, and how to respect their autonomy. 30:00 - How it feels when your child is suicidal. 32:00 - What works, and how to cope as a parent of a suicidal teenager. 41:00 - Reframing your role as a parent as your child becomes an adult. "Partnering, not Parenting". What is Parenting Mental Health? Useful Links: The Body Keeps the Score Parenting Mental Health Never Let Go What is EMDR?*Some links are affiliate.More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast or want to hear more on parenting teenagers contact me on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Lotte Jeffs and Stu Oakley, hosts of Some Families podcast, join me on Teenage Kicks in this episode to talk about how we approach our teenagers about gender and sexuality. Stu says here that it's completely normal for parents to find this difficult - it's a very easy conversation, where I make lots of mistakes and am not made to feel bad about it, so it's perfect for parents who don't know how to approach the subject with their teenagers. 6:00 - Fighting our homophobic upbringings as middle aged parents 7:00 - The acceptability of 'queer', and the language we need to know 21:55 - How queer identities are labelled by sex, and the need to teach kids about love and relationships beyond sex 25:10 - Working out who you are as a teenager 31:50 - How to talk to teenagers about gender and sexuality 35:15 - What to say when your child tells you about their sexuality 40:30 - How to make sure your child is an ally to their queeer friends 50:00 - What you'll get out of reading The Queer ParentWho are Lotte and Stu? Lotte Jeffs and Stu Oakley run the podcast Some Families, is a podcast dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ+ families. Lotte is an award-winning magazine writer, editor, author and podcaster, and a contributing editor for Grazia. Stu is a film publicist; he's written a number of opinion pieces for the Guardian, Grazia, ELLE and NetMums about his own parenting journey and the experiences of being part of a queer family.Their recent book, The Queer Parent is the essential handbook for the LGTBQ+ community, their friends, family and allies. This informative, funny and empowering book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand and support the full breadth of the queer experience. Useful links: Buy your copy of The Queer Parent (affiliate link) Surviving domestic abuse as a teenager Out with Suzi Ruffell podcast Lotte's book My Magic Family for young children (affiliate link) Anna Mathur on Instagram From Gay to Ze on InstagramMore teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast or want to hear more on parenting teenagers contact me on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Mike Parker tells the story of how he told his family he was gay. It's the warmest story, with a family who were totally accepting, and yet Mike's vulnerability is palpable. He takes us back to that age, when he was terrified of his parents' reaction, and takes us on that journey he went on. This podcast is for anyone who is loved, but doesn't know how they're going to tell their family the truth about their lives. It's also for their parents; Mike gives tips on how to approach your child if you think they might have something to tell you, and how to support them when they do. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast or want to hear more on parenting teenagers contact me on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

This week's guest Jill Grimes is a MD in a US college (like a university GP), so she's well placed to talk about staying healthy at university. But first we talk about popularity in school (spoiler - neither of us was in the popular gang in our teens), why even the popular people don't feel confident in school, and how that all changes when you hit university and everyone is in the same boat. Once you get to university, being clever is cool, playing a musical instrument is impressive, and people don't judge you on what you're good at. We also get some advice from Jill on homesickness at university, and how we can support our kids to stay (relatively) healthy while they're away from home. Here's a breakdown of our conversation:2:30 - Popularity at school, and rushing through things instead of enjoying them4:15 - Please excuse my dog Rocket, the postman triggered him!7:00 - Letting your teen go and how to prepare yourself9:40 - Social anxiety as a teenager15:30 - Sorting out acne as a teenager (listen to ep. 59 for more on medication for acne)22:10 - How to handle homesickness at university. Tip 1: Don't go home in the first 6 weeks!35:45 - What to do when you start feeling ill after Freshers38:15 - What if your child gets a tattoo? (As an aside - how to handle piercings that won't heal). What to consider, the truth about tattoo colours, and how difficult it is to remove a tattoo.50:30 - What to do about a cartilage piercing that won't healWho is Jill Grimes?Jill Grimes, MD, FAAFP, is an American nationally recognized medical media expert, award-winning author, and proud mum of two daughters. After two decades of private practice in family medicine, Dr. Grimes now splits her time between writing, speaking, and seeing patients. She's currently working on the 3rd edition of her latest book, The ULTIMATE College Student Health Handbook: Your Guide for Everything from Hangovers to Homesickness! Dr. Grimes is your go-to source for everything teens & young adults (& their parents) REALLY need to know about common anxieties, illnesses, injuries and so much more! The TikTok College Doc Jill Grimes MD websiteMore teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast or want to hear more on parenting teenagers contact me on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr.Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

In this episode of the Teenage Kicks podcast I talk to psychologist and therapist Dr Tara Porter about why parent/teen relationships are so fraught with misunderstandings, and what to do about it. Specifically, Tara talks about why teenagers think their parents don't understand them - her book, You Don't Understand Me*, is aimed at teenage girls, to help them navigate these tricky years, as well as giving insights into what their daughters are experiencing. *Affiliate link. We also talk about university - how to choose the best one for you, and why uni isn't necessarily the best choice. We cover parental anxiety and the pressure it can put on teenagers, and how we can encourage our kids to follow the best path for them, rather than following the crowd. Who is Dr Tara Porter? Tara Porter is a Clinical Psychologist and writer working in north-west London. ​She draws on decades of experience to provide therapy to adolescents and adults in person and online. She uses her in-depth knowledge of the teenage mindset to support parents. ​Tara offers a variety of talks and workshops with pupils, staff and parents thinking about improving mental health. ​She writes and speaks regularly in the mainstream media about mental health. Find out more at taraporterpsychologist.com. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

In this episode I talk to Luke Grim, one half of the dad duo who run website/newsletter These 16 Things. Luke told me about the fathers' belief that kids need to be taught life skills by their parents - some that most parents don't feel equipped to teach. Their newsletter aims to walk parents through the process of having those important conversations with their kids, to teach them to think on their own and to hold their ground when culture says they should do something that goes against their morals. Who is Luke Grim? Luke is 43 years old, married with 8 kids. He and his wife homeschool them all, and they range from 16 months old to 13 years old. He grew up with a single military dad, who did the best he could. However, Luke says he got into vandalising, ran from the cops a few times at 2am, messed up at school, and got into shoplifting. He says the shoplifting began because he couldn't work out how to fit in with the crowd at school. The purpose of These 16 Things is to give some confidence and tools for parents to intentionally sit down with their teens and prepare them for hard topics and teach real skills. Too often, parents have HUGE amounts of experiences from good/bad lessons learned, yet tend to only pass these on to kids when something "happens", instead of being intentional. Have a listen! More teenage parenting from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Today I'm speaking to Danielle Marsh, of Marsh Family fame. Together with Ben and their 4 children Alfie, Thomas, Ella and Tess, all aged 11-16 Danielle shot to online fame during Covid lockdown, when they uploaded a parody version of One Day More, outlining their views on how the pandemic was being handled by the UK government. The video went viral, and after that they were in demand! Since then, they've created multiple humorous takes on UK life and politics, and even a song about menopause, and how to weather it openly as a family. I wanted to talk to Danielle about how her family - with so many teenagers - manages to stay connected and communicating - enough to create music together! Danielle's son Alfie joined us mid-podcast to tell us how it felt to be thrust into the spotlight on YouTube, how his friends kept him grounded, and how he felt about creating a song about menopause with his family. Who is Danielle Marsh? Danielle is a 45 year old mum to 3 teens and a pre teen who became known during the pandemic when a Covid parody song they produced went viral in March 2020. Since then the family have continued to post parody songs and original content on a varied host of topics from the cost of living crisis, menopause, repeated political shenanigans and overuse of technology. Juggling jobs, kids, music and life Danielle and husband Ben along with Alfie, Thomas, Ella and Tess hope to find humour in even the trickiest of topics with the belief that if they discuss it round the dinner table it's a possibility for a song! You can find out more about Marsh Family Songs here. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Something a little bit different on the podcast today - we ARE going to talk about teenagers, and how they're affected by toxic relationships when things go wrong for their parents. But FIRST we talk about something a lot of us midlife mums (and dads) might relate to - FEELING BLAH. That's the title of my guest's book. Parenting author Tanith Carey writes a lot about the teenage brain. She had a tough time when her parents divorced, but it was midlife when she noticed that despite having a happy life on paper, she wasn't really feeling it. She researched this feeling that wasn't depression, but wasn't happiness either, and discovered a little used word for it - ANHEDONIA. Feeling Blah? Why anhedonia has left you joyless, and how to recapture life's highs* is an exploration of what causes the lacklustre feeling so many of us go through at times. She explains the science behind it, and - better still - tells us what to do to move beyond it and feel excited for life again. *Affiliate link She also talks me through her parents' divorce, and the toxic atmosphere she lived in before they separated. We discuss the impact that had on her emotional development, and how she developed coping strategies that affected how she would feel about life decades later. If you've ever found yourself overthinking your feelings, this is the conversation for you. Who is Tanith Carey? Tanith Carey is an author who writes books which use the latest research to offer a lucid analysis of the most pressing challenges for today's parents. Her eleven books have been translated into 25 languages. She has written on the impact of competitive parenting on children and parents, plus friendship issues, and is one of the UK media's leading commentators on girls' well-being. As an award-winning journalist, Tanith also writes on psychology, social trends, childhood, adolescence and family relationships for a wide range of newspapers and magazines around the world including The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian and Daily Mail. Follow Tanith on Twitter and Instagram. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Sarah Middleton is the writer of a new female-led coming-of-age production perfect for teenage girls (age advice is 12+). SHEWOLVES had an incredibly successful and highly critically acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was named one of The Stage's ‘Best shows of 2022'. It is now heading to the Southwark Playhouse from 21 June – 8 July 2023 and it's a really lovely, exhilarating piece for teens and adults alike. Sarah says teens are hugely under-represented in the theatre, and she aims to put that right with this, and other initiatives she runs with teenagers - some of them will perform ahead of the main show in Southwark. She also says she never sees teens in fiction doing what they do in real life - snack! Armed with a backpack full of Pop-tarts, Priya and Lou embark on a covert expedition into the wild. They want to fight back against the climate crisis and make real change, but when the wilderness closes in around them, first they have to overcome their differences and make their voices heard. Somewhere between Booksmart, Little Miss Sunshine and Thelma & Louise, SHEWOLVES is a funny and empowering play about forging friendships when you're a bit weird, the power of hope and the underestimated smartness of teens.  Sarah also tells me about how - after winning a scholarship to a private school - she witnessed the effects of parental pressure on other girls before she thought they were ready to handle it. Have a listen, I think you'll find something that resonates.

Today's guest is Harry, aka the Champagne Socialist on TikTok. I found Harry through one of his irreverent but astute commentaries on the political landscape. Harry has a no-nonsense view on UK politics, and is raising awareness amongst young people of his generation of how they can influence what's happening in their world. We talk about what it's like choosing a university degree course, what kind of doors open for you while you're there, and how to approach the myriad opportunities a university degree offers. That said, Harry told me that university isn't a golden ticket. University is much more accessible to more people now, which is a good thing, but what that means is that most young people looking for their first serious job will have a degree - it doesn't set you apart. Harry says that's why it's so important to think about what else you can do to make yourself stand out, over and above the learning you'll gain during your course. He also told me that extra-curricular activity like Duke of Edinburgh awards and NCS aren't likely to improve your chances of UCAS offers from the best universities. Instead, Harry says take every opportunity to learn that's offered to you, get involved in other things outside of school and university - things you can add to your CV, and things that will expand your point of view on the world, that employers will be interested in. Harry says it can feel demoralising to have a great education and a good brain, and to still be struggling to get your ideal job. We talk about what it was like being a student during Covid lockdown - it sounds so hard, and if this was you or your child, you'll relate. Harry talks about his diagnosis of autism as a teenager, and how that affected his mental health at university during the pandemic. Who is the Champagne Socialist? 22 year old Harry started his satirical analysis of UK politics as part of a module for his university course, but it grew so quickly that he continued it long after the project was over, highlighting young people's views on the biggest failures of our government. He now has 123k followers, and is recognised by followers who attend events just because they've seen Harry talk about them.   As well as producing content for TikTok, Harry is also developing a podcast where he talks about the British and global political landscape. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Natasha Devon, MBE, joined me on the Teenage Kicks podcast to talk about something most parents of girls will be all too familiar with - friendship issues. Teenage girls don't grow out of problems with their friends as early as we'd like them to, but they do grow out of us being able to fix fallouts for them with a playdate or a sleepover. Put simply, when they're teenagers, it gets even messier. Add social media, and the permanent ability to stay connected via Snapchat and Whatsapp, and our teenage daughters need a lot of resilience to navigate the sometimes destructive arena of their social lives. Writer, presenter and activist, Natasha tours schools in the UK and beyond, delivering talks and conducting research on mental health, body image, gender and equality. From her experiences of what teenage girls talk about with her, she's written a YA novel which examines friendship problems in the context of coercive control. Toxic* is a brilliant read for teenage girls and parents alike, and food for thought for girls struggling to know how to approach friendships that feel a bit rocky at times. (*Affiliate link.) What interested me most was that the 'toxic' character in the story wasn't a bad person; she just had her own insecurities and fears that led her to unhealthy coping mechanisms with her friends. Natasha says that was deliberate. In her work with teenagers she sees the fragility behind the bravado, and understands that none of our teenagers are really equipped with the emotional maturity to empathise and support each other. In this episode Natasha explains that, and offers some tips for how to help our daughters navigate their friendships when they're not going as well as they could be. Who is Natasha Devon, MBE? Natasha presents on LBC (one of Britain's most popular speech radio stations) every Saturday, and writes regularly for newspapers and magazines. In her charity work Natasha supports people coping with anxiety disorders, online abuse, eating disorders, and talks regularly about gender issues, all of which – as we know – affect all of our teenagers to some extent throughout their young adult years. Author of titles like A beginner's Guide to being Mental and You can Ace School Without Losing Your Mind, Natasha speaks directly to young people. Find out more about Natasha on her website, natashadevon.com and follow her on Instagram. More teenage parenting from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Welcome back the the first in the new series of the Teenage Kicks podcast, where we take the fear out of parenting teenagers. This week I got tips for living with a teenage daughter, from a mum who fears she might be repeating the mother- daughter trauma from her own teenage years with daughter, despite her best efforts to do quite the opposite. Emma Campbell told me how she tries so hard to get teenage parenting right, yet she constantly feels like she's failing. And I sighed a big sigh of relief. It's not just me. In fact, I suspect it's all of us, so you'll get tons of validation from listening to Emma's episode. If this episode leaves you wanting more, read the blog post with mine and Emma's rules for living with a teenage daughter. Who is Emma Campbell? Emma Campbell is an author, speaker, and podcast host. She's also an all-round lovely human being who happily puts all her flaws out in the open for us to see, so that we can all feel less alone with our own struggles. As a mother of teenagers, if Emma's Instagram posts struck any more chords with me, they'd be a symphony orchestra. On a recent post she says “I'm hugely out of my depth with teenage emotions and seem to be successfully repeating the mother daughter conflict I was SO intent on avoiding. Trying to articulate unconditional love, but it comes out as the opposite. Miscommunication spitting and spinning like a Catherine Wheel.” Emma writes so beautifully of failure as a mother, of the pride we all have for our kids, and of the deep, deep longing to get motherhood ‘right'. Emma is the mother of triplet teenagers and a young man who has seen her go through long-term cancer treatment. A single mum, she's had more than her fair share of difficult times, and yet she's an inspiration to everyone who knows her. I wanted to find out how she really feels about parenting teens, and we had a joyous chat which left me feeling seen, and hopeful. Emma's new podcast, Open, is another lovely collection of conversations on authentic, messy living - you'll like it! More teenage parenting from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

I am so excited to bring you a new season of the Teenage Kicks podcast. Over the last few months I've been putting a series of really interesting conversations in the can, with a range of fascinating guests that I know are going to resonate with parents of young adults and soon-to-be teens. Find more on the podcast on my website, subscribe and listen wherever you get your podcasts, and come over and say hi on Instagram. You can also join my Teenage Kicks Facebook group - we're a really friendly bunch of parents who have (or have had) teenagers, and we get it!

What is modern slavery, why should we care, and what do we need to know to keep our teenagers safe? *This episode deals briefly with suicidal thoughts. If this is likely to be triggering for you, please skip this episode. Modern slavery is something we hear about on the news, but don't imagine it could happen to someone we love. I was struck by a conversation on another podcast - Two Women Chatting - about an incident that had happened to one of their adult daughters that felt like a narrow escape, so I wanted to cover the topic on Teenage Kicks. Hopefully being aware of the risks will help young adults and teenagers to avoid them, as well as knowing how to help other people who might be victims. Sujo John is an international motivational speaker and humanitarian who was launched into public speaking following his survival experience of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, on New York's World Trade Centers. He's since set up YouCanFreeUs, an international human rights organisation fighting modern slavery worldwide, through advocacy, rescue and rehabilitation. In this podcast I ask Sujo why modern slavery is on the rise, why we should care, and what our children need to be aware of as they start out on their own journeys into adulthood. At one point in the podcast Sujo does some working out on a calculator as he's speaking. He's explaining how many men a trafficked sex worker will have to service in 15 years of doing the work (the average time they work). For audio only listeners, I want to share that that number was 160,000... Sujo is no stranger to trauma in his teenage years either, having had to come to terms with the death of his sister to leukaemia when he was just 9. He battled depression and thoughts of hopelessness, but describes his healing as he began to help others – something which he says he learned through having the opportunity to meet Mother Teresa. Who is Sujo John? Find out more about Sujo and his work here: Sujo's websiteThe YouCanFreeUs foundationOn instagram More teenage parenting tips from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

"Severe acne affects your mental health far more than some medication ever will." Sarah Wood, mum of two young men and a teenage girl. Sarah Wood joins me on this episode to talk about her experience of teenage acne, how she coped, how she eventually treated it, and how she's supported all of her own teenagers through the same thing. Sarah first got acne when she was 12 and she still has it at 49. But nowadays she manages it with medication, and talks about how important it is to get the right treatment for acne if it's starting to affect your teenager's mental health. Sarah says that her own self-esteem took a double hit because she was already the 'clever' girl in school, with short hair - when the spots arrived, she gained the nickname "Zit-Slap". She talks about things getting better when other friends started to get spots, and she was streamed into top sets at school, so the 'clever' label didn't matter any more. However, when other kids' spots started to clear up and hers didn't, she knew she wanted to do something about it. Medication for teenage acne Sarah told me about oxytetracycline, a type of antibiotic that is usually the starting point for medication for teenage acne, once you've exhausted lotions and creams. Eventually, at the age of 40, she started taking Roaccutane, which all of her children have also taken at various times. Her son's acne developed from normal spots to huge lumps all over his face. Knowing how this could be dealt with, she took him straight to her dermatologist consultant and asked for Roaccutane. Sarah thinks there's too much scaremongering around the side-effects of Roaccutane. They range from birth defects if you take it during pregnancy (women and girls are advised to have a monthly pregnancy test whilst on the medication) to dry skin, dry eyes and muscular aches and pains. It can also (rarely) cause elevated cholesterol, so tests are done to monitor this. Sarah explains Roaccutane side-effects and how it works, and says that as parents the best thing we can do if our kids are struggling with self-esteem due to severe acne is push for a referral to a dermatologist, as this is the only way to have it prescribed, due to the monitoring required. Where to find Sarah Sarah is happy to talk about her experiences with severe acne. You can find her on: TwitterInstagramHer blog Mum of Three World Sarah has recently sent her middle child to university so we talk a little bit about the empty nest. You can get some hope on this stage from my episode on empty nesting. More teenage parenting tips from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Today's guest suffered huge anxiety as a teenager. After trying all the traditional medical remedies for stress, Devorah Goldblatt discovered something she never thought would work - EFT. EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques and involves tapping on acupressure points to reduce emotional distress. It's an evidence-based treatment for anxiety, depression, PTSD and phobias that's backed up with solid research. Helen is a complete skeptic where alternative therapies are concerned, so when Devorah invited her into a live experiment of tapping, she was out of her comfort zone! Find out what happened when you listen to the podcast. Devorah explains how she was hospitalised with severe anxiety and PTSD as a teenager, following an assault. She says she had all the support possible, but still couldn't get past her depression and trauma. It took a "woo-woo" friend, who convinced her to give EFT a try, to open her eyes to her own ticket back to recovery. Devorah describes how "cringe" she found the class (speaking my language!) But she went along with it and to her amazement, her stress reduced noticeably - immediately. EFT can be practiced anywhere - Devorah explains how her teenage clients tap in the toilets at school before an exam, and in the car before a driving lesson. Listen to the podcast to hear how the process works, and what Helen's experience of tapping was. Who is Devorah Goldblatt? Devorah is a holistic counselor helping teens and early 20's overcome depression and anxiety with holistic modalities. Devorah's depression and anxiety resolved permanently after 3 months of holistic treatment -- and has never recurred in nearly 20 years. That's why she does the work she does. She believes passionately that when we tell people that the only way to heal anxiety and depression is with medication and mainstream therapy, we are doing them a huge disservice. She also believes that with the skyrocketing rates of anxiety and depression in our teens, it is unconscionable that we are not equipping every one of these kids with holistic tools that are now evidence-based treatments for depression and anxiety. Find out more about how to do EFT tapping: You can find links to Devorah's demonstration of how to do EFT tapping on her website.Find out more about the free tapping app where you can see the points to tap.Follow Devorah's teen counselling page on Facebook. You'll find more teen anxiety tips in these episodes: Listen to Emma's story of being hospitalised with depression in her teens.Find out how journalling can help teenagers with anxietyAnd if your teenager is taking exams at the moment, try these tips for helping them cope with exam nerves. More teenage parenting tips from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.

Is your teen dating? As a parent that's been one of my most confusing stages as a parent - how do you give your teenager privacy when they start dating, but still keep them safe? If you've ever wondered if your child's choice of partner might be unhealthy, this episode is for you. Liz Merrill is a relationship and mediation expert who specialises in helping people who are in narcissistic and abusive relationships. Liz recently set up a campaign to highlight to young people the red flags they should be aware of if something doesn't feel quite right in their relationship, something which I think we would rather our teens learn sooner rather than later. In this podcast episode Helen finds out from Liz what dating red flags we should be looking for as parents, and how to discuss these with our children. You can find more from Liz on Instagram, and on her website Openspace Mediation.  More teenage parenting tips from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production. He gives some tips on what to look for, when not to worry, and when to get some professional support for your child's sleep problems. He also talks through some sleep tips that might help, and strategies to help your teenager feel better about their sleep and mental health.

'Sleep Whisperer' Dr. Chris Winter talks to Helen about how to recognise sleep problems in our teenage children, and what they need us to do to help them. Dr. Chris says that he's seeing more and more incidences of sleep disturbance in his clinic, especially in teens and young adults. Who is Dr Chris Winter? Chris Winter is a sleep expert and specialist in sleep problems. His book The Rested Child* helps parents understand when children might need their help, and why it's not always helpful to focus on sleep hours. It's a comprehensive guide to the varied sleep disorders that affect children from infancy to adolescence, many of which are commonly misdiagnosed, offering new wisdom to parents about how to ease their child's troubles. More teenage parenting tips from Helen Wills: Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email teenagekickspodcast@gmail.com. There are already stories from fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers - including losing a parent, becoming a young carer, and being hospitalised with mental health problems - and how they overcame things to move on with their lives. You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills. For information on your data privacy please visit Podcast.co. Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional. Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production. He gives some tips on what to look for, when not to worry, and when to get some professional support for your child's sleep problems. He also talks through some sleep tips that might help, and strategies to help your teenager feel better about their sleep and mental health. *Affiliate link