ABOUT THE EPISODE:

As a mom of four boys, I confess to knowing very little about raising girls. But my guests today have an intimate understanding of the specific emotional needs and experiences of adolescent girls, young women, and gender diverse individuals grounded in decades of therapeutic work.

Dr. Marcy Russo and Sara Osbourne advocate for a whole-person approach to residential treatment for many of the most common mental and behavioral health issues -- anxiety, depression, trauma, eating disorders -- and the substance use disorders that sometimes result.

In this episode we'll discuss the perfect storm of issues, from Covid to social media, that has left so many young women feeling they cannot navigate social expectations or develop healthy, supportive relationships. We also talk about the use of relational and somatic therapeutic tools to help girls find authenticity and self-understanding for long term wellness and recovery.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Wellspring website
• Angelus House website

This podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community
Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms
Learn about The Woods, our private online community for dads
Find us on Instagram: @hopestreamcommunity
Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol

Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

Community Reinforcement and Family Training (aka CRAFT) is a system for helping friends and family members change the way that they interact with someone they love who has an unhealthy and/or dangerous relationship with substances.

CRAFT teaches family members how to stay connected, increase communication, and effectively encourage their loved one toward treatment, while taking care of themselves in the process.

This episode centers around what parents need to know about CRAFT to have the best possible chance at having their child accept help for their substance misuse. It's one where you may want a notebook to capture the steps and actions involved in this very important process.

This podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community
Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms
Learn about The Woods, our private online community for dads
Find us on Instagram: @hopestreamcommunity
Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol

Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

Even before he became a teenager, it seemed to Dr. Steedy Kontos that he was good at anything he tried to do - especially sports. He shined in football, baseball, basketball, wrestling and track, and recruiters were starting to take notice. It seemed he was well on his way to becoming a professional athlete.

But Steedy had also begun experimenting with marijuana and alcohol at the age of 12. When he was caught skipping class in high school, his coach informed him that he would be required to attend extra summer conditioning on top of the school's disciplinary program. He refused, giving up his promising career, and redirected his energies to drugs, alcohol and partying.

In the years since he began his own recovery, Steedy has obtained a doctorate in clinical psychology, served as a collegiate recovery program coordinator, and a staff therapist at Division 1 school Georgia Tech. For the first time on the Hopestream podcast, Steedy walks us through the specific challenges and needs of student athletes in recovery.

We'll discuss the role that parents sometimes play in the intense and unhealthy pressure on D1 athletes, imposter syndrome at elite schools, and the academic benefits of collegiate recovery programs.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• InTown Psychology, Atlanta, GA
• Assoc. Of Recovery In Higher Education (Collegiate Recovery)
• Georgia Tech Collegiate Recovery Program

This podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community
Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms
Learn about The Woods, our private online community for dads
Find us on Instagram: @hopestreamcommunity
Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol

Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

Listeners of Hopestream get to hear from lots of amazing doctors, therapists, specialists, and academics. We can't underestimate how valuable their insights are, but we also need to listen to the voices of young people who have misused substances and come out the other side.

That's why our recent guest speakers session for members of Hopestream Community featured an AMA (ask me anything) with three young people who are living healthy lives after facing extreme forms of substance misuse. Each found their path in the 12-step program, which may be the most common treatment program in the country, but can also be totally unfamiliar to parents suddenly thrown into the world of addiction and recovery.

In this conversation, they answer questions posed by the parents of the Hopestream community, including the controversial concept of "rock bottom", the power of peer support and parents' united front, and whether recovery can (or should) include nicotine use.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Find an AA meeting here
Find a recovery high school here
Connect with Young People in Recovery here
Search locally for an "Alternative Peer Group" in your city

This podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community
Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms
Learn about The Woods, our private online community for dads
Find us on Instagram: @hopestreamcommunity
Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol

Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

For those who haven't seen their child's life endangered by the misuse of substances, calling the experience "trauma" may sound like an exaggeration. But my guest today says that the effects on the body and mind are almost identical.

Dr. Amy Hoyt has been working in the field of trauma for 10 years, with studies ranging from genocide to addiction. But her understanding isn't just academic. After suffering sexual abuse in her teens, Amy repressed the memories and began drinking before high school classes every morning. With the help of a good friend and parents who were willing to step in, she has been in recovery for many years.

Over the course of her career, Amy has learned that toxic and vicarious stress mimic the effects of trauma in the body and mind. Constant stress changes our gene expression, and can even "turn on" experiences of pain, gut symptoms like IBS, autoimmune disorder, fibromyalgia, and serotonin issues.

In this episode, Amy reviews some of the current research on stress and trauma relevant to kids using substances AND their parents, proven methods to down-regulate an overworked nervous system, and why psychological pain isn't "all in your head."

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• The Mending Trauma Podcast
• Dr. Hoyt’s website
• Dr. Hoyt on Instagram
• Peace After Trauma Membership

This podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community
Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms
Learn about The Woods, our private online community for dads
Find us on Instagram: @hopestreamcommunity
Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol

Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

Parents sometimes fall into patterns that can unintentionally prolong their child's struggle with substance use. In this eye-opening solo episode, Brenda Zane reveals ten common parenting pitfalls that might be keeping your family stuck on the Roller Coaster Ride. I emphasize that recognizing these behaviors doesn't make someone a bad parent but rather, presents opportunities for growth and positive change.

In just 30 minutes, you'll discover practical strategies to shift your approach and create the conditions for positive change – without the guilt or shame. And many of them you can implement today!

Key points covered in the episode:

• The importance of self-care and not running on fumes
• Why shaming, blaming, or yelling is ineffective
• The need for consistent parenting approaches between partners
• Understanding addiction as a health issue, not a character flaw
• Moving beyond the "rock bottom" myth
• Avoiding information overload and lecturing
• Not engaging when your child is under the influence (and two other times)
• Recognizing when "it's just a phase" thinking is harmful
• The dangers of being a "fixer" and preventing natural consequences
• The benefits of seeking support and community instead of isolating

Join me for practical tips, resource recommendations, and encouragement. And don't miss the helpful PDF download in the show notes where you can dive deeper into each of the ten pitfalls and find links to resources.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Click here to download this episode's free resource guide

This podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community
Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms
Learn about The Woods, our private online community for dads
Find us on Instagram: @hopestreamcommunity
Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol

Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

Everyone knows the experience of internal dialogue and conflict about who we are and how we will respond to the world around us. It can feel as if there are parts of us at war with each other. For kids using substances, these parts can become extremely polarized – for instance, part of them wants nothing more than to use, and another genuinely desires self-control.

My guest today says that while their inner parts are engaged in this debate about use, it's hard for them to see the underlying cause of the substance use or addictive behavior, whether that be loneliness, anxiety, or shame.

Cece Sykes saw her first client almost 45 years ago, and since then has been doing incredible work with young people suffering from addiction and trauma. Cece is one of the first practitioners of Internal Family Systems (IFS), a framework for understanding the roles each of these parts are playing, discovering what role they play in our coping, and gaining a deeper understanding of our kids' needs and motivations.

Interestingly, understanding IFS can change our relationship with ourselves as well. We all have these parts, and the self-examination that this framework provides can help us move beyond the unhealthy dynamics that often develop between parents and kids using substances. In this episode, Cece explains how that works, and how we can help our kids recoginze all the parts of them, without shame, and with more self-compassion.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Cece Skyes, LCSW website
• IFS Therapy for Addictions
• “We All Have Parts,” by Colleen West
• “No Bad Parts,” by Dr. Richard Schwartz

This podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community
Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms
Learn about The Woods, our private online community for dads
Find us on Instagram: @hopestreamcommunity
Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol

Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

After years of producing feature films and TV shows about family life like Cinderella Story, Perfect Man, Lizzy McGuire, and many others, Mark Rosman was forced to face the reality of problems in his own family.

Mark and his wife spent some time in denial about their daughter's substance use. Even after two trips to the emergency room, they decided against professional advice to get her into treatment immediately. They chalked everything up to ordinary teen rebellion and experimentation, sending her to a traditional boarding school instead. Less than one month later, she was in the emergency room again after downing a bottle of Listerine. Thus began the roller coaster we're all familiar with: periods of hope and sobriety, followed by lapses into chaos and returns to use.

Like many parents, Mark instinctively rejected the notion of "self care", or any form of detachment from his daughter's behavior and state of mind at any given time. Finally, in what seemed like his 100th parent group meeting, he admitted to himself (and everyone else there) the utter hopelessness he was feeling. This was the beginning of the entire family's recovery.

In this episode, Mark talks about how this realization helped him to learn to set boundaries and how – now five years into his daughter's recovery – he’s making his own story into a feature film which, for the first time, focuses on the experiences of parents.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Keep Coming Back Film
• Keep Coming Back Instagram account

This podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community
Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms
Learn about The Woods, our private online community for dads
Find us on Instagram: @hopestreamcommunity
Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol

Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.