Brandon addresses the challenges of parenting a struggling child and how it can overshadow the needs of the entire family and yourself. He highlights the importance of balancing your life through the 6 pillars—mental health, relationships, physical health, career and education, spirituality, and hobbies—and how focusing exclusively on one child can be counterproductive. He also examines the effects of unresolved anger and the need to make amends. By shifting your focus from trying to change y...
Brandon tackles the challenges of raising a "problem child," focusing on managing temper tantrums and establishing effective boundaries. He shares proactive strategies for navigating the emotional ups and downs of adolescence, particularly for children who struggle with self-soothing and exhibit reactive behaviors when not engaged in stimulating activities. Brandon also discusses ways to support the other children in the household, ensuring everyone feels valued and preventing resentment from...
Brandon dives deep into the power of self-care and boundaries in parenting. Instead of trying to change your children, who may be struggling with their own challenges, he urges you to focus on your own health and well-being. By doing so, you can create a healthier environment that encourages your children to thrive. Setting boundaries isn’t about punishment or reward but about protecting yourself. He'll guide you on how to stop taking your child’s emotional reactions personally, take accounta...
Brandon examines why parents often struggle to maintain healthy relationship practices, especially during challenging times. When crises arise—whether it's grades, substance use, or mental health issues—it's easy to revert to old, ineffective habits out of frustration or fear. He discusses the importance of having a plan and sticking to it, even when things get tough. Rather than solely concentrating on your child’s behavior, prioritize your own growth, particularly during calmer periods. By ...
Brandon delves into the critical role of honesty in parenting. He explores how being truthful about decisions, motivations, and family dynamics can profoundly impact children's development. Examining past choices and their consequences highlights the importance of daily self-reflection and transparency about temperament and limitations. He also discusses the challenges of managing intense emotions and navigating differing parental values within the family. Emphasizing clear communication and ...
Brandon explores why many parents fixate on setting boundaries, emphasizing the need to first understand what they can and cannot control. Instead of relying solely on boundaries, parents should focus on connecting with their children through patience and open-mindedness. Using the 90/10 Rule—spending 90% of the time connecting and only 10% correcting—parents can engage more effectively by listening and responding thoughtfully. Effective communication involves listening more, reacting less, a...
Brandon tackles the growing issue of "failure to launch," where young adults struggle with independence, creating stress and resentment in families. Learn how setting healthy boundaries and focusing on your well-being can support your child's growth and family harmony. He also emphasizes that parenting is a journey best navigated with community support—it's not one to undertake alone. Find insights on empowering your child's autonomy while maintaining peace and satisfaction in your parenting ...
Brandon explores the challenges of parenting a defiant child and emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries. He explores how parents can team up effectively even amidst meltdowns and defiant behaviors, and why disengagement and silent consistency can bring calm to chaotic situations. Discover actionable strategies for protecting your peace without sacrificing your well-being, and learn why maintaining clear, simple, and concrete boundaries is key to fostering a healthier family dynamic.T...
Brandon dives into the complex world of parent-child relationships, focusing on strategies for repairing and nurturing a connection with a child who seems distant or wants to cut ties. He touches on overcoming parental fears by understanding the purpose of boundaries for long-term contentment without resentment. This episode highlights the value of persistence, consistency, and healthy communication for mental well-being in challenging times.This audio is from the 'Hope for Parents with Strug...
Brandon explores food addiction, boundaries, and grief in parenting. He explains that addiction behaviors can persist without substance use and stresses the importance of setting firm boundaries to avoid enabling. Parents should focus on healthy behaviors, consistent boundaries, and not basing their actions on their child’s reactions. Grief can affect behavior but shouldn't change how we approach boundaries. Brandon advises parents to never give up, love unconditionally, seek connection, enli...
Zack Collie is an Associate Marriage Family Therapist who has been working at Inspired Resolutions for a year. He has an Instagram @theparalyzedtherapist. He was in a diving accident at 15 years old that left him wheelchair-bound. This event led him down the path of becoming a therapist to help others. Zack is also newly married and has taken on the role of stepdad. What’s the difference between morals and values? Morals refer to what’s right and wrong. While values capture what’s import...
Our guest is a mother whose child has been on a different path from most. She has been attending our parenting group for many years. She gives a history of her journey with her son and their progress in rebuilding and maintaining their relationship. We talked about how she could stop doing the things that didn’t work without her child making the changes she wanted him to make. She tells the story of an incident that occurred recently. Her child was acting up and she chose to de-escalate the s...
What if we as parents challenged ourselves to stop yelling. Well Pat has become a social media sensation doing just that and putting it out there for everyone to see. In this episode we explore some parenting dynamics that can be frustrating and often lead to yelling. If it worked we would all see that in our children. Yelling has its place in parenting, but is often an unhealthy crutch.
Today my guest is pastor Kyle Zimmerman from Orange Friends Church, who recently gave a Sunday message that I feel applies to parenting struggling teens.Whether you believe there’s a God or follow Christianity or not, you’re going to get some good wisdom out of his insight about boundaries, parenting, and the definition of real love.Pastor Kyle used an illustration from the story of Pinocchio in his message and related it to the ideas of God’s caring nature, the Gospel, and what healthy, matu...
Welcome back to Hope for Parents with Struggling Teens. Today we’re joined once again by Brittany Johns, LMFT to talk about some recent trends in the mental health world and a few of the dynamics we’ve been seeing recently in many families of struggling teens.We address some new diagnostic terms that are growing in popularity, as well as a couple of phrases that aren’t actually real diagnoses at all.First, we address the term “school avoidant.” Many of our listeners will draw different c...
On today’s episode, I got to talk with Asha Bhattacharya, who was crowned Miss Anaheim when she was 18 and has been using her platform to spread awareness about mental health ever since.I used to think all pageants were focused on beauty, and all pretty much the same, and I know I’m not the only one who will benefit from hearing how Miss America and other pageants actually work, and what they’re really about.I met Asha at this year’s Walk With Hope for Suicide Prevention event. Her passion fo...
Welcome back to the Hope for Parents with Struggling Teens podcast!My guest today is an incredibly inspiring woman named Annette Craig. Annette founded my favorite non-profit in the world: The With Hope Foundation Annette lost her daughter Amber to suicide extremely unexpectedly in 2005, when Amber was just 14. Now, With Hope, The Amber Craig Memorial Foundation is actively educating teens on the topics of suicide prevention and mental health awareness. They also host many educational pr...
Today’s episode is all about gaslighting. This term has become very popular in our culture over the last decade, and I’ve noticed that not everyone is using it in the same way. “Gaslighting” was Merriam-Webster’s most searched word of 2022, and has taken a prominent role online as people attempt to describe things like deceit, feeling discredited, being misrepresented, and more. The traditional connotation of the word “gaslighting” has to do with purposeful mind manipulat...
In this episode, I want to talk about the three basic rules to the parenting relationship.Number one: stop what doesn’t work. Getting rid of practices that aren’t bearing fruit seems like a no-brainer, but however obvious it may be, it can be hard to do. Sometimes we can be operating in defaults and habits that have been around for years, and ceasing these activities and approaches can feel uncomfortable. There may even be a gap, where you don’t quite know what to do instead.I’ve even ad...
This episode it all about boundary setting.The topic of setting healthy boundaries is a significant part of my practice. When done correctly, it can be a game changer in many challenging parenting dynamics.Many parents have heard of and tried setting boundaries, but it’s common to begin the boundaries journey with some misconceptions about what they do and why they’re important. It’s normal for a parent to desire to change a teen’s behavior - especially if that behavior is destructive - ...