Launching Your Daughter

Today's episode is words of encouragements from mother's of adult daughters to mom's of teenage daughters. Mothers from around the country shared what they learned when their daughters were teens and how these lessons help them create a strong bond with their adult daughters today. Being a parent of a teenager can be challenging and rewarding. It is a developmental stage in life, which means it doesn't last forever.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Self-care is vital for mothers
• Firm but fair boundaries
• Self-compassion for yourself and parenting

For full show notes go to www.LaunchingYourDaughter.com and to sign up for my newsletter with tips and tools in raising teenage daughters.

Today's guest is the creator of Talk Sex with Me Tara Spears. In this episode, Tara talks about the difficulties of talking about sex with teenagers, the importance of knowing your own values and reasons why parents themselves may struggle to talk about sex with their teenagers. Ms. Spears graduated with a Master's Degree in Counselor Education from the University of Central Florida in 2005. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Sex Therapist. She has over ten years of experience working with individuals, children, families, and couples encountering a variety of hardships in life. After spending most of her career responding reactively to situations or intervening after a crisis (i.e. a child's removal from the home, failed adoption, and the aftermath of abuse), Ms. Spears decided to take a more proactive approach. For full show notes go to www.LaunchingYourDaughter.com and to sign up for my newsletter.

Today's guest is Matt Hart who is from southern Indiana. Matt has been a high school Theatre, English, Speech and Debate teacher for just over 20 years and also served as a theater director at Gibson Southern High School. More recently Matt has chosen to pursue an endeavor he is passionate about speaking to people about bullying. He gives a 45 minute presentation entitled "reACT to Bullying" to various schools across Indiana and continues to reach more schools through out the country to help educate and stop bullying in our schools.

In this episode you will learn:

• Matt's personal story of being bullied
• What is bullying
• How to stop being bullied

For full show notes go to www.LaunchingYourDaughter.com and to sign up to receive announcements about my local teen girls group and support/tips for moms. This podcast is also available on Stitcher, Google Play, YouTube and iHeartRadio.

Today's episode is about teen dating abuse and violence. I know this topic can be difficult to hear, but I am encouraging you to listen because unfortunately this continues to be an all to common issue I see in my practice. In the past I co-facilitated a domestic violence batterer's intervention group for teen boys. They had been charged with being physically abusive toward a partner or family member or a person and were required to attend a either a 26 or 52 week program for perpetrators. The agency I worked at had a group for teen girls and two different groups for adult males and females.

In this episode you will learn:

• Statistics of teen dating abuse and violence
• Warning signs of possible abuse or violence in the relationship
• How to help your daughter

For full show notes go to www.LaunchingYourDaughter.com and to sign up to receive announcements about my local teen girls group and future online events for moms. This podcast is also available on Stitcher, Google Play, YouTube and now iHeartRadio.

Today's guest is Chonteau McElvin and she is located in Winter Garden, FL. Chonteau is often called a Modern Day Medicine Woman and she has been empowering women to tap into their inner wise woman for over 20 years. Chonteau spent over half of her social work career empowering and teaching teen girls about mindfulness and the importance of sacred ritual. She now has a thriving intuitive coaching practice where she supports mostly women, awaken their authentic selves through archetypal awareness, energy medicine and other shamanic healing methods. She recently founded Soul Care University, a distance learning and virtual healing center that focuses on one's soul nourishment and self care through the sacred healing practices of nature therapy, mindfulness, and ritual. Chonteau continues to teach mindfulness to teen girls and is working on an e-course The Mindful Diva-Meditation and Moonbeams For Teen Girls. Chonteau brings Folk Healing to a modern world that desperately needs to slow down, reconnect to nature and cultivate self compassion.

In this episode you will learn:

• Purpose of doing mindfulness
• How supporting mothers impact their daughters
• What is herbal medicine

For full show notes go to www.LaunchingYourDaughter.com and to sign up to receive announcements about my local teen girls group and future online event for moms. This podcast is also available on Stitcher, Google Play, YouTube and now iHeartRadio.

My guest today is Dena Patton. Dena followed her dream to move to NYC at age 22 and built her own business at age 24 but after a minor stroke at age 27 she sold her marketing company and followed her calling to work with girls and women. She became a speaker, best selling author and coach who work with leaders and women entrepreneurs to help them build companies that make a great difference in the world. She is the creator of Greatness Leadership Academy and author of Igniting Greatness. In 2007 she cofounded the Girls Rule Foundation that offers 5 programs that help teen girls build leadership, self-confidence and bright futures. Her passion is to help women and girls know their worth, know themselves and know their valuable place in the world.

In this episode you will learn:

• Programs offered at Girls Rule Foundation
• Why leadership skills and empowerment for our teen girls is important
• How parents can teach leadership skills at home

For full show notes go to www.LaunchingYourDaughter.com and to sign up for my newsletter. I share tips and tools for parents in supporting their daughters and announce upcoming events.

Today's guest is Dara Hoffman-Fox who is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), gender therapist, speaker and author of "You and Your Gender Identity". Her private practice is located in Colorado Springs CO. Dara works with transgender, gender variant, and gender questioning individuals.

In this episode you will learn:

• What is a gender therapist
• What is transgender and non-binary
• How parents can support their child or teen
• Fears parents have voiced

For full show notes go to www.LaunchingYourDaughter.com and to sign up to receive announcements about my local teen girls group and future online event for moms. This podcast is also available on Stitcher, Google Play, YouTube and now iHeartRadio.

Today's episode is a meditation called Loving Kindness or Metta Bhavana. It is a method of developing compassion. It comes from the Buddhist tradition, but it can be adapted and practiced by anyone, regardless of religious affiliation; loving-kindness meditation is essentially about cultivating love. It is unconditional; it does not depend on whether one "deserves" it or not; it is not restricted to friends and family; it extends out from personal categories to include all living beings. There are no expectations of anything in return. This is the ideal, pure love, which everyone has within them. We begin with loving ourselves, because if we don't love and acceptance ourselves, it is difficult to extend it to others. Loving kindness is without any desire to possess another. It is not a sentimental feeling of goodwill, not an obligation, but comes from a selfless place. It does not depend on relationships, on how the other person feels about us. There are five groups or areas you focus on during this meditation: yourself, a benefactor, a beloved friend or family member, a neutral person and a difficult person. Use three to four phrases with each person. In this episode you will learn: Guided meditations can help manage anxiety Loving Kindness Meditation cultivates compassion Can do this guided meditation in stages

To see the full show notes visit http://LaunchingYourDaughter.com

I invite you to sign up for my newsletter because I making announcements for local teen girls groups and future online events for mothers.

Today's episode is for parents and the role they have been doing over the last year. Parenting is a full time job with both its challenges and rewards. At the time of this recording it is December and we await for the new year to begin. I am inviting all parents to set aside some time and reflect on your role as a parent. Most parents I work with struggle to see what they are doing well or celebrate how they have broken negative family patterns, such as abuse. So today I am asking you to get out some paper and a pen, set some time for you to reflect either by yourself and/or with your partner, and explore what went well for the year. What areas you may want to adjust/change for next year and what you are grateful for. Once you have done this you may want to encourage your daughters to do the same. Many tween and teen girls struggle with seeing their strengths, obstacles they have overcome and courage that is within them. You never know this may become a family tradition at the end of the year.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why reflecting is important
• Celebrating your successes and lessons learned
• What your daughter has taught you over the year

To see the full show notes visit http://launchingYourdaughter.com

I invite you to sign up for my newsletter because I have some upcoming announcements for teen girls and for mothers.

My guest today is Natalie DeFay-Foster, a licensed associate marriage and family therapist at Integrative Art Therapy in Phoenix, Arizona. Natalie is a trained Clinical Art Therapist and specializes in working with adolescents, adults and families. I am excited to speak with her today in how art therapy can be beneficial in working with teen girls and their parents. In this episode you will learn: You don't need any previous art experience to participate Art therapy can deepen and change family relationships Art therapy can improve communication and relationship skills between parents and teens

For full show notes go to www.LaunchingYourDaughter.com and to sign up for my newsletter on some upcoming announcements I will be making for both teen girls and their moms.