Let's Talk About Addiction with Heather Ross

Welcome to this week’s episode of the StephUp Podcast! Thank you for your support and for coming back each week to listen. This episode features special guest Heather Ross of Heather Ross Coaching. Steph and Heather begin their conversation by talking about Heather’s background. She is a life coach who mainly works with parents who have children struggling with addiction. She got into this field because she has a daughter who struggles with addiction. Before life coaching, Heather was unsure of how to help and manage her daughter’s addiction and do what she felt what right for her. She felt like she was doing everything wrong and just suffering in silence. After finally figuring out what worked for her as a mother and what worked best for her daughter, she felt compelled to share this information with others.  “I felt that although I may not be able to help my daughter, I could help other kids by helping their parents.” Heather initially thought that by being a perfect parent, she could prevent her daughter from being anything but successful (and she always was a good kid), but when addiction took over, Heather blamed herself. And this is how a lot of parents feel. A lot of time is spent trying to figure out what went wrong, which means there is no focus on the solution. Heather was finally able to bridge the gap between her and her daughter when she accepted that she had done the best job she could as a parent. Heather committed to learning as much about addiction as possible and having a good relationship with her daughter, no matter what stage of addiction or recovery she was in. Heather also realized that the more she open she was with others about what she was going through with her daughter, the more help and support she received, which really helped her heal. Steph and Heather talk about how there are other kinds of addictions besides drugs, such as food and television (which seem to be more acceptable) but regardless, there is still something deep inside us we are searching for which fuels this addiction. We can be very judgmental of other’s addictions without realizing we have one ourselves. We need to stop focusing so much on the addiction and more on what the addiction is trying to show us. Over the years, certain kinds of addictions have increased, such as opioid addition, which is what her daughter struggled with. In Canada, marijuana is legal, but Heather doesn’t necessarily feel that it will lead to a more serious addiction, any more than alcohol can. It just depends on the person and where they are in their life. Some people can handle substances and others can’t.  Steph talks about how when she was in high school in the 90’s, things like anxiety and depression weren’t as openly discussed as they are today. But kids in the 90’s didn’t have the same struggles and experiences, like with social media for example. Heather thinks that societal pressures today can negatively impact and fuel addictions in kids. Listen in to hear the rest of their great conversation and please remember to rate, subscribe, and share with your friends! Connect with Heather ·       On her website ·       On Instagram ·       On Facebook ·       Listen to her podcast, Living with Addiction Follow StephUp Podcast on Instagram and check out her website! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.