Parenting Post-Wilderness: Parenting a Struggling Teen Before, During and After Treatment

I’m continuing my conversation with Les Harris, wilderness therapist and LCW, who has some incredible insights to share about the importance of listening to the feedback our children give us.

Let’s start with an important reminder: none of us are perfect. We all mess up from time to time, and that's totally okay. 

Now, here's a game-changer: listening to our kids' feedback. By truly hearing them out and understanding their underlying message, we can better meet their emotional, physical, and relational needs. This deepens the trust and connection between us, setting the stage for beautiful growth.

In this episode on listening to our kids’ feedback, we discuss:

• Beating ourselves up over mistakes we made as a parent and the effect this has on our parenting;
• Parenting from a place of action instead of reaction;
• The power of truly listening to our kids’ feedback;
• Embracing and validating our kids' wilderness experiences
• The magic of small steps for big change
• And more!

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

And if you haven’t already done so, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of my future episodes!

Today, I’m joined by Les Harris, a wilderness therapist and LCW to talk about the things we can do as parents before thinking of sending our kids to wilderness. Here’s one thing both Les and I know to be true:

A regulated parent has the ability to regulate a dysregulated child.

Isn’t that what we all want to be able to do?

If this feels unattainable for you right now, know that it’s not. You can see this episode as a first stepping stone toward the parent you want to be.

In this episode on regulating a dysregulated child, we discuss:

• Labeling & diagnosing our teens;
• Things we can do in our homes before thinking about wilderness;
• Regulating your own emotions in response to your child’s behavior;
• How we sometimes send inconsistent messages to our kids;
• Tips on how parents can regulate their emotions;
• Why parents nowadays are more distracted and unavailable;
• As parents we make mistakes, and that’s okay.

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

And if you haven’t already done so, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of my future episodes!

How often do you wake up and your mind starts racing about all the things you have to do that day, leaving you paralyzed? How many times do you start thinking of everything that needs to be done this week, leaving you feeling overwhelmed and exhausted?

When tasks or to-do lists seem long and overwhelming, it can become hard to accomplish even the smallest tasks. This is the case for all of us, and maybe even more for those of us with ADHD. 

Today, we share a very simple but often overlooked strategy to conquer overwhelm: breaking our day into bite-sized pieces. It’s a very simple concept but there is more to it. In today’s episode, we take a deep-dive into why this concept works, different strategies to implement it, how we can motivate our teens to do it, and much more!

In this episode on conquering overwhelm, we discuss:

• Breaking your day or tasks into bite-sized pieces;
• Different strategies to implement this concept for ourselves and our teens;
• How can we motivate our teenagers to break up their day?;
• Looking beyond the behavior: stressors at school;
• The importance of listening and validating;
• And more!

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

And if you haven’t already done so, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of my future episodes!

What advice would a wilderness guide give us parents? That’s a question we’ll get answered today. Mark Adamski is back with invaluable advice about parenting and our relationship with our teens. 

With the right mindset, anything in a relationship can be fixed. That’s how Mark sees it and I couldn’t agree more. So what does this mindset entail? What do we need to do as parents to heal our relationship with our struggling teen? Have a listen to today’s episode to hear all of Mark’s top tips!

In this episode full of advice from a wilderness guide, we discuss:

• Changing our mindset to fix our relationship with our teen;
• Building the skill of modeling self-regulation;
• The foundation of changing the home environment;
• How ‘the pause’ can help us respond instead of react;
• Being curious instead of holding on to expectations about your teen’s behavior;
• The benefits of wilderness;
• And more!

You can connect with Mark on Facebook: Mark Adamski Coaching or learn more about Wilderness Reboot on their website.

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

And if you haven’t already done so, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of my future episodes!

Being the sibling of a teen that’s struggling and goes to treatment isn’t easy. Mark Adamski, who is now a wilderness guide himself, experienced this first-hand. In today’s episode, he shares his experiences when his brother went to treatment for substance abuse and how this eventually led Mark to become a wilderness guide.

Mark is sharing his story of becoming a wilderness guide and shares some golden nuggets we need in order to understand our teen. Have a listen!

In this episode on going from being the younger sibling to wilderness guide, we discuss:

• The driving factors behind Mark becoming a wilderness guide;
• His experiences as ‘the younger sibling’;
• Understanding our teen’s brain to de-escalate;
• How the people around us influence us.

You can connect with Mark on Facebook: Mark Adamski Coaching, or learn more about Wilderness Reboot on their website.

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

And if you haven’t already done so, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of my future episodes!

Every one of us has about 80.000 thoughts each day. Most of our life is created with our minds. And the more we have a specific thought, the more it tends to become a belief. So, what if you’re having negative thoughts about your teen? What if thoughts like ‘I just really don’t like my kid right now’ or ‘I can hardly stand my kid right now’ have crossed your mind? Believe me when I say, you’re not alone. Besides, these are actually very natural thoughts to have in any kind of relationship.

In this episode on creating healthy thoughts, we discuss:

• Where our thoughts come from;
• Do our thoughts define who we are?;
• The most important lesson I have learned about my thoughts;
• Changing your thought patterns about your teen;
• How our thoughts create our feelings;
• And much more!

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

And if you haven’t already done so, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of my future episodes!

If your teen is coming up to their sobriety anniversary, or even their anniversary of going to or coming home from wilderness, you might feel the need to celebrate. But should we indeed celebrate during those anniversaries or does your teen need something else instead?

With his own 5-year sobriety anniversary coming up, Seth shared his perspective with me: his sobriety anniversary doesn’t feel like a time for celebration at all. Tune in to hear why!

In this episode on sobriety and wilderness anniversaries, we discuss:

• Why your teen might not feel like celebrating their sobriety or treatment anniversary;
• The thoughts and feelings that come up for Seth around his sobriety anniversary;
• Putting expectations on your teen that they might not want to have in their life;
• Different ways people are motivated and how Seth used this to his advantage to stay sober for 5 years and counting;
• And much more!

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

And if you haven’t already done so, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of my future episodes!

Is it time for your kid to go back to high school after treatment? Maybe the transition back to school will run flawlessly. For many families though, returning back to regular high school isn’t the preferred option. Or possibly it’s simply not working. Online education might be an excellent solution!

Today, I’m interviewing Anjilee and Sara, co-founders of Mountain Point Academy, an online school for grades 6-12 that likes to do things a bit differently. Their personalized approach can offer your teen the support and freedom they need in their education after treatment.

Online education is absolutely worth looking into for everyone who doesn’t fit the traditional mold. Have a listen to today’s episode to learn more about online education and Mountain Point Academy!

More about today’s guests:
Anjilee Ferguson and Sara Busalacchi have over a decade of experience in online learning, working in the field since its inception. They have a passion for helping students succeed which led them to co-found Mountain Point Academy, an online school for grades 6-12. Their mission is to help provide students with a personalized approach to online learning, with 1:1 support for students to find joy in learning and citizenship.   

You can find more information on Mountain Point Academy on their website, Facebook page, Instagram (@mtnpointacademy), or Linkedin page.

- - - - - - - - - -

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

And if you haven’t already done so, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of my future episodes!

Feelings can be described as a vibration we experience in our bodies. Often we think that those feelings are involuntary and caused by life circumstances out of our control. But actually, our feelings are caused by what we think. And the good thing about this is that we can control our thoughts pretty well! 

The pause is a space we can create in order to feel our feelings BEFORE we react to them. A space of allowance and acceptance of those feelings. A space to take ownership of what happens in our brain and body before we interact with another human being. 

I tell you all about it in today’s episode!

In this episode on learning to feel instead of react, we discuss:

• How our thoughts create our feelings;
• And how our feelings motivate actions;
• What ‘the pause’ is and how it can help us stop being so reactive;
• Getting curious about our teen’s behavior;
• And much more!

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

And if you haven’t already done so, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of my future episodes!

Today, we’re talking about burnout, and more specifically, therapeutic burnout in both parents and teens. Not many people realize therapeutic burnout is a thing so let’s have a look at what it is and where it comes from.

In this episode on therapeutic burnout in parents and teens, we discuss:

• Seth’s experiences with therapeutic burnout;
• What therapeutic burnout looks like from the outside;
• The negative mindset of always needing to be progressing forward;
• What therapeutic burnout is like for a teen; 
• What burnout looks like for parents and how it arises;
• The main mindset you need to have as a parent to avoid burning out;
• And more!

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

And if you haven’t already done so, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of my future episodes!