When we see our kids sinking into anxiety, depression, or even addiction, our first instinct is: “How do I fix them?” We scramble for therapists, schools, treatments, and programs, anything that might help our child get better.

But here’s the hard truth: in many cases, it’s not only your child who needs help, you do too.

Addiction and mental health struggles rarely live in isolation. They ripple through the entire family system, quietly shaping how we respond, cope, and even enable. 

Parents often carry just as much wounding, fear, shame, and unprocessed trauma as the kids they’re trying to rescue. And until we confront our own patterns, we risk perpetuating the cycle.

In this episode, I sit down with entrepreneur, bestselling author, and founder of Genius Network® and Genius Recovery, Joe Polish. 

Joe’s worked through the pain of childhood trauma and years of drug addiction. Now he’s building one of the most respected recovery movements in the world.

Together, we explore why parents must be part of the recovery process, why control often makes things worse, and how connection, community, and unlearning our own patterns open the path to healing.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Parents need help too
  When a child struggles, families often focus all energy on “fixing” the kid. Why is it hard to make recovery work unless parents also seek support and do their own healing? 

• Unlearning before learning
  Our instinct is to add more, more advice, more structure, more effort. Do the biggest shifts come from unlearning old survival patterns first? 

• Recovery never happens alone
  Addiction thrives in isolation, secrecy, and shame. What kind of support actually changes outcomes?

• The biochemical & environmental traps
  What can parents change in the home environment that dramatically shifts a child’s likelihood of recovery?

RESOURCES & NEXT STEPS:

👉 If you’ve ever thought, “Am I doing this right?” or felt the pain of wanting to do everything but not having the tools, this episode is for you. Listen, share it with another parent who needs healing and guidance, and subscribe to The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation. And remember: you are not a bad mom; you’re a bada$$ in a broken system. Keep fighting.

📌 Connect with Joe Polish

• Joe’s website
• Read his book, “Life Gives To The Giver”
• Visit geniusrecovery.org
• Joe on Instagram
• Joe on YouTube

 📌  Connect with Vivian Glyck & The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation

• 
  The Bad Mom Podcast on Instagram
• Vivian on Instagram 
• The Bad Mom Podcast on Facebook
• The Bad Mom Podcast on YouTube
• The Bad Mom Podcast on TikTok
  
  

The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation is a Project Grit initiative: fortifying mental wellness for the next generation.

Just Like My Child Foundation is a proud nonprofit partner of Project, committed to equipping today's youth with the tools they need to thrive and build a better future.