Raising Me

Over the summer months, we'll be taking a look back at previous episodes, while sprinkling in new episodes every so often. We'll be back to a new episode every week in September. This week we take a look back at one of our most downloaded episodes - Anxiety Epidemic.

Anxiety among kids is on the rise since the pandemic, which can heartbreaking - especially when parents don’t know how to best help their children. Raising Me host Adrienne Stein has an impactful conversation with Rebecca Hoffman, Director of MaineHealth’s Center for Trauma, Resilience, and Innovation. Rebecca shares early signs to watch out for, sheds light on why anxiety rates are skyrocketing, and explains why this topic matters for all of us, even those who don’t have kids dealing with anxiety. Plus, a look back at how we were raised when anxiety may not have been talked about as a disorder. 

About the guest: Rebecca Hoffmann is the Director of the MaineHealth Center for Trauma, Resilience, and Innovation and is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine. By training, Rebecca is a family therapist and has worked clinically for 25 years with children, families and communities. Rebecca’s primary work is in the fields of trauma, violence, resilience, and wellbeing. She has overseen large federally-funded behavioral health research and service grants that focus on providing care and treatment for children and families that have been exposed to trauma. These programs focus on prevention of childhood exposure to violence, implementation of evidence-based trauma treatment, and fostering professional resiliency. In addition, Rebecca has overseen programs in disaster mental health, and in helping communities heal after trauma. Rebecca has extensive training and practice in the fields of childhood trauma, wellbeing and resilience, community coalition building, and collective healing. She has published numerous articles, book chapters, and other resources in this field.

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Parenting in the digital age is a struggle for many parents, from navigating screen time to social media and figuring out healthy boundaries on all the devices and platforms.

In this episode, we highlight a few of our best guests on the topic, from a long-time child therapist who recently went viral for her video called “Modern Children are Not Okay,” to the Chief Parenting Officer of Bark Technologies, to Dr. Michael Rich who is a world-renowned expert on the topic and the creator and director of the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

They share their insight and expertise on navigating it all because, as one of our guests puts it, “We are the first generation of parents parenting like this, and we’ve got to figure it out together."

About the guests:

Catherine Knibbs is a clinician, author, researcher, and writer around the digital world and the impact they all have on young people.

Titania Jordan is a leading authority on digital parenting and has contributed to publications like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Huffington Post and more. She also wrote "Parenting in a Tech World" (2020) and was featured in the documentary "Childhood 2.0." She’s also a frequent guest on national programs such as TODAY Show and Good Morning America.

Michael Rich, MD, MPH practices adolescent medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and is an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Rich is the founder and director of the Digital Wellness Lab and the Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders (CIMAID), the first evidence-based medical program addressing physical, mental, and social health issues associated with digital technology use.

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Pediatrician Dr. Kristy Perkowski helps navigate the summer with ways to keep our kids physically and mentally engaged, without feeling like we need to become a cruise ship director with big ideas and plans to fill every day. Plus, we’ll learn why downtime is just as important. As wonderful as summer can be, it can also be stressful finding ways to fill the days, keep the kids active, all while many of us figure out childcare. Dr. Perkowski shares her pro advice on balancing play, learning, and resting this summer.

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Navigating the tween and teen years can be difficult for several reasons, from the attitude to pressures from friends and then all the hormones. On top of that, parents may also feel a sense of sadness, mourning the quickly changing relationship. They’re quickly becoming more independent, and perhaps more embarrassed by you every day. While we may on the surface brush it off or play it cool, being sad about this change in relationship is important to acknowledge.

Adrienne talks with Certified Parenting Coach Ayanna Allen about the trials of parenting a tween and/or teen. Allen explains this sense of loss, helps us look within for some hard truths, and will identify ways to improve your relationship with your teen and tween.

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In this week’s Raising Me podcast, host Adrienne Stein speaks with longtime Speech Language Pathologist, Margie Childs. Speech delays and speech disorders among children are on the rise, while at the same time the number of those trained to help is declining, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They discuss why more children are diagnosed with speech disorders and delays, how to identify them, and what you can do as a parent to help your child.  

About The Guest:

Margie Childs has worked as an SLP in Maine schools for 34 years. She has served for 15 years as the secretary of the Maine Speech Language Hearing Association.

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This week, Adrienne interviews Anne Adams about the importance of play in children - especially unstructured play outdoors. Learn about why fresh air and play is so important to developing minds, and how to encourage more outdoor adventures for your family!

About the guest:

Anne Adams is an early childhood professional specializing in play and nature based pedagogy. Her work is with children, birth to eight, and those who care for them. Anne has dedicated her adult life towards improving the care and education that young children receive. Her experience has been spread far and wide from Childcare Administrator to Policy Advocate to Teacher to Volunteer to Consultant and Coach. She has also found herself working across ages and stages in a variety of care and education settings. She has weaved together these diverse experiences and uses them as inspiration for her continued work in the field. Currently, she leads the Maine Early Childhood Outdoors (MaineECO) Network by uniting the many people and organizations already supporting and practicing outdoor nature-based learning. She continues to work as an outdoor learning coach and consultant as well. Anne lives in Rockport Maine with her husband and two young boys, she is an avid long distant runner and enjoys being out on the ocean with her family.

Maine Early Childhood Outdoors www.maineeco.org

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adolescent mental health continues to worsen, with more than 40% of students regularly feeling sad or hopeless and around 30% experiencing poor mental health. In this week’s episode of Raising Me, Adrienne gets an insider perspective on what’s really happening in high schools, from constantly being plugged in to the pressure of social media. You’ll hear from a guidance counselor with more than 20 years of experience and two high school students who candidly discuss what high schoolers are actually experiencing. They're working with an organization, KyleCares, that helps students connect other students with mental health resources and intervention. They’ll share the remarkable mission they are on to try to make sure no one at their school suffers in silence.

For more information on the Kyle Cares Foundation: https://kylecaresinc.org/

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In this week’s podcast episode of Raising Me, Adrienne speaks with Sara Porter, LCSW, a clinical supervisor at Northern Light Acadia Hospital. They discuss eating disorders and disordered eating - how they differ, what to look out for when it comes to your children and the things that you can do to help prevent it at home.

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This week on Raising Me we’re discussing navigating video games in a healthy way at home.

Our expert – Catherine Knibb, a longtime child therapist - has a unique take on how parents should think about games that can create a much more balanced experience at home... Without a battle.

What about violence in video games and whether they encourage more aggressive behavior? She’ll dive into that, too.

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Do you ever feel anxiety and stress creep up and not know what to do for relief, or how to help your children who are struggling with it? You’re not alone. Have you tried meditation? Today we’re talking about beginner strategies to get us and keep us all in a better place mentally and emotionally. Dr. Allyson Coffin shares the benefits like stress and anxiety reduction, enhanced creativity, emotional regulation, and clarity. She also talks about the simple things you can do, that you may never have thought of as meditation before. The best part, it can be done in as little as 2-3 minutes a day.

About Dr. Allyson Coffin

Dr. Coffin graduated Cum Laude from New York Chiropractic College obtaining her doctorate in chiropractic through the study of anatomy, physiology, and neuroscience. She worked in a multidisciplinary practice in New York with internists, orthopedists, physical therapists, and chiropractors, then moved to Maine—and opened Align with Wellness thirteen years ago. Dr. Coffin lives in Cumberland with her husband, two children and dog. She is a competitive swimmer and her whole family loves all of the outdoor activities Maine has to offer—season after season. Dr. Coffin is a member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (I.C.P.A) and Maine Chiropractic Association (M.C.A).

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