Renee Mill is an expert in evidence-based treatment for stress and anxiety, parenting without anger, and the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace.

In this episode, Renee Mill shares her expertise on anxiety in children! 

Overcoming Anxiety without Medication: Renee Mill's life's mission is to treat stress and anxiety without drugs using evidence-based treatment. This topic is controversial because anxiety medication is still widely used today, with a 5.7% increase in prescriptions for anti-anxiety medication in the United States from 2019 to 2020 (Healthcare Business & Technology). Renee Mill's views challenge the traditional approach to treating anxiety.

Grab a cup of coffee, turn up the episode, take notes, and learn with Renee!

When we speak of trauma- our minds can automatically wander to events like wars, house fires, car accidents, a death in the family, and fill-in-the-blank. While all of the above is true, what about the sweet five-year-old we are watching fall to pieces in meltdown in front of us? We’re scratching our heads trying to figure out what is going on. The truth is, we all have trauma buckets. Some of us are born with empty buckets, others are born with a bucket that already has trauma - the six risk factors for trauma. When our kids have trauma in their bucket from birth or shortly thereafter, we must assume that any stress or new trauma can cause their bucket to fill quickly, causing meltdowns and overload. Knowing what sorts of trauma our kiddos have experienced helps us understand and help our kiddos. We can keep an eye on their trauma buckets to aim at keeping them from overflowing. Grab a cup of coffee and join me as I explain the layers of the trauma bucket.

Let's talk about religious trauma. Because this is Trauma-Informed Parenting, I’m going to focus on viewing my points through the lens of a child. Let’s imagine a child comes through the door of your church carrying a heavy load of trauma, emotional wounds, and the inability to regulate. Maybe this child also has sensory issues. Not only are the lights and sounds overwhelming, but adults are loud and getting in his face. Because he can’t control his wiggly body and he is operating in his downstairs brain -fight, flight, fawn, or freeze, he is corrected over and over. BERATED. Told he needs to behave. Grab a cup of coffee and join me as I talk about three habits your church can practice to reduce religious trauma!

Diane joins me on the podcast for the second week in a row to talk about a few super important topics – Having a  body safety plan and some important (mind blowing) facts about kiddos and pornography. Why is it on the rise?

Diane says:

1. I believe adults should keep kids safe. So I equip them to do that very thing. 

Grab a cup of coffee and join us as Diane teaches us about this super-important topic!

Diane Tarantini, a child safety educator and survivor of child sexual abuse, joins me in this episode. She shares her three top tips for child safety!

"One in 10 kids will be sexually abused by the time they’re 18. It’s a heartbreaking statistic, isn’t it? However, that number is actually an improvement over what it used to be. Which means child safety efforts are working. Which means prevention is possible."- Diane

Grab your headphones and your coffee and join us as Diane shares three super important tips. Before you go, hop on over to Diane's website and grab her "How to Keep Kids Safe Guide: 20 Tips From A Body Safety Expert."

Self-compassion is a super important concept and I'm so glad Dr. Jerrod is back to talk about it!

It doesn’t matter if you’re a parent or a nonparent. Having more self-compassion is really linked to so many health benefits. Brain-based health, body, emotional, social, and the list goes on. We can’t go wrong with infusing these principles into our day-to-day life, for parenting, for family, for friends, on the job, and whatever we do. I think this can enhance our overall health and well-being and outlook on life.

Grab a cup of coffee and listen to this discussion about self-compassion. Dr. Jerrod includes a list of fourteen benefits of practicing self-compassion!

Continuing our series - Things We Didn't Learn in School, I dig into three childhood messages that become beliefs and triggers -this is a skeletal list to get the conversation started. When these three areas are judged, attacked, or dismissed, our kiddos form beliefs about themselves, the family, and the world around them.

Physical attributes -Physical attributes cannot be changed. We don’t want our kiddos going through life like chameleons, changing their appearance to meet whatever the standard happens to be that day.

Interests And/Or Habits-When our kiddos are judged for their special interests, it injures not only their beliefs about themselves but the world around them. They begin to believe there is no place in this world for them.

Talent or gifts. Are your kiddos being judged for talents or gifts that are unique to your community or family? Is quelling their interest teaching them that they are somehow “wrong” and need to fix themselves by burying their talents?

Grab a cup of coffee and join me as I share my personal experiences so you can understand your children's beliefs, triggers, and trauma.

Amber Stewart returns to the podcast to share the polyvagal ladder. She is passionate about raising awareness about the polyvagal theory. 

We can't help our children if we can't help ourselves when it comes to understanding the polyvagal theory.

Amber shares not only the science but some practical tips!

If you're an email subscriber, you'll receive a free pdf of the polyvagal ladder! (Sign up here ).

Grab a cup of coffee, a notebook, and a pen, and get ready to learn while you listen!

Amber Stewart joins me in this episode about emotional intelligence. She has a powerful perspective as an adoptive/foster mom. She knows all about helping your kiddos make gains in emotional intelligence.

When kids have experienced trauma or have a Capital Letter Syndrome (FASD, ADHD, GAD, ASD, etc...), we need extra education and practical tips on the topic of emotional intelligence -which is exactly what this episode is all about. 

Grab a cup of coffee and join Amber and me as we chat about emotional intelligence!