137. The Hidden Dangers of Social Media Use: Mental Health Risks for Teens Online & How Parents Can Help feat. Dr. Lisa Strohman
Today's guest is Dr. Lisa Strohman—an attorney, clinical psychologist, and author who has widely become known for her advocacy and education around mental wellness as it relates to our digital lives. She is also the founder and director of Digital Citizen Academy, one of the first organizations to address the global issue of technology addiction and overuse. In this episode, we discuss the dangers of technology use and how teens can use social media in healthier ways, the symptoms of screen addiction, the worst social media platforms for mental health, and advice for parents on setting technology boundaries and helping their teens avoid dangers online.
136. TEEN TREATMENT PROGRAMS: Tips for Parents & Teens on Finding the Right Treatment Program ft. Dr. Justin Mohatt
Today's guest is Dr. Justin Mohatt— an internationally recognized, double Board-Certified Psychiatrist at Ohana, a program for child and adolescent behavioral health at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. In this episode, we discuss advice for both parents and teens on different types of teen mental health treatment programs. For parents, we share tips on how to find the right treatment program for your child, including how to start the search process, program must-haves and red flags, how to motivate your teen to seek treatment, and how families can participate in the treatment process. For teens, we share what to expect when starting a mental health treatment program and how you can benefit most from residential treatment.
135. Q+A: Self-Care, School Burnout, Social Media, Seeking Help, & More!
In today's solo episode, I am answering a bunch of your questions! I share my tips on avoiding social media addiction, finding a self-care routine, taking mental health breaks and avoiding burnout, dealing with imposter syndrome, coping with your child's depression as a parent, experiencing medication side effects, reaching out for help when struggling with suicidal ideation, and caring for your mental health when on your period.
134. ELLIE ZEILER’s Advice for Teens: Mental Health, Relationships, Confidence, Social Media, & More!
Today's guest is Ellie Zeiler, an 18-year-old social media influencer, model, actress, and podcaster who boasts almost 11 million followers on TikTok. In this episode, we discuss Ellie's experiences as a social media creator and her advice for teens, including how to find your identity and build self-confidence, overcome bullying, use social media in a healthy way, become more independent, navigate relationships with friends and family, and stay on top of your mental health.
133. EATING DISORDERS: Signs, Symptoms, Social Media, & Support Systems feat. Dr. Sam DeCaro
Today's guest is Dr. Sam DeCaro— a licensed psychologist who provides individual, family, and couples therapy. Dr. DeCaro also served as an Assistant Clinical Director at the Renfrew Center for Eating Disorders and currently shares her eating disorder expertise as a writer and speaker. In this episode, we discuss common risk factors for eating disorders, signs that someone may be developing an eating disorder, ways that parents and loved ones can support someone with an eating disorder, how social media can affect body image and contribute to eating disorders, common eating disorder myths, and eating disorder resources that people can turn to for help.
132. 10 Coping Skills You NEED to Know - DBT Education
Today's solo episode is all about coping skills! I discuss all of my favorite DBT coping skills geared toward tolerating distress and regulating emotions and share how you can easily do them at home. These coping skills include the TIPP skill, Opposite Action skill, STOP skill, Check the Facts skill, and ABC skill.
131. Why We Struggle with Our Emotions & Ways to Build Emotional Intelligence feat. Jay Fields
Today's guest is Jay Fields, an educator, coach and author who has taught the principles of embodied social and emotional intelligence to individuals and organizations for twenty years. In this episode, we talk all about emotional regulation, including emotional difficulties faced by college students, how your childhood and parents can impact your ability to emotionally regulate and form healthy relationships, ways to improve your relationship between your body and your emotions, tips for managing your nervous system and building better emotional habits, and the power of self-empathy.
130. Making Goals and Getting Motivated: Easy Ways to Increase Productivity & Achieve Your Ambitions feat. Kate Stone
Today's guest is Kate Stone, an actress, founder of the HeartSpeak Empowerment School, college coach, and creator of The 30-Day Motivation Text Challenge. In this episode, we discuss how to create and prioritize goals, why people struggle to be motivated and achieve their goals, hacks and mantras for boosting daily motivation, why teenagers in particular can struggle with motivation, and how teens can make goals that boost their self-esteem and college admissions chances.
129. New Years Resolutions For Your Mental Health: SMART Goals, My 2023 Intentions, + More
Today's solo episode is all about new year's resolutions and goals for 2023! I cover why people with anxiety tend to set unrealistic goals, shifting your mental health goals from being results-based to actionable steps, types of mental health goals to set for this year, SMART goals, and my resolutions/intentions for 2023!
128. Ally Petitti on Anxiety, Health and Childhood Struggles, & Advice for Teens
Today's guest is Ally Petitti—host of the popular podcast Trying To Figure It Out. On her podcast, Ally discusses toxic friendships, toxic relationships, mental health, and more. In this episode, we discuss how she started her podcast and her mental health journey, her advice for teenagers whose parents have divorced, her traumatic health experience, how she manages her anxiety through exposure therapy and EFT, and her tips for teens on mental health and starting college.
127. Getting Through Grief: Tips for Processing Grief and Healing Your Heart feat. Sharon Brubaker
Today's guest is Sharon Brubaker—a certified life coach and credentialed Grief Specialist who has studied grief and healing for over 16 years. Sharon specializes in helping grieving women process their thoughts and emotions. In this episode, we discuss different ways in which people can grieve, the inaccuracies of the five stages of grief, tips on how to cope, ask for help, and heal when experiencing grief, advice on helping a loved one who is experiencing grief, and how our education system has failed to teach children about grief.
126. YOUR MENTAL HEALTH TOOLKIT for the Holiday Season (Navigating Finals Stress, Family Relationships, Seasonal Depression, + Body Image)
Today's solo episode is all about managing your mental health during the holidays! I answer your questions on continuing healthy habits over winter break, recharging and recovering from burnout over the holidays, navigating the stresses of studying for finals, managing fears of disappointing your parents, dealing with seasonal depression, and improving your body image and self-confidence during the holiday season.
125. Tips for Teens: Relationships, College Apps, Finals Stress & More! feat. Talk With Zach
Today's guest is Zach Gottlieb, who is the 16-year-old founder of Talk With Zach. Talk With Zach is a Gen-Z movement and community that hosts important conversations to change the culture, inspire activism, and make the world a better place. In this episode, we discuss navigating friendships and romantic relationships as a teen, unique mental health struggles faced by teenage boys, the dangers of social media, college application process tips, and advice for parents on how to support their teens.
124. Generational Healing: Nancy Diaz on Identity Struggles & Trauma for Multicultural Women of Color
Today's guest is Nancy Diaz of Global Citizen Therapy. Nancy provides online therapy and coaching services for multicultural women of color in order to pave the way for generational healing. In this episode, we discuss the identity struggles that daughters of immigrants can face and communicating these struggles with parents, finding the perfect therapists and mental health resources for women of color, the relationships between systematic oppression and mental health struggles, and how generational healing can help treat trauma.
123. Q+A: Staying Healthy in College, Eating Habits, Starting Therapy, & More!
Today…In today's solo episode I am answering a bunch of your questions! I share my tips on managing disordered eating habits, how to talk to your parents about starting therapy (using DBT skills), how to maintain your mental health in college and during daylight savings, my latest traveling and reading recommendations, advice on starting intensive care, and how to help a friend who doesn't want to be helped.
122. Ending Institutionalized Child Abuse feat. Breaking Code Silence - THE TROUBLED TEEN INDUSTRY
Today's guest is Bobby Cook, who is on the Breaking Code Silence team. Breaking Code Silence is a nonprofit organization that works to support and uplift survivors of the troubled teen industry (TTI) while promoting evidence-based alternatives to the TTI for present and future generations and their parents. In this episode, we discuss what exactly the TTI is and our difficult experiences with it, major red flags that families should avoid when seeking treatment programs for teens, struggles faced by teens after they leave these programs and barriers they face in seeking justice, and how people can get involved to help shut down these programs for good.
121. Mary's Cup of Tea on Healing Your Body Image through Journaling, Social Media, College, & More!
Today's guest is Mary Jelkovsky—host of the self-love podcast Mary's Cup of Tea, author of The Gift of Self-Love, and inspirational speaker who helps women worldwide on their body-image struggles and loving themselves unconditionally. In this episode, we discuss the dangers of the world of body-building, how to critically consume social media images and avoid comparisons, tips for improving self-love and body image, and advice for starting journaling.
120. Mental Health Habits to Decrease Emotional Vulnerability & Sustain Recovery
Today's solo episode is all about mental health habits! I discuss how the principles in James Clear's Atomic Habits can be applied to mental health, using habits to decrease emotional vulnerability, the PLEASE skill + investing in physical health to support your mental health, the nonnegotiable habits I do on a daily basis, the importance of habit tracking, and habits to break ASAP.
119. A TEEN'S GUIDE TO THERAPY: Finding a Therapist, Avoiding Red Flags, Unique Challenges, and Breaking Up with your Therapist feat. Shani Tran
Today's guest is Shani Tran—therapist and author of Dope Therapy who focuses on educating around cultural humility and working with people of color, who have historically been underserved by the mental health community. We discuss how she began her career and achieved TikTok fame, tips for starting therapy for the first time, red flags to avoid when finding a therapist, the stigmas around therapy and unique mental health challenges faced by teens, and what to do if therapy isn't working for you— including breaking up with your therapist.
118. Dr. Sasha Heinz on Improving Your Life with Developmental + Positive Psychology Principles
Today's guest is Sasha Heinz, PhD, MAPP—a developmental psychologist and life coach who is an expert in positive psychology, lasting behavioral change, and the science of getting unstuck. In her private coaching practice, she teaches clients the tools to change their lives for good. Heinz received her BA from Harvard, her PhD in development psychology from Columbia, and her master’s in applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she also served as a faculty member (go Quakers!!). We discuss how attending therapy can help you with 'adulting', how to use coping skills in daily life, the myths around toxic positivity, how to improve your life using positive psychology, and misconceptions about improving your well-being.