Parenting Post-Wilderness: Parenting a Struggling Teen Before, During and After Treatment
Your guide to parenting a struggling teen or young-adult, whether they’re home, transitioning home, or presently in treatment.
Parents, say goodbye to exhausting confusion, overwhelm, panic and the unhelpful patterns that keep you and your family stuck. Learn how to develop healthy responses and set healthy boundaries with your teen instead of acting out of fear and anxiety.
Experience the relationship-changing power of focusing on your own behavior instead of futile attempts to control your teen.
Your guides to Parenting Post-wilderness are Beth Hillman, a life coach for parents of struggling teens and mom to a post-wilderness teen, and part-time co-host Seth Gottlieb, a wilderness therapy guide turned teen and young-adult recovery coach. Their unique combination of experience and training yields candid conversations chock full of practical, actionable tips and tools to smooth the challenges both parents and teens experience surrounding treatment.
Every week, you can expect conversations around:
- Parenting a struggling teen or young-adult;
- Setting healthy boundaries with your teen;
- Treatment options for your struggling teen or young adult;
- Bringing your kid home from treatment;
- Parenting skills to support your struggling child;
- Teen substance abuse, drug addiction, gaming addiction, suicidal ideation, or other teen mental health concerns;
- How to end power struggles and instead foster healthy communication with your teen or young-adult;
- And much more.
Listen in to discover how parents like you have learned to influence equanimity in the home and rebuild connections with the teens they love.
Connect with Beth on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or find more information about working with Beth at www.bethhillmancoaching.com.
Parenting Post-Wilderness: Parenting a Struggling Teen Before, During and After Treatment
201. Why Repairing Your Relationship With Your Teen Matters More Than Getting It Right With Emil Harker
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You probably spend a lot of energy trying to prevent mistakes, avoid conflict, and get parenting “right.” But what if the real goal isn’t perfection at all?
In this conversation, therapist and parent coach Emil Harker and I explore why conflict, misunderstandings, and even parenting mistakes are not signs that you’re failing. In fact, they may be some of the most important opportunities you have to strengthen your relationship with your teen.
We talk about the pressure parents feel to be perfect, why so many parenting tools fall flat when they’re disconnected from genuine understanding, and how learning practical relationship skills can completely change the way you navigate difficult moments with your child. Most importantly, we share what it actually takes to repair trust after a rupture.
I also share a recent parenting mistake that left me feeling embarrassed, ashamed, and convinced I had damaged my relationship with my son, until I remembered the very skills I teach parents every day.
If you've ever worried that you've messed up too badly, said the wrong thing, or damaged your relationship with your teen, this conversation is for you.
In this episode on repairing your relationship with your teen, we discuss:
- Why conflict is often the pathway to deeper connection with your teen
- The difference between preventing problems and learning how to repair them
- How validation helps teens feel safe enough to listen and learn
- Why understanding your teen's experience matters more than winning the argument
- What happens in the brain when teens feel understood versus threatened
- How parents accidentally make conflict worse by explaining, justifying, or defending themselves
- The role accountability plays in rebuilding trust after a mistake
- Why repairing your relationship with your teen matters more than getting parenting “right”
- A recent parenting mistake I made and the steps it took to “fix it”
- How practical parenting skills create hope, confidence, and stronger family relationships
- Why perfection isn't the goal, and what to focus on instead
Looking for support?
🗺️Need help setting healthy boundaries with your teen AND following through? My free guide will help you do so by creating your own Parent Home Plan!
🧘Learn how to respond in hard moments, without losing your cool, the relationship, or yourself, inside my 6-week Boundaries Masterclass.
🤍Influence lasting change in yourself and your struggling teen with my private coaching or parent group program specifically created for parents of struggling teens.
Have a question or need support? You can email me at beth@bethhillmancoaching.com
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And remember parents, the change begins with us.
