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
146. When Your Teen Doesn’t Want Your Advice
You’re trying to help. They think you’re trying to control them. Sound familiar?
As parents, we often step in with the best intentions: to protect, guide, or simply make things easier. But when your teen or young adult shuts down, gets defensive, or accuses you of being controlling, it can leave you feeling confused, hurt, and stuck. So, what do you do when your support backfires?
In this episode, Seth and I unpack a tricky dynamic in parenting teens and young adults: offering advice that isn’t wanted. We explore why “help” can feel like judgment, how even kind intentions can come off as condescending, and what to say instead when your child shares something hard.
We talk about how to respond without overstepping, and how to build trust by listening instead of fixing. Whether your teen is venting about a problem or navigating serious challenges, knowing how to offer support without triggering resistance is key.
If you’ve ever been told “You’re too controlling,” or found yourself thinking “I’m just trying to help,” have a listen to today’s episode.
In this episode on when your teen doesn’t want your advice, we discuss:
- What to do when your teen shares something but doesn’t want your advice;
- How unsolicited advice can feel belittling, even when you mean well;
- The difference between emotional safety and intellectual solutions;
- Why teens are more likely to come to you when they feel respected;
- Simple questions to ask before giving advice;
- How to support autonomy without stepping back completely;
- Why learning to “hold space” is a skill worth practicing for parents of struggling teens;
- And more.
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!
🤍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.
