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
178. When a Child Dies by Suicide: What Parents Miss When We Only Focus on Behavior
Recently, we lost a dear friend to suicide. One of my son’s best friends, who had become a part of our family. This is a tender and deeply personal conversation in which Seth and I talk about the loss of a young man who mattered deeply to our family, and what witnessing his death taught me about struggling teens, their ‘yellow’ or ‘red friends’, pain, and connection.
This is not an easy conversation. There are tears. There is grief. And there is also something profoundly important here for parents of struggling teens. What I witnessed in the aftermath of this loss changed me. It expanded my understanding of how much we miss when we focus only on behavior, substance use, or “bad choices,” without seeing the pain and connection underneath.
As parents, it’s natural to lock in on what scares us most: the drugs, the risk-taking, the behaviors that feel dangerous or out of control. But when we do that, we often miss the deeper story. We miss the love these kids have for one another. We miss the ways they show up for each other. And sometimes, we miss opportunities to be part of what keeps them alive.
This episode is an invitation to slow down, soften your lens, and look beyond behavior. It’s a reminder that healing happens in relationships, and that connection, empathy, and support matter more than we often realize.
In this episode, we discuss:
- What I witnessed after someone close to my family died by suicide, and how it changed me;
- Why focusing only on behavior can blind us to what our teens are really experiencing;
- The powerful sense of connection and care teens often have for one another;
- How substance use can mask deeper pain, grief, and unmet needs;
- What it looks like to see teens, and their friends, as whole humans, not just problems to fix.
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.
