Active & Connected Families

We're continuing the conversation about raising boys with another guest expert. Together with Matt Browning, Licensed Professional Counselor at Virginia Family Therapy, we'll dive deeper into the topic of why it is so hard for our kids who identify as boys to talk about their feelings. In this episode on why it's hard for boys to talk about their feelings, we cover: The biological reasons why boys...

When talking about raising boys, we have to look at and think about where men are right now and what men's mental health looks like. We need this insight to know what we need to keep doing and where we can shift a little bit. Jason Frishman is back to continue the conversation on men's mental health. He introduces the concept of 'the man box', a way of describing the traits and components we expec...

You all know I've devoted my life to understanding how teenage girls develop. Today though,  I'm shifting my focus to the topic of raising boys. Men are put in a very difficult place in our society these days and if we want more for our boys and families and life, we have to teach young boys how to do better and offer more flexibility in who they become. The upcoming few episodes will all be aroun...

Today, we'll be discussing a huge topic: how to raise our families in the midst of a mental health crisis. We're going to tackle this big idea from a place of theory and bring it down to steps of actions that parents can take to promote mental health for the whole family. During the pandemic, our teens' mental health took a dip and it hasn't rebounded. We're in the midst of a mental health crisis....

When we think about OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, most folks think about hand-washing, lining things up perfectly, or really perfectionistic kids. But the truth is that OCD can present in many different ways and very frequently, it's confused with generalized anxiety or overall anxiety. Today, we have Jessie Dice, licensed clinical social worker, on the podcast to talk about OCD in kids....

It is that time of year again when we are bombarded with reflection, planning, changing, thinking, … and to be honest, hearing about all the different things that I should be doing makes me feel a little overwhelmed.  As human beings, we are social animals meaning that we get many of the cues about who we want to be and how we should be living our lives from the people around us. And even though w...

If you're anything like me, when your kid starts showing anger, sadness, fear, or any other emotion in big form, you want to either fix the problem for them or send them away to deal with it on their own. But to raise emotionally healthy kids, we need to take a different approach.  Today's expert guest is Hilary Mandzik, Psy. D. We discuss all the ins and outs of how and why we as parents need to...

Being connected to those around us improves the physical and mental health of both us parents and our kids. But many parents lack this sense of community or feel like they have to work incredibly hard to develop one. This is especially true for folks who move around a lot, like families of US Foreign Service Officers. Making new friends and developing a community while constantly starting anew is...

Let's stick with the topic of relationships for a little longer! Today, Caroline and Sarah are joining me to talk about the value of developing intergenerational relationships: the relationships we develop with folks who are of different ages than us. In our culture, it's not always encouraged but we promise there's so much to gain from these kinds of relationships!  In this episode on intergenera...

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"  Today on the podcast, I'm talking about holiday traditions with actress, NYT bestselling author, director, and most importantly my longest and dearest friend, Casey Rose Wilson. We've spent over 25 Christmasses together and we're both over the top when it comes to Christmas so you're in for a treat today! There are two things I can say for sure:  Every...

Today, I have three young men with me that are true experts on community. Hussein Osman, Said Osman, and Ayat Mohamed are all refugees from Somalia and their Somali Bantu culture is one of inclusiveness, helping and wanting everyone to succeed. I know this because they've let me into their family and they are a part of mine. I've felt the differences with the American culture and their more collec...

Compassion fatigue is the stress that people experience from helping or wanting to help others who are experiencing trauma or suffering. Parents, health care workers, teachers, people with big hearts, … almost everyone experiences compassion fatigue at some point in their lives. With everything that's going on in our communities right now, a lot of parents feel tasked with taking care of their com...

We're a few days out of the tragedy that occurred at UVA. Today, we're going to talk about how community trauma can trigger trauma from the past. I'm joined by Sarah Lewis who, as always, anchors me while she explains why old traumas can be triggered, the signs and symptoms of trauma and what you can do about it. In this episode on the impact of community trauma, we cover: How does community traum...

Parents across the United States are struggling with the question, "How do we help our kids feel safe when we worry we are living in an increasingly unsafe world?" It's a hard and sad question; one that many Americans have never had to face. In this episode, recorded one day after a mass shooting in Charlottesville, VA, we will discuss: Why is it so important for our kids to feel safe? What do we...

Experiencing social anxiety is a big part of being a teenager. Thoughts like 'How do people interpret me?', 'How do I present myself?' and 'Who am I away from my family?' are normal but they are also exhausting. Teens are spending so much energy figuring out who they are and worrying about whether people will judge them for it. Whether your teenager experiences social anxiety or social pressure wi...

Do you have a high-achieving teen at home? Expecting themselves to be the best athlete and student and the most popular kid all at the same time. How do we parent these teens that put so much pressure on themselves? In today's podcast episode I'm sharing my top strategies! In this episode on managing perfectionism and pressure in teens, we cover: Why do some teens put so much pressure on themselve...

One of the major strategies for managing anxiety is to get really good sleep. But getting good sleep isn't always the reality we live in. Not for ourselves and not for our teens. Google will offer you all the ins and outs on sleep hygiene but truth be told, most sleep hygiene tips are incredibly boring and therefore very hard to implement with your teen.   So in today's episode of Active & Connect...

Sleep is essential for anyone's ability to focus, remember things, solve problems, manage emotions, and feel good. The right amount of sleep reduces anxiety and depression. And did you know that when you're sleeping, everything you've learned during the day encodes in your brain? In a nutshell, sleep is everything for the way that we function in this world.   That's why I'm so excited to have Alli...

If your kid might apply for college in the next ten years, you want to listen to this one! Margaret is an expert when it comes to supporting kids through the college application process. She has a particularly valuable perspective on how teenagers experience this crazy time and how parents can support them and today she's sharing her knowledge with us!   In today's episode on supporting your teen...

Let's face it, making and keeping friends as an adult is not easy. Research shows that we all need real-life connections (so not on our phones, y'all!) for the benefit of our mental health and to reduce anxiety and depression in adults.   In today's podcast episode, I'm sharing tips and strategies that will help you make friends easier. It's going to be a little awkward, but I can tell you this: i...

The trend we're seeing among athletes and other teenagers is a general increase in anxiety and depression. Coach Mike is back on the podcast today to talk about health beyond nutrition and exercise. He shares and explains the top four strategies to help athletes make the time and space to get their mental game together so they can be more well-rounded and perform better.   We're talking about soci...

Collectively, we're coming out of an extremely hard, even traumatic time. We couldn't wait for life to go 'back to normal' but instead of easily sliding back into that 'normal life', many of us are struggling.    In this first episode under our new name, we're diving deeper into the topic of why parenting feels so hard right now and why so many parents and non-parents are feeling so stressed and a...

We're back with a rewind episode with coach Mike where we talk about the strong connection between mind and body, the contradictions regarding mental health for young athletes, and essential mental health strategies to implement for every athlete out there.    Michael believes that mental health should be an equally important part of sports training, as are warm-ups, strength training, and cardio...

Recently, we've been hearing too many stories in the national news regarding college athletes struggling with their mental health and many of you have reached out to us. Sport is an amazing thing but we shouldn't forget about balance, identity, and a sense of well-being either.  That's why we're re-releasing our popular episode with coach Michael Atunrase, who will give you invaluable insights on...

Apologizing, we do it all the time but it doesn't always have the effect we hope for, does it? We make a lot of mistakes when it comes to apologizing (yep, us included) and that isn't beneficial to our relationships.  In this episode, we go over the most common mistakes when it comes to apologizing, and most of all, this episode is about h ow to be a human being and apologize in a way that feels g...