Active & Connected Families

How do we teach our kids to apologize in a healthier way that helps them feel good about themselves, learn from their mistakes, and improve and repair their relationships? That's the question we're discussing in today's episode. Teaching your kid how to apologize is one part of raising empathic children. Our kids have to learn that their actions and words can affect other people and what they can...

A subject our kids are more knowledgeable and open-minded about than most of us adults are... Today we're talking gender diversity.  Oak Reed is our newest clinical psychologist at Virginia Family Therapy and on his first day with us(!), he joined us on Podcast Therapists to share his expertise. What is gender diversity? How can you recognize it as a parent? And how can you as a parent be the most...

Raising a child with ADHD, what does it actually look like?  Some parents might recognize some traits from other people in the family or even themselves. For others, it's a completely new world they're stepping into. We're very excited to be talking to pediatrician Carol Boersma, MD, today who shares some golden nuggets of insights around raising children with ADHD. Hop on and have a listen! We al...

Boys are 2-3 times more likely to get diagnosed with ADHD in childhood than girls and that has everything to do with the fact that ADHD presents differently in boys and girls, men and women.  Today's episode is a mix of what we see in therapy, scientific findings, and our personal experiences living with (undiagnosed) ADHD. Yes, two of us have actually been diagnosed with ADHD in our forties. Hop...

Do you ever struggle trusting yourself and your intuition as a mother?  We believe we all do sometimes. Especially in the beginning. Today, we've got a very special guest: Casey Wilson, actress, NYT bestselling author, director, podcaster, and mom, who takes us on her journey of motherhood and learning how to trust her intuition as a mother. Hop on and have a listen! We always love hearing from yo...

Your favorite coach is back! Michael Atunrase is joining us today to talk about nutrition and body image for athletes.  Young athletes struggle with a very specific pull between wanting to look a certain way in school and needing their bodies to perform after school.  Michael walks us through w hat we need & need to do for our athlete kids to educate them on nutrition & body image. Have a listen!...

Two weeks ago, Ashleigh Sellman told us all about the basics of intuitive eating. But how do we implement these practices into our families? What does that look like in day-to-day life? That's what we're talking about today!   Ashleigh Sellman is a registered dietician and we're always amazed after speaking to her. She's taught us so much and we're very excited that she's back today to share more...

Do you know what signs and symptoms to look out for to recognize when your kid might have an eating disorder? If you're not sure, that's totally fine. It's a thin line after all. That's why in this 4th episode of our Disordered Eating series, we're discussing these signs and symptoms with daily life examples.  We're also discussing what you can do when you're noticing these things and what steps t...

Eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full. Sounds easy, right? Because of our upbringing and the culture we live in, it's actually harder than it sounds. Today, we're bringing on Ashleigh Sellman, registered Dietician and amazing woman, to talk about exactly that: intuitive eating, an eating style that promotes a healthy attitude toward food and body image.   Have a listen and come over to...

One of the main things that help children figure out what their ideas around body image are, is the way the adults around them feel and talk about it. Not only about bodies in general but also about their own.   Today we continue our series on disordered eating with an episode all about how to be a good role model for your kids. With his episode, we're providing you a guide for ways to talk about...

The culture we live in is toxic. The way the media shows us we're supposed to look, act, and feel, has a massive negative impact on our body image and also our kids'. With the huge increase in disordered eating we're seeing throughout the pandemic, we're starting this series within our podcast all around disordered eating.   In this first episode, we focus on how we see the culture negatively impa...

We'd like to start with a warning: We're talking about hard stuff today, especially about child and adolescent suicide. There's an increase in suicide attempts among children and adolescents and also an increase in media attention around the topic and we want to address it directly. It's a hard episode but also a very helpful one. Please be thoughtful about whether you want to listen and how you'r...

Every year again, the holiday season brings a heap of emotions with them. Stress, joy, happiness, sadness, and everything in between. (Nope, you're really not alone in this)   In today's episode, we talk about why   the holiday season brings up all the feels, how to keep our values at the forefront of what we're doing, and how to stay centered on who we are and who we want to be during the holiday...

It's the holiday season! And that means that college kids are coming home for their long winter break. There will be excitement, there will be nervousness, even some anger probably. All the feels will come up for parents and kids alike. That's why today we're sharing some tips & strategies on how to make this time run smoothly, we talk about why it's hard, and also ways to find joy and honor these...

Anxiety comes in many different forms and ranges. So what kind of things can you notice in your body when you're experiencing anxiety? What can you do to manage your anxiety when it gets to a 3 on a 10 point scale? Or how about an 8? And of course, how can we manage our (and our kids') anxiety before it's even there?   Have a listen and come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know your t...

It's that time of the year again: school is up and running, the holidays are coming up and anxiety is on the rist in both kids and families. That's why we decided to rerelease our favorite and most listened-to podcast episode today. It's the one we send out to our clients the most because we know how helpful it is.     In this episode we talk about how we explain anxiety in all its glory to the ki...

Today's generation of teens is incredibly accepting of each other, and families, parents are more accepting too. Both this and even the pandemic are resulting in kids coming out earlier than even a few years ago.     But what's the best way to respond when your kid (or your friend's kid) comes out to you? Chances are big, you've never been in that situation before, so it's normal you don't know th...

Today we're bringing Virginia Family Therapy's very own Jesse Dice onto the podcast. We talk about how Jesse sees pandemic-related grief impacting parents and kids at this stage of the pandemic. How are we still grieving at this point and how is this grief impacting where we are today? Have a listen and come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know your thoughts. We always love hearing fr...

This week we're speaking directly to the teens.     If you're dreading going to school, school feels empty, you're feeling disconnected from friends or socializing and school in general are feeling hard, we want you to know that this is completely normal and you're not alone.     Give us 15 minutes of your time and we'll share with you what we as therapists see in our practice every day, where the...

After all your positive responses to our first interview with Jason Frishman on fatherhood a few weeks ago, we're bringing him back on today.   Today he shares with us the tools he gives fathers to help them stay more connected to their families. These tools include ways to find your core values and how to make sure you're being led by them but also figuring out what is getting in the way of livin...

Our teens are particularly vulnerable to pandemic flux. Remember how we introduced this term to you in last week's episode? Short recap: blunted emotions, spikes in anxiety or depression, and the need to make drastic changes in your life. Since our teens are still figuring out who they are exactly, pandemic flux can be very confusing for them. Combine this with the negative narrative that's often...

Have you been experiencing spikes of anxiety or depression lately? Or do you sometimes just feel numb? Maybe you've been feeling the desire to drastically change something about your life?   Let us tell you this: you're not alone and there's nothing wrong with you.   What you're experiencing is called Pandemic Flux and it has exactly those symptoms.   Join us today to learn more about what Pandemi...

  Fatherhood. What does it mean to you?   Inter-generationally and culturally, we've passed down gender roles but things are changing and we find ourselves on a massive turning point. As a society, we're redefining what it means to be a man, a father.   Today, we're talking to Jason Frishman, Psy. D, a clinical psychologist who specializes in helping boys, men, and families. He created the Journey...

Today's important topic is not only for moms to be, as many people might think. As we're taking a deep dive into post partum anxiety and depression with Kayla Hayes, it becomes clear that the knowledge that's being shared today is important for both moms and dads. Whether you plan on having a baby, your third child is on the way or you're looking at your pregnancy retrospectively, today's episode...

"YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!"   Sounds familiar?   We expect our kids to listen but they expect the same thing from us. And even though we might feel like we're listening to them, to our kids it can feel like we're not. The issue here is not that we're not good listeners, it's probably more that we're not good at showing them that we're listening.   In today's episode, we discuss a 3-step framewor...