Welcome to the Parenting Well Podcast with the Parent Engagement Network! I am Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host. This podcast provides perspectives on parenting, so that you can fill your well with information, strategies, and resources that help you raise healthy, happy humans. Filling your well leaves you engaged, educated and empowered to support your children in being strong, resourceful, confident and resilient in the face of life’s challenges and adventures. Let’s fill that well!
Episodes
Friday Apr 24, 2020
Friday Apr 24, 2020
I am Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Culum Walsh. Culum is a Professional Certified Coach with 21 years of classroom teaching experience. After retiring from teaching, he started his own coaching business, coaching students from 6th grade all the way up through graduate school. His mission is that they become happy and comfortable with themselves, because he knows that when they do, they can do anything they want in school and life. He grew up in Denver, and he currently lives in Thornton. He is married and has 2 children. You can reach Culum via his website below, by email at info@humanbyhumancoaching, or by phone at 303-656-7708
In this podcast, we talk about:
- Academic Life Coaching
- Unique issues facing families with the outbreak of COVID-19
- The challenge of everyone being home 24/7
- Default ways of parenting
- Using a coaching approach in your parenting
- Useful coaching questions
- How this approach helps children solve their own problems
- Using an example to compare default parenting with coaching
Resources:
- Culum's Website: Human by Human Coaching
- Website: The Gottman Institue: A Research Based Approach to Parenting
- Book: The Whole Brained Child by Daniel J. Siegel
Tuesday Mar 17, 2020
Tuesday Mar 17, 2020
I am Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Brooks Witter. Brooks is the co-creator of Wise Roots Parenting, a set of online programs that support parents in successfully launching their child into adulthood. As a licensed professional counselor, he has the skills required to help parents who are both experiencing challenging times with their children and struggling to take care of themselves in the process. As a therapist, supervisor, coach, clinical director, and parent himself, Brooks looks to core values of courage, compassion and clarity as guideposts to measure his activities.
In this podcast, we talk about:
- The role of parents
- Modern challenges
- Perspective taking
- Regulating emotions
- Strategies for being in relationship with your child
- The importance of one-on-one time
- Setting clear expectations and boundaries
- Implementing predictable consequences
- Distinguishing normal from disruptive behavior
Resources:
- Article: Winnicott’s Good Enough Parenting
- Online Parenting Programs for Successful Launch: Wise Roots Parenting
Monday Jan 20, 2020
Monday Jan 20, 2020
I am Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Wendy Van Besien. Wendy is an inspiring positive psychology practitioner that weaves together critical examples, expertise, and easy to apply steps that will motivate you to reach your potential and live a flourishing life.
In this podcast, Wendy shares how to:
- Develop and foster resilience
- Deal with everyday disturbances
- Tap into people's strengths
- Relieve stress and anxiety
- Use neuroscience to understand our response to challenges
- Change limiting beliefs, assumptions and interpretations that impede your success and happiness
- Live a flourishing life
Resources:
- The father of Positive Psychology: Dr. Martin Seligman
- Ted Talk: Brené Brown - The Power of Vulnerability
- Brené Brown: Dare to Lead and other works
- Book: Carol Dweck - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
- Ted Talk: Developing a Growth Mindset
- Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, Co-founder of the Happiness Whole Being Institute
Thursday Jan 16, 2020
Thursday Jan 16, 2020
I am Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Wendy Gossett. Wendy is a parenting and relationship coach based in the Denver metro area. Her primary focus is temperament psychology, which is a technique parents can use to understand what their child is doing and why they are doing it. By recognizing their brain functions, parents can learn to accept and pull the best out of their children.
This podcast focuses on:
- Understanding temperament and how it can be recognized in your child as early as infancy.
- Recognizing your own temperament and the temperament of other family members.
- The relationship between temperament and personality tests like the Meyers Briggs.
- The four brain functions and how they can help you see strengths that may have been invisible before.
- How your understanding of brain functions can expose underlying reasons for parent-child conflict.
- Strategies for capitalizing on your child's strengths and building self-esteem.
- How temperament type correlates with issues like sensory processing, impulse control, ADD/ADHD, high sensitivity, inflexibility, depression and stress & anxiety.
Resources
- Book: Your Child's Inner Drive: Parenting by Personality from Toddlers to Teens by Wendy Gossett
- Youtube: Denver Woman Dances in the Middle of Highway Traffic | Wendy Gossett
Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
Tuesday Jan 07, 2020
I am Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Shane Niemeyer. By the time Shane was 28 years old, he was a heroin addict and had been arrested 25 times. After a failed attempt to take his life by suicide, he transformed himself. Today, Shane is a motivational speaker, elite triathlete racing ironman and 70.3 distances, full-time strength and endurance coach, and author of The Hurt Artist: My Journey from Suicidal Junkie to Ironman. He has interacted with hundreds of parents and thousands of adolescents on topics related to substance abuse, wellness, fitness, criminal justice and mental/emotional well-being. We all have a lot to learn from Shane. At the heart of his message is the importance of respect for yourself and others, generosity, grit, and importance of constantly growing and learning to be a better steward of humanity.
In this podcast, Shane shares the life experiences, challenges, transformative moments, and ongoing personal growth that has made him who he is today. We dive deep into:
- What life was like for him growing up and into young adulthood
- Factors that led to his ability to heal and develop after prison
- Strategies for providing a healthy environment for your children can grow and develop
- Going beyond the disease model of mental disorders
- Identity development
- Handling your inner critic
- Having an authentic relationship with your child
- Being true to yourself
- The benefits of exercise to health and wellbeing
- The importance of learning and growing as a person so that you can give back
Resources
Book: The Hurt Artist: My Journey from Suicidal Junkie to Ironman
Jean Twenge: iGen: The Smartphone Generation
Jonathon Haidt: The Dark Psychology of Social Networks
Book: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Book: The Gulag of the Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Book: Flow: They Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Book: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
Book: My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor
Author: Thich Nhat Hanh
Podcast: The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
Podcast: Making Sense Podcast with Sam Harris
Podcast: The Jordan B Peterson Podcast
Monday Nov 25, 2019
Monday Nov 25, 2019
I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Christopher Lord. Chris works in the Health Promotion Office for The University of Colorado Boulder as the Assistant Director of Alcohol & Other Drug Programs. His job largely entails prevention and early intervention work around substance use and recover.
In today’s show, Chris will share more about his role at the University, and approaches to helping young people around substance use. Specifically, he will talk about
- Early intervention services
- How to talk to college students about vaping or other substances
- Understanding your personal relationship with substances
- Creating a space for students to explore their own relationship with substances while also maintaining boundaries and consequences
- Sharing your opinions while still allowing your child to grow into themselves
- Aligning your social environment with your values
- Supporting your child in having positive relationships with significant adults
- The Stages of Change Model
- Resource: Colorado Quit Line
- Resource: Nicotine Cessation Coaching at CU
Monday Nov 25, 2019
Monday Nov 25, 2019
I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Megan Jacobs from The Truth Initiative: Inspiring Tobacco Free Lives. Megan is the managing director of product for the Innovations Center at Truth Initiative. She brings a user-centered approach to product design that is key to the quit-smoking and vaping programs that are used by hundreds of thousands of people who want to break free from addiction.
In today’s show, Megan is going to talk about:
- Cessation programs for youth who want to quit smoking or vaping
- Support for the parents of youth who smoke or vape
- The difference between smoking and vaping, and the ways in which quit strategies differ
- The use of text messaging to reach youth who want to quit
- The power of engaging young people in creating quit messages
- Factors that make their cessation programs effective
RESOURCES
This is Quitting – first ever text-based quit program.
- Teens and young adults should text DITCHJUUL to 88709.
- Parents can text QUIT to (202) 899-7550 to sign up to receive text messages designed specifically for parents of vapers or visit BecomeAnEx at: https://www.becomeanex.org/helping-a-child-quit-vaping/
- Details: https://truthinitiative.org/thisisquitting
- Results: https://truthinitiative.org/press/press-release/new-study-reveals-breakthrough-texting-program-aids-young-vapers-quitting
- Launched in January, to date more than 57,000 young people have enrolled in the program.
Overview of the different challenges between quitting vaping and quitting smoking
- Cigarette-specific smoking programs don’t work because e-cigarette users don’t think of themselves as smokers. They also have some different barriers to quitting:
- Unlike with cigarettes – most are using these products everywhere. For example, they are discrete and can be used in schools or public places with little notice.
- Users don’t experience the negative effects from cigarettes (like bad smells) that may prompt them to quit.
- Nicotine replacement products (like patches or gum) that make quitting more comfortable and increase your odds of success are over the counter for adults, but teens require a prescription and possibly also parental involvement. This adds another hurdle for teens trying to quit.
Misconceptions of nicotine present in e-cigs among youth
- JUUL and other e-cigarette manufacturers keeping consumers in the dark has led to widespread misconceptions about e-cigarette products, especially among young people.
- A lot of young people have been fooled by JUUL. Nearly two-thirds — 63 percent — of JUUL users between 15 and 24 years old did not know that the product always contains nicotine, a Truth Initiative study published in Tobacco Control found.
Tested on Humans
- truth educational campaign vaping prevention campaign
- https://truthinitiative.org/press/press-release/truth-confronts-juul-and-other-e-cigarette-manufacturers-new-campaign-tested
Monday Nov 25, 2019
Monday Nov 25, 2019
I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Gabrielle French. Gabrielle is a sophomore at Stargate High School in Thornton. She has been working with Broomfield Communities that Care on preventing teen substance for almost two years and is passionate about advocating for Colorado teens.
In today’s show, Gabrielle will give us the facts about vaping and share a young person’s perspective on how we can make a difference for youth.
- A young person’s perspective of vaping and the harmful effects
- The healthy alternative to smoking debate
- How to talk to your kids about vaping
- Approaching a teen that is already vaping
- Protective factors
- How adults can show up for teens: Positive Youth Development
- Communities that Care
- Youth for Youth Facebook
- Youth for Youth Instagram
- Resource: Broomfield CO Facts & Ordinances
- Resource: Program: Coaching to Quit Vaping
Monday Nov 25, 2019
Monday Nov 25, 2019
I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Dr. Ilona Jaspers. Dr. Jaspers has more than 15 years of experience as a professor of pediatrics, microbiology and immunology, and environmental sciences and engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She specializes in the effects of ambient air pollutants on respiratory immune disfunction.
In today’s show, Dr. Jaspers shares:
- A general understanding of vaping
- Amount of nicotine and other contaminants in e-cigarettes
- Clinical manifestations of vaping
- Vaping plant-based products vs. oils
- Vaping associated lung injuries & common symptoms
- Individual differences in the harmful effects of vaping
- Regulations on vaping
- Impacts of secondhand e-cigarette exposure
- Prevention strategies for parents
- Resource: Cessation Resources
- Resource: American Academy for Pediatrics Prevention Toolkit
- Resource: Vaping likely has dangers that could take years for scientists to even know about
- Resource: Podcast: Inside the Mysterious Lung Illness Linked to Vaping
Sunday Nov 24, 2019
Sunday Nov 24, 2019
I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today’s WELL source is Dr. Rob Valuck. Dr. Valuck is a Professor in the Departments of Clinical Pharmacy, Epidemiology, and Family Medicine at the University of Colorado Schools of Pharmacy, Public Health, and Medicine. He is also the Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research (CePOR) at the School of Pharmacy. Finally, Dr. Valuck is the coordinator of the Center Director of the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, created by Governor Hickenlooper in 2013 to address the prescription drug abuse problem with a collaborative, statewide, interagency approach.
In today’s podcast, Dr. Valuck shares:
- The history of prescribing opioids
- The potential harm of over prescribing opioids
- Safe use of opioids for pain reduction
- Use and misuse of Benzodiazepines
- Details about the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention
- Harm reduction strategies
- Take back system for returning unused meds
- Recognizing use of prescription drugs in the home
- Predictors of use disorders: ACES: Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Resource: Speak Now: A program for communicating with your child about drug use
- Resource: Take Meds Seriously
- Resource: Bring Naloxone Home