Podcast Episodes

Every parent wants to raise a problem solver, but that means we have to give our kids the practice of creating solutions, not fixing things for them. Join anxiety expert Lynn Lyons wrap up the third of a three-part series on the principal skills children need for a strong foundation in mental health (along with flexibility and autonomy).

A kid with a flexible brain becomes a person who can go with the flow when life doesn’t unfold as planned. Handling the unexpected is a critical skill in most scenarios. Rigidity just makes life harder. What does it mean to be cognitively flexible and how can you help your child get there?

In this new, three-episode series, we unpack Lynn Lyons's big triad: Autonomy, Flexibility, and Problem Solving. These essential skills help prevent mental health issues from developing, and, of course, Lynn will tell you how to nurture them in your children.We tackle autonomy in this episode, and the important question every parent should ask: "How controlling am I with my kids?"

The decision to medicate an anxious child is a big one for parents, as it should be. In this episode, we address the most important considerations. And Lynn gets real about the changes she’s seen over her thirty years of clinical practice.

immune system and the role of both positive and adverse childhood experiences. While adverse childhood experiences could happen to our kids, parents can have much more control over creating the seven positive childhood experiences that support mental health for life.

Anxious Kids? Worried Parents? Flusterclux offers authentic, compassionate straight talk for parents to support their family’s mental health with the stresses of our new normal. Anxiety has been a growing, dominant force in the culture in recent years, and parents need to be on the offense to manage it for themselves and for their kids. Anxiety is treatable when families have the right tools. Psychotherapist and author Lynn Lyons guides you through the "flusterclux" of raising a family.

The Back To School season is here, and it's important to check in on the state of your kid's mental health. Anxiety expert Lynn Lyons walks us through this list of things to think about to see how you can support your family's mental health, from sleep to social connection. Lynn also talks to parents feeling anxious about sending their kids off to class in another year of COVID.

Yelling, or even when kids perceive that we are yelling, is a part of most family communications. In this episode anxiety expert and therapist, Lynn Lyons, LICSW, talks about the things we need to pay attention to if and when we yell. This is the last of our short summer episodes before Season 4!

Is anxiety genetic? Does it run in families? If your parents had anxiety or depression, what does that mean for you and your children? What approaches can we take to disrupt these generational cycles?

One of the easiest mistakes we make when trying to deal without anxiety is to try get rid of the thing that makes us anxious. Anxiety expert Lynn Lyons explains why that isn't the goal but also why talking about anxiety is critical for a family when learning to tame it.

Even though parenting feels like walking a tight rope, it isn't. There's lots of room for your mistakes as long as you stay within the sweet spot of emotional management. Here's how.

What is global language? Do you or your kids have a habit of using it? Why is it such a strong predictor of anxiety and depression? Here's what to do if your kid loves to drop "always" and "never" bombs.

Parents love offering certainty to their kids. It feels very loving and nurturing. But the opposite of anxiety is not certainty. Hear what parents should focus on helping with instead, as soon as their kids can talk. It's the game changer.

There's no time for mom guilt in a busy summer. Or ever.

In this short summer break, we talk about our reactions. Anxiety can make us overreact, so how do we shift?

Anxiety Expert Lynn Lyons offers some summer homework for anxious parents: stop giving your kids too much information. Learn what to do instead and why anxiety drives this habit.

Summer’s here and parents are stressed. Hear Lynn talk about safety chatter, what it is, and why anxious parents do it. Our language matters so much. Lynn shares how to offer safety instructions to kids and teens that are practical and not catastrophic.

At the conclusion of Mental Health Awareness month, we weed through the bad advice that is so prevalent about anxiety that only makes it worse. We discuss the certain skills we must help our kids (and ourselves) develop to manage anxiety, and we talk about the things parents might try that have the desired outcome. This is an updated version of a previously released episode.

In today’s episode Lynn answers two listener questions. First a mom discovers her 15 year old has been thinking of drinking to manage her stress. What are the conversations parents should be having with their teens around stress, substance abuse and peer pressure?And another mom raised by an anxious parent is trying to break the cycle with her daughters. She asks Lynn how to know when the voices inside her head are generational patterns of worry repeating or intuitive warnings. How does anxiety filter the decisions we make and the information we receive?

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is often missed or just misunderstood. What is OCD and what isn’t? How does it differ from really anxious thoughts? How is it treated? While it can show up at any point in life, some kids commonly show signs around 7 when there’s a family history. Lynn explains the connection with anxiety and how it differs, but most importantly, how to manage it and what signs to look for.

So often the moms assume the role of supporting the family’s health and mental health, but dads have a critical role to play. What is that role? And how do you encourage your partner to step into that role? When a man is unsure of how to talk about emotions with his children, what should he say? What if he doesn’t want to talk about them with anyone? In this episode, we get raw and deep reflecting on the men most dear to us.How do we raise boys that have the permission and the know-how to connect with others? And how do we help them now become the available and emotionally literate dads of tomorrow?

After an atypical year of intense togetherness with our kids, parents may be out of practice being apart from their kids. Today we talk about the separation anxiety parents feel around summer camp, because it really is harder on us that it is on them. How can we best prepare our own kids leaving home for somewhere new? How we can manage our worry when our kids are out of our sight? Why is it so important to learn this skill as a parent?

The Anxious Parent: Most families have one, some families have two. But what important role does a non-anxious parent play? How do worry and control often dictate parenting dynamics that put stress on a relationship? How can you tell if anxiety is in charge of your household, and what can you do about it?

Emetaphobia, Astraphobia, Autophobia. Some kids became afraid of a variety of things: throwing up, needles, dogs, thunderstorms, the dark. As parents we want to help, we want to make our kids feels safe and comfortable. We want to address the worry. But how we do that often just makes the worry and fear stronger. In this episode I ask Lynn to explain her effective approach of addressing the process of worry and not the content. Because when we try to address the specifics of what our kids worry about, we invite anxiety to move in and take hold.