Have you reached the end of your rope trying to help your teen? Do you feel like you’ve lost connection with your child, and don’t know what to do next?
In this very first episode of Empower My Teen, I share my personal journey as a parent navigating the fear, confusion, and heartbreak of watching my daughter struggle. What started as a search for answers became a life-changing path, one that led me to discover options I didn’t even know existed, and ultimately, a new purpose in helping other families.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by conflicting advice, unsure where to turn, or alone in your experience… you’re not alone. In this podcast, I’ll guide you through the complex world of parenting struggling teens, exploring topics like therapeutic programs, treatment options, communication, and how to support your child while taking care of yourself.
This is a space for real stories, honest conversations, and practical guidance, so you can find clarity, hope, and the best path forward for your family.
You don’t have to do this alone anymore.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
00:03
Have you reached the end of your rope trying to help your child? Are you wondering how to help your teen find their way back to themselves and you don’t know what to do next? I’m your host, Mary Warren, and I’m here to share with you information, stories, and possible solutions to help you find the best options for your teen and family.
00:23
Are you ready to start thinking about parenting and relationships in a new way? If you are, take a breath, relax, and let’s talk. I want to do this podcast because maybe like you, I had more questions than answers when I was struggling with my daughter.
00:43
She was 13 years old and struggling with behavior, defiance, disrespect, doing what she wants, coming and going, failing in school, all the things that I felt, oh my gosh, what is happening in my family?
01:00
What’s happening to my daughter? This is a daughter that was good at school, good friends, easy to get along with. And one day, I felt like I just didn’t know her anymore and we didn’t get along. And I felt like I was losing her.
01:16
I asked so many people, so many professionals for help. Counselors said, just be patient with her. Others said, take everything away. Don’t let her do these things. All of these answers that weren’t providing any help for me, nothing was working and I felt like I was completely lost and the worst parent on the planet.
01:41
One day, I was in my doctor’s office, and I was falling my eyes out, crying, fear. I was tired. I thought, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but something bad is going to happen to my daughter. And I happened to be reading Sunset Magazine.
01:58
And in the back of Sunset Magazine was six, maybe seven pages of boarding school options, therapeutic boarding school options. I had no idea that any of that was even a possibility. I didn’t know what it meant.
02:14
I had no idea. Not one person that I had ever consulted in the whole almost a year that I was going through this with my daughter ever even brought that up. So, I was lost, but I also felt like a little bit of hope when I was reading some of the articles and some of the tiny little ads.
02:33
I called one of them. One of them spoke to me and I called them. And I felt again like there might be hope. Like I was saying, nobody ever said a word about that because they didn’t know about them either.
02:45
So, my journey started right there. And we’ll talk about that in a different podcast on exactly how I got her there and all of the things about that. But what I wanted to do is create this podcast so I could provide answers to you that I didn’t have about things like boarding schools, therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment centers.
03:06
What’s a wilderness therapy? Should I do short term? Should we do long term? What’s the difference? Will my insurance cover it? How do we pay for it? I wanted to create a podcast so parents could come here and have some answers.
03:22
Feel like they aren’t alone. I felt so alone in what I was going through with my daughter. I was just, again, lost. And I’m sure you might be feeling the same thing. So, I wanted to create this podcast to go over things that are in this industry or in the treatment world or struggling teen and all the things that we might lay awake and wonder, how am I going to get through this?
03:48
What does this mean? And maybe somebody’s brought up to you. You should find treatment. I know a friend that put my kid in a boarding school. What does that mean? And I want to provide a place here that has some of those answers.
04:02
So, along my journey with my daughter and five months later or so, my son, he went into a program as well. I discovered that there’s an industry called educational consultant, parenting coach, and didn’t realize that my passion was going to switch from financial services, helping families plan for their future, plan for their retirement, get the best life insurance that they could, get out of debt,
04:28
was going to switch to helping families find treatment and help and hope for their kids and their families. So, I looked into what is an educational consultant. And here’s an explanation for you. For me, I’m an educational consultant and parenting coach.
04:48
And I specialize in at-risk teen placement, therapeutic boarding school placement. I advocate for parents, with parents, and for your child to find the very best treatment for your child. What does that look like?
05:03
Where should we go? What should we do? And how should we do it? You no longer have to be alone when you work with me as an educational consultant. I’m also a parenting coach. So, I provide coaching so you can learn more about communicating with your child.
05:19
Connection versus control. How can I work with my son? How can I help my daughter? How can I better communicate? What kind of things can I let go of? Do I have to worry about their math grade? Do I have to worry about she just dropped out of volleyball?
05:37
What about vaping? He wants to smoke pot. He thinks it’s okay. Everybody else is doing it. I found vaping in his room. I found sexual explicit pictures on her phone. What do I do about all of these things?
05:54
How concerned should I be? When should I contact somebody? What should I do? During coaching, when you work with me as an educational consultant as well, or just privately as a parenting coach, you get to bounce ideas around.
06:10
We get to look at what could work. What can we let go? What should we prioritize? How can I help myself so I can help her? What do I do when family members are giving me all sorts of advice that isn’t working?
06:25
So, in parenting coaching with me, we get to look at and uncover answers in all these areas and beyond. And so, as an educational consultant, working with me, you don’t have to be alone anymore. My passion is to help you find answers to help your child and your family.
06:46
There’s going to be a lot of ups and downs. It’s a roller coaster, and I want to be there to help you. So, I wanted to do this podcast so I could help all kinds of families not feel alone, feel like there are answers, there is hope.
07:05
I feel like parents need an educational consultant so that they can get answers in this industry. This industry is deep and wide. There’s a lot that Google cannot answer. There’s a lot of things out on Google or on the internet, social media that will cause you to be paralyzed because you think all the industry is bad if you see a bad review.
07:28
And by the way, bad reviews, I call them rant and raves a lot because it is a lot of people that are disgruntled or upset or didn’t graduate or by the way, didn’t even go to a program and yet they are commenting on it.
07:43
So, when you work with an educational consultant, you get to go through that with him or with her and get those answers. Is this true? Is it not true? Should I worry about it? And working with me as an educational consultant, I vet all of those out.
07:59
I go to schools. I tour the programs. I call the state officials. I do all of that so that you don’t have to. You no longer have to throw darts at this school, that program, that path. Do I start here?
08:17
Do I start there? So, working with a consultant takes a lot of the guesswork out and it helps you sleep at night, knowing that somebody has your back. Somebody’s looking out for you, looking out for your child.
08:33
Also, when I place a child in a program, I follow them all the way through, every single week to every other week. And then you have my services as a parent coach the whole entire time. I follow your child all the way through until they’ve been home for two months.
08:50
So, I don’t just place your child in a program, get an update here and there. I want to know on a weekly basis how he is doing, how she is doing, what’s working and what’s not. Families worked with me in a couple of different ways.
09:07
Again, through placement services, educational consulting, as far as which program, and or just and coaching. And again, in the placement process, you get my services as a coach. But sometimes parents, A. Aren’t ready to place, don’t need to place.
09:27
Sometimes we can do coaching and keep our kiddos home. Sometimes the kiddo is doing okay, but we just need some extra skills. Parents will retain my services in a couple of different ways. It’s not a one-size-fits-all, and we have to do it one way or the other way.
09:45
I feel like what makes me good at what I do is I’m such an advocate for the families, and I’ve been where you are. I’ve been on that side of the fence where you’re crying every night, where you’re angry, where you’re scared.
10:00
I was so scared that my daughter was going to die. I thought for sure I was going to wake up one day and she was just going to be gone. Either ran away or not on the planet. I’ve been where you are, so I know what it feels like to be in your shoes.
10:18
And again, I’m an advocate for you and your child. I want to be there by your side the entire time. So, I’m in constant contact with the facility that your child is in at all times. If there’s something that goes on, I’m there.
10:36
If you need me, I’m there. I’m a part of the entire team. We are in it together. So again, been where you are. I understand it. I’ve been in this industry for 20 plus years. So, I understand this industry.
10:54
I understand the worry. I understand the money part of it. And that’ll be in a different podcast as well, but it’s expensive. It’s definitely difficult. It took me 10 years to pay off all my loans after my kids went through programs.
11:11
So, I 100% understand that. I wanted to do this podcast to provide some answers for you, a place where you can listen and hear stories, maybe find some solutions, get some understanding about this industry, about yourself, about your child, just to have a place to have some comfort.
11:34
I didn’t have that when my daughter was going through the program. I was completely on my own, and it was overwhelming. And so, I want to be here to help you. Thank you for listening today. I’m your host, Mary Warren, and I’m so grateful you found this podcast.
11:54
I invite you to visit my website at empowermyteen.com and schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss your situation. Remember, you are a caring and concerned parent, and your child is lucky to have you in their life.
12:10
So please be kind to yourself.
