Parenting teens through the hard stuff, guilt included.
Liz Lang talks with Jeremiah and Selena Woodruff from Core Connection about raising kids and teens through eating disorders, body image, bullying and being left out. The talk keeps coming back to the parent: a hard stretch is not a parenting failure, and a lost temper can be repaired.
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Mental Health Matters sounds like a general wellness show. Its conversations, though, are aimed at parents trying to get a child or teenager through a rough patch. Liz Lang hosts, and Jeremiah and Selena Woodruff from Core Connection join her. The episode titles show the range: 'Supporting Eating Disorders', 'Body Image', 'When Teens Feel Left Out', 'When Your Child is the Bully', 'Maintaining Connection Through Conflict' and 'Helping Teens Set Boundaries With Other Adults'. Before the main subject, someone usually shares a 'parenting moment'. Some are light, like Liz on how her kids react to a crying baby, or Selena on an adult son announcing that he is moving out. Others carry more weight. Selena recalls mom guilt over a recent moment with her 11-year-old son, and another story, about an adult son who came in to talk just after bedtime, ends on the value of making time when kids want to connect. Then the talk turns practical. On exclusion, the group points out that phones put a missed invitation right in front of a kid, and that FaceTiming a friend who could not come can make her feel more left out, not less. On body image, they explain how a feed fills up with whatever a person interacts with, using a weight-loss ad as the example, and argue that teens should hear plainly how that works. When a child is the one doing the bullying, the advice is to start with curiosity and ask what is going on. Peer pressure and crowd behavior, they note, can pull kids into things they would not do alone, and schools do not always get it right either. The conflict discussion borrows an image from law enforcement: drop the fight stance, get back to the logical brain, and only then talk. Through all of it, the show keeps turning back to the parent's own state of mind. A child's eating disorder is described as not a parenting failure, and replaying every past decision like a Monday morning quarterback is called unhelpful. Losing your temper with a teenager counts as a mistake, not permanent damage, and the fix is to go back, admit it did not go well and ask to try again. On slow recovery, one line is simple and memorable: sometimes just surviving is the win of the day. The eating disorders conversation opens with a clear statement that none of it is medical advice. The tone is warm and conversational, with real family life showing through; in one episode Liz Lang apologizes for uneven release dates and says that being a stay-at-home mom is her main priority. Closings name the next subject, such as supporting teens through burnout or helping teens trust themselves, and ask for questions and topic ideas by email. The show offers less a clinical framework than company from other parents working through the same questions.
Made for: Suits a parent of a child or teen who wants practical ways to handle bullying, exclusion, body image worries or an eating disorder, along with some reassurance about their own mistakes.
What sets it apart: It talks to the parent rather than the struggling kid, and it treats the parent's guilt, temper and self-blame as part of the work. Small stories from the speakers' own homes set up most topics, which keeps the advice grounded in real family life.
Talking mental health! Each week we break down different aspects of life and how to cope. Tune in each Thursday.
A six-year-old tells the baby, "don't cry, you're cool"; you get a way to recover when you snap.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A steady, grounded conversation about supporting a child through an eating disorder while staying anchored in connection.
Supporting Eating Disorders focuses on the parent's emotional steadiness in a frightening family situation. Liz Lang's parenting moment introduces ARFID as a less common eating disorder, then Jeremiah and Selena Woodruff of Core Connection talk through how to support a child…
Practical, steady guidance for parents helping children through exclusion.
Feeling left out can make one missed invitation feel like proof that loneliness is waiting around every corner, and Mental Health Matters keeps its attention on that difficult leap.
A plainspoken family discussion about clothes, comparison, and the body-image messages children absorb.
Body image enters through ordinary family life here, starting with Selena Woodruff asking her 11-year-old son to change either his dark green pants or bright green shirt.
A grounded reminder that repair can matter as much as the conflict itself.
Mental Health Matters focuses on staying connected through conflict, especially in the moments after parents lose their cool and need to come back for repair.
Jonquilyn Hill chases one listener question per episode to the experts who can answer it.
Hard conversations, patiently held, with room to laugh.
Care, culture, and the choices shaping Black women's lives.
Root-cause health, explained plainly.
Hope, tested in real conversation.
Host Liz Lang and guests discuss helping teens set boundaries with other adults, sharing personal parenting experiences.
["Mental Health Matters brings Liz Lang together with Jeremiah Woodruff and Selena Woodruff from Core Connection for a parent-focused discussion of eating disorders.", "The episode centers on ARFID, which Liz says stands for avoidant restrictive food intake disorder and became an official diagnosis in 2013.", "Liz ties the topic to her son\u2019s egg, dairy, and peanut allergies, ketotic hypoglycemia, tube feeding, and a formula increase after his height outpaced his weight.", "Jeremiah and Selena keep returning to the same advice: use calm, connection, professional care, and boundaries instead of minimizing food struggles or turning meals into a fight."]
Host Liz Lang discusses mental health advocacy and parenting teens, sharing a personal story about her daughter's efforts to de-stigmatize mental health.
This episode discusses when to speak up versus stay quiet, featuring a parenting moment about allowing a child to experiment safely.
This episode discusses listening skills that deepen connection, featuring a parenting moment about asking adult children for help.
Liz Lang opens Mental Health Matters with Jeremiah Woodruff and Selena Woodruff from Core Connection and frames the episode around teens who feel left out.
Liz Lang hosts Mental Health Matters with Jeremiah and Selena Woodruff from Core Connection on body image, and Selena starts with an 11-year-old son's green outfit as an example of how family comments can hit self-confidence.
["Liz Lange hosts Jeremiah and Selena Woodruff from Core Connection on Mental Health Matters to talk about maintaining connection through conflict with teens.", "They frame teen conflict as normal autonomy-seeking behavior and contrast a simple dinner disagreement with bigger fights over quitting a sport midseason.", "The episode breaks down emotional regulation tools like 'flipping your lid,' body checks, pauses, and the shift from 'but' to 'and' when validating a teen.", "They end with a clear boundary message: connection is the goal, not control, and parents can repair after mistakes instead of treating one blowup as the relationship."]
Liz Lang, Jeremiah Woodruff, and Selena Woodruff address how parents should respond when a child is accused of bullying, including sibling conflict and school reports.
Host Liz Lang and guests discuss helping teens set boundaries with other adults, sharing personal parenting experiences.
This episode discusses how to handle children lying, framed as a normal developmental stage, with a parenting moment about teacher appreciation.
Host Liz Lang discusses encouraging independence in teens and shares a personal story about a tornado scare to highlight the importance of emergency planning.