What do you do when your child is struggling with mental health issues or addiction? In this talk, Dr. Brad Reedy explains why the work begins with the parent, not the child. Our own ego, our guilt, and our shame distort the lens we look through to understand the child, and punishment has its limits. The heroic parent is the one willing to look in the mirror and ask: how am I part of this dynamic?
Drawing on his book The Journey of the Heroic Parent and on Daniel Siegel and Mary Hartzell's Parenting from the Inside Out, Brad talks about owning your feelings. If your child is using drugs, of course you are scared. If your child steals from you, of course you are angry. But those emotions are yours. Take them to a mentor, a therapist, or a support group and work them through there, so that when you come home you can be the steady, loving presence your child needs.
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