In this powerful and deeply honest conversation, Lisa Katona-Smith shares her journey as a mother navigating her son’s mental health challenges and substance use disorder. Through moments of fear, resilience, and hard-earned clarity, Lisa transformed her personal experience into a meaningful framework to support other families facing similar struggles—captured in her book, Parallel Recovery: A Guide for Those Who Love Someone with Substance Use Disorder (https://a.co/d/07C8FLzz).
This episode offers both emotional validation and practical guidance—helping parents recognize early warning signs, advocate effectively for their children, and set boundaries that prioritize safety without sacrificing love. Lisa introduces a compassionate shift in perspective—from simply “loving harder” to “loving better,” and explores how families can move from crisis toward sustainable, long-term recovery together.

In this powerful and deeply personal episode, Dr. Jenn Rapkin shares her remarkable journey living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) while also parenting a child navigating the same condition. As a naturopathic physician specializing in mental health and mind-body medicine, Dr. Jenn brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to a conversation that is honest, hopeful, and incredibly insightful.
She opens up about the early signs of OCD in her own life, the loneliness and stigma that often surround the disorder, and how those experiences shaped the way she supports patients and her family today. Dr. Jenn also discusses how the pandemic intensified OCD symptoms for many children and why giving OCD a name—like “annoying brain talk”—can help kids recognize intrusive thoughts and begin building resilience.
In this episode, we explore evidence-based treatments such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and the role medication can play in recovery. Dr. Jenn explains how family dynamics often become intertwined with OCD behaviors, the challenge of accommodation, and how parents can begin gently untangling those patterns while supporting all children in the home. She also shares the transformative impact of specialized residential treatment programs and highlights the crucial role family involvement plays in long-term healing.
Dr. Jenn offers practical guidance for parents navigating similar challenges, including how to advocate for understanding and support in schools, set healthy boundaries, and care for themselves through the emotional weight of supporting a child with mental health struggles. Finally, she gives us a glimpse into her book, The Feeling Muscle: How Felt Emotion Can Help You Sit with and Outlast Hard Feelings (https://a.co/d/0grm03jh), which explores how developing emotional awareness through the body can strengthen resilience and help both children and adults face difficult feelings with courage.

https://www.instagram.com/drjennrapkin/
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www.drjennrapkin.com

This episode of the Just A Mom Podcast features Meri Viano, an adoptive mother and mental health advocate. Meri shares her journey of adopting a sibling set of boys and a girl with Down Syndrome, highlighting the challenges she faced in navigating the mental health system and the stigma surrounding mental illness. She discusses the importance of community support, advocacy for parents, and understanding the complexities of trauma in children's behavior. Meri also shares her experiences with her son's psychosis and the impact it has had on their family dynamics. Throughout the conversation, she emphasizes the need for quality care and the importance of not giving up on children in need, as well as the need for community among parents.
Website: www.ppal.net
PPAL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ParentProfessional-Advocacy-League/220653121088/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOhlO0J8sBSYBBS5mOgxKUA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ppal.mass/

In this episode of the Just A Mom podcast, Dr. Karen Sheffield-Abdullah discusses the critical topic of postpartum depression and maternal mental health, as about one in seven women experiences postpartum depression. She explains the differences between postpartum depression and anxiety, the importance of prenatal screening, and the role of medication management during pregnancy. Dr. Karen emphasizes the impact of social media on new moms, the significance of trauma in maternal mental health, and the necessity of sleep for recovery. She also highlights mindfulness as a beneficial practice for mental well-being and discusses the importance of support for partners of new moms. Finally, she introduces the MomGenes Study (https://momgenesfightppd.org/), which aims to explore the genetic components of postpartum depression. To learn more about Dr. Karen, please visit her website at https://www.beingdrkaren.com/.

In this powerful and deeply personal episode, Lisa Sabey and Alison Paine, two courageous mothers, share how they are using documentary filmmaking as a catalyst to revolutionize mental health education and care in the United States. What began as personal journeys navigating their own families’ mental health challenges has evolved into a mission to transform how mental health is understood, taught, and supported across the country. These women are working to bridge the long-standing gap between clinical care and lived experience. While traditional mental health education often centers on diagnostic criteria and treatment protocols, their films elevate real stories—raw, honest, and human. By centering lived experience, they are creating resources that resonate not only with professionals but with parents, educators, students, and communities seeking deeper understanding.
•Parents to Parents Website: https://www.parentstoparents.org/
•EDC/Zero Suicide site with the film Parents to Parents: After Your Child's Suicide Attempt: https://zerosuicide.edc.org/resources/resource-database/parents-parents-after-your-childs-suicide-attempt
•Matters Media: https://mattersmedia.org/
•National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): https://www.nami.org/

In this conversation, Marcia Earhart explores the intricate relationship between grief and joy, emphasizing how they coexist and how one can find solace in memories while living in the present. Marcia knows incredible grief herself as she has lost two sons. She shares her personal journey of incorporating the memories of her loved ones into her current life, highlighting the importance of emotional health and coping with loss. She shares about her role as a HeartSync Facilitator and her organization, The Sterling Rose Sanctuary (https://www.thesterlingrosesanctuary.us/), which helps people navigate trauma and grief. Marcia is also the author of Gripping Grace in the Garden of Grief (https://www.amazon.com/Gripping-Grace-Garden-Grief-Place/dp/B0F9XJ3BSX).

On this episode of the Just a Mom podcast, Dr. Hector Rodriguez, an integrative psychiatrist, discusses the complexities of mental health, particularly in teens and young adults. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the brain's function through tools like SPECT scans (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/spect-scan) and the impact of societal changes, such as the pandemic, on mental health. Dr. Rodriguez provides insights into recognizing signs of mental health issues, the role of cannabis, and the necessity of building a support network for parents. He also highlights the importance of self-care for parents to effectively support their children.
https://www.doctorhector.com/