Hopestream: Parenting Kids Through Addiction & Mental Health

Brenda Zane
  • 5.0 (234)
  • Parenting
  • Weekly

When your teen or young adult is misusing drugs or alcohol, you need more than just tactics—you need hope, healing, and a path forward for your entire family. Hopestream delivers expert guidance and emotional support for parents navigating their child's substance use and mental health struggles. Hosted by Brenda Zane, Mayo Clinic Certified health coach and CRAFT-trained Parent Coach who nearly lost her son to addiction, this podcast goes beyond "how to get them into treatment" to address the full ecosystem of this journey. Episodes features: Leading addiction, prevention, and treatment expertsReal stories from families who've been thereEvidence-based strategies for helping your childSelf-care and coping tools for parentsDeeper conversations about finding meaning, joy, and even unexpected blessings through the hardest times Whether you're dealing with a teen or young adult's drug use, alcohol misuse, or co-occurring mental health challenges, Hopestream offers the comprehensive support other parenting and addiction podcasts miss. This is your safe space to heal, learn, and discover you're not alone. New episodes weekly. Join us between the episodes at hopestreamcommunity.org.

  1. 19h ago ·  Video

    Vape Addiction: The THC Use You May Not Even Notice, with Dr. Deepa Camenga

    ABOUT THE EPISODE: Maybe you found it in the laundry, or at the bottom of a backpack. It looked like a highlighter, or a USB stick, or a cute little accessory that matched their phone case. And now you’re standing there holding it, wondering how worried you should actually be. Vaping comes up in our community constantly, so I tracked down the most qualified physician I could find to help us sort through it. Dr. Deepa Camenga is an associate professor of emergency medicine at Yale, board certified in pediatrics and addiction medicine, and the associate director for pediatric programs at the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine. She’s also parenting teenagers of her own, so she gets this from both sides of the kitchen table. Dr. Camenga explains why vapes are a completely different animal from the cigarettes many of us grew up around. They’re tiny, odorless, loaded with far more than nicotine, and the ones our kids are buying aren’t regulated, which means nobody can tell you for sure what’s inside any single device. She’s seeing kids as young as eleven and twelve in her practice, and many of them will look her in the eye and say, “Yeah, I’m definitely addicted.” We also dig into the situation so many of you have written to me about. Your child comes home from treatment, stays away from the pills and the alcohol, and then starts vaping, along with a very convincing speech about why you can’t take that away from them. Dr. Camenga’s answer is compassionate and honest, and it will help you hold your ground with love. And I love what she said about quitting. When a young person stops vaping, the anxiety or depression underneath can get louder before it gets better, and that doesn’t mean something is going wrong. It means the thing that was masking those feelings is finally gone. If you’ve been expecting everything to get better the moment they stop, this reframe could save you a lot of heartache. If you’ve found a vape, suspect there’s one, or you’re trying to get ahead of this before middle school, this one is for you. And grab the download in the show notes with photos of what these devices actually look like, because some of them are very good at hiding in plain sight. YOU’LL LEARN Why so many kids openly say they’re addicted to vaping, and why that isn’t the same as wanting to stopWhat’s actually inside the vapes kids are buying, and why no one can tell you for certainHow to respond when your child says vaping is the only thing keeping them from harder drugsWhy mental health symptoms can flare when a young person quits, and why that isn’t a sign of failureThe talking points that actually make teens pause (hint: it isn’t lung cancer at seventy)The first thing Dr. Camenga wants you to do if you find a vape in your child’s backpack todayEPISODE RESOURCES: Dr. Deepa Camenga profileBook an appt. (for CT residents) 203-777-7411 - in person or telehealthClick to download our vape detection guideThis podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms Find us on Instagram here Watch the podcast on YouTube here Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

    Vape Addiction: The THC Use You May Not Even Notice, with Dr. Deepa Camenga

  2. Oct 29 ·  Video

    Communicate Your Boundary With Calm, Confidence And Clarity, with Brenda Zane

    ABOUT THE EPISODE: You did it the way we practice it. You listened, you validated, you said the compassionate and true thing, and then named your boundary. Your kid looked at you like you had never understood them a day in their life. “You’re selfish. You just want to control me.” And there you are, feeling that familiar pull to explain it one more time, in different words, until they finally get it. Seven years into the podcast and The Stream, how to set and hold a boundary is still the question I hear more than any other. So this week it is just you and me, talking about the part that so often goes missing, which is the moment right after you say it. I share a few tools you can tuck into your back pocket, including one with a name that might make you laugh, a visualization that keeps you from playing verbal pickleball with your kid, and a line from a trial lawyer that has become one of my all time favorites. There are scripts too, including one for the holiday plans that are probably already humming in the back of your mind. We also talk honestly about safety, because confidence looks very different when your child is escalating. And I tell you about the day I went to an ATM to help my son pay back a dealer, knowing in my gut it was not the true story. If you have caved before, you have not erased your progress. Confidence tends to show up after the practice, not before it, and the first change you notice will most likely be in you. If you are tired of defending a decision you already know is right, this one is for you. YOU’LL LEARN: The small word in the middle of your sentence that quietly cancels out your empathyA three step way to name a boundary without opening a negotiationWhat to do with your kid’s words while they are still talkingThe one sentence I want you to get comfortable saying when your child is upsetWhat to say when you gave in last time and want to go back to your original answerEPISODE RESOURCES: The Surprising Power of Non-Reactivity When Your Child Is Struggling, with Cathy Cioth Brook McKenzie on Hopestream episode 342You’re Waiting On You by Brook McKenzieThe Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More by Jefferson Fisher988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: https://988lifeline.orgThe Stream, free two-week trial: https://hopestreamcommunity.org/tryWorried Sick free ebook: https://hopestreamcommunity.org/worriedThis podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms Find us on Instagram here Watch the podcast on YouTube here Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

    Communicate Your Boundary With Calm, Confidence And Clarity, with Brenda Zane

  3. Oct 22 ·  Video

    Hope and Heartbreak: A Nurse Mom Couldn’t Fix Her Son’s Addiction, with Tara Norbeck

    ABOUT THE EPISODE: You know the mantra, even if you have never said it out loud: I can only be as happy as my unhappiest child. I held that one fiercely for years, and so did Tara Norbeck, until a therapist at her son’s rehab said something to her that rearranged the whole equation. Tara spent her career as a level one trauma ICU nurse, the steady presence families leaned on in the worst hours of their lives. She knew how to assess, intervene, and fix. Then the script flipped, and she was the mom at the bedside holding her own son’s hand, with nothing in all that training that could fix what was happening to him. Tara and I are two moms with plenty of scar tissue, and we talk about the things so many of us carry quietly. Grieving the future you pictured the first time they placed that baby in your arms. The shame that metastasizes when everything stays a secret. The way your child’s addiction can become your own, until it governs your mornings, your marriage, and every thought in between. She also shares a story about her youngest daughter, told years after the worst had passed, that gave me chills and may change how you see your other kids. Tara is a woman of deep faith, and she offers a line about where to place your hope when nothing around your child looks hopeful that I will be holding onto for a long time. Her book, “Dear Mom of an Addict” was written because she needed it when her son was struggling, when she was lying awake at 2 AM, waiting for the phone to ring and dreading it at the same time. If your own peace has been moored to your child’s worst day, this one is for you. YOU’LL LEARN What a rehab therapist told Tara about her tears that changed how she showed up for her sonThe difference between anonymity and secrecy, and why only one of them protects your familyWhy joy and happiness are not the same thing when your child is strugglingHow the neuroscience of addiction can soften the “we didn’t raise you like this” reactionWhat Tara wishes she had done differently with her other childrenEPISODE RESOURCES: Tara’s book: Dear Mom of an Addict: Ten Truths You Need to Know to Parent Your Addicted Child and Reclaim HopeTara Norbeck’s websiteTara Norbeck’s website: https://taranorbeck.comGod Loves You Most (Tara’s children’s book)Free resources from Tara: https://taranorbeck.com/freebiesTara on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taranorbeckThis podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms Find us on Instagram here Watch the podcast on YouTube here Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

    Hope and Heartbreak: A Nurse Mom Couldn’t Fix Her Son’s Addiction, with Tara Norbeck

  4. Oct 15 ·  Video

    Strategies For Parenting A Stuck Young Adult, with Kim Muench

    ABOUT THE EPISODE: You have probably been scanning for it for a while. The one consequence that will finally get your 25-year-old out of their room and into a life that looks like forward motion. You can't ground them. You can't take the phone. And you've already decided you will not make them homeless, so what's left? Kim Muench knows that question from both sides of the kitchen table. She's a Jai Institute for Parenting certified coach, the founder of Real Life Parent Guide, and a mom of five whose oldest son's drinking in his early twenties sent her back to college and into coaching parents of young adults who are stuck. Hundreds of thousands of parents follow her on Instagram and TikTok, and her new book, Lost in Place: How to Support, Motivate, and Launch an Adult Child, comes out November 24. Kim doesn't hand out the perfect consequence, because she doesn't believe there is one. What she offers instead is a shorter list of what is actually yours to control, and a way of sorting helping from enabling that I kept turning over long after we hung up. She also tells a dog-sitting story that is so ordinary and so telling that every one of us will see ourselves in it. We talk about the fear that keeps so many of us frozen, especially when self-harm has been part of the picture, and Kim asks a question I had never heard framed this way: why is it only our kids who get to hit rock bottom? She also explains why she refuses to use the phrase "failure to launch," and her reason made me exhale a little. If you have a 20-something at home who seems to be standing still while you do all the running, this one is for you. YOU'LL LEARN: The three things Kim says are truly yours to control once your child is an adult, and what's missing from that listOne simple question that helps you tell whether you're helping or enablingWhat a family dog revealed about how one mom was over-functioning for her sonThe four C's Kim teaches parents who have lost their footingWhy Kim believes parents are allowed to hit their own rock bottom EPISODE RESOURCES: Real Life Parent Guide: https://www.reallifeparentguide.comWork with Kim, coaching and parent support group: https://www.reallifeparentguide.com/servicesKim's free downloads, including Setting Boundaries That Stick: https://www.reallifeparentguide.com/free-downloadsLost in Place: How to Support, Motivate, and Launch an Adult Child: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Place-Support-Motivate-Launch/dp/1394422407Kim on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimmuenchparentcoachKim on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kimmuenchparentcoachThe Stream, free two-week trial: https://hopestreamcommunity.org/tryWorried Sick free ebook: https://hopestreamcommunity.org/worriedThis podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms Find us on Instagram here Watch the podcast on YouTube here Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

    Strategies For Parenting A Stuck Young Adult, with Kim Muench

  5. Oct 8 ·  Video

    Kratom, 7-OH and Gas Station Drugs: What Every Parent Needs to Know, with Dean Francis

    ABOUT THE EPISODE: It's the green powder in the shaker bottle, the little blue shot by the register, the "herbal supplement" your kid bought for focus. If you've been quietly wondering whether kratom is something to worry about, drop everything and tune in. Dean Francis's son Cameron was an elite college runner, closing in on a sub four-minute mile, when he found kratom online, sold as a plant-based boost for energy and focus. For a few months it did exactly what the marketing promised. Then his running slid, the anxiety showed up, and nobody in the family connected any of it to the powder he was shaking into his water bottle every day. It took an ER doctor in 2021 to say it plainly: this is an opioid, he’s addicted, and it's serious. Dean got mad, and then he got busy. He founded End Kratom Addiction, and he showed up to this conversation with a mountain of knowledge (and a few products to hold up on camera, so the YouTube version is worth a watch). We talk about what kratom actually does in the body, the forms kids are buying it in, why the "safe natural leaf" story isn’t all it’s been touted as, and the Billion-dollar business keeping it on gas station shelves. He also gets honest about what treatment looked like for Cameron, and the gap in care that cost him more than anyone expected. This is an educational episode, and it's also the wake-up call I think every parent needs, whether or not your child is struggling right now. What's sold at the corner store down the street may not be what you or your child thinks it is. YOU'LL LEARN What kratom turns into once it reaches the liver, and why that changes everythingThe popular "energy shot" Dean held up that most parents would never look at twiceWhy the "used safely for centuries in Southeast Asia" story should be taken with a grain of saltThe treatment mistake Dean wishes someone had warned his family aboutHow you can add your voice to the push to make kratom a controlled substanceEPISODE RESOURCES: End Kratom Addiction websiteStop the Magicians campaign, petition, and End Kratom Addiction filmDopesick series on Apple TV or Disney PlusKratomquitters.com Free parent PDF: What Kratom Products Look Like This podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms Find us on Instagram here Watch the podcast on YouTube here Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

    Kratom, 7-OH and Gas Station Drugs: What Every Parent Needs to Know, with Dean Francis

  6. Oct 1 ·  Video

    The Surprising Power Of Non-Reactivity, with Cathy Cioth

    ABOUT THE EPISODE: The morning of our move, the pods were in the driveway, my dad had shown up ready to work, and my son was barely awake and in no shape to lift a box. Half an hour in, he asked if we were almost done. I felt the butterflies start up in my chest, and within seconds I was matching his drama word for word, with my dad standing right there taking it all in. Cathy has her own version of that moment - and I’m sure you do as well. We can laugh about it now, but both of us spent years believing we were responding to our kids when we were really just adding fuel to their fire. This episode is about non-reactivity, the piece of the Invitation to Change approach that I think quietly gets left behind while we focus on more concrete things like boundaries and natural consequences. Chaos needs two participants, so when you stop supplying your half, something shifts, and it has nothing to do with controlling your child. Cathy and I talk about where reactivity shows up in your body before your brain catches up, why the rules every "good family" follows can pull you into the wrong fight, and what to do when the demands and gaslighting leave you wondering who the parent is in your house. We also talk about safety, because sometimes that pounding heart is telling you something real. And we re-share a line from our friend Dina Cannizzaro that I think every parent should memorize. Put it on a sticky note, or your forearm, or bathroom mirror - it’s pure gold. If your home has started to revolve around your child's moods and you’re tired of losing the same argument over and over, this one is for you. YOU'LL LEARN: What Cathy and I each finally did mid-blowup that changed the relationship dynamicsThe early warning signs your body sends before you say something you regretWhy the small things you care about most can be the perfect distraction for your kidTwo questions to ask yourself when you feel triggered, and why one of them is about your safetyThe powerful line Dina recommends to step away from a fight without walking away from your childEPISODE RESOURCES: Hopestream podcast episode 297 with Dina CannizzaroThis podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms Find us on Instagram here Watch the podcast on YouTube here Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

    The Surprising Power Of Non-Reactivity, with Cathy Cioth

  7. Sep 24

    What Recovery Looks Like For Parents, with Janice

    ABOUT THE EPISODE: If you’re parenting a young person struggling with substance and someone tells you that you need recovery too, it can land sideways since you're not the one using. You're just trying to hold everything together while your kid gets better. And you're already doing so much: the books, therapy, podcasts, late-night Googling. Janice asked that question anyway. A member of The Stream and mom of two adult kids now in recovery, she used to be the one everyone called to get things done not for a hug. When she Googled what drugs her son was using, she chose to get educated instead of feeling sorry for herself. That education pointed straight back at her. We talk about the two biggest shifts she had to make (one starts before you say a word), the small non-negotiable practices she keeps no matter what's happening with her kids, and a standoff over the air conditioning that taught her more than she expected plus the question she asks herself when her own recovery feels like walking away from her child. It felt like the right way to close out Recovery Month, with the parent who so often gets left out of the conversation. If you've poured everything into your child's recovery and nothing into your own, this one's for you. YOU'LL LEARN: What "doing the work" meant for Janice, after months of researchThe two biggest shifts she had to make and why one starts before a word is spokenThe small, unglamorous practices she keeps non-negotiable, no matter whatWhat a standoff over the air conditioning taught her about the rope she kept picking upThe question she asks when her own recovery feels like abandoning her child EPISODE RESOURCES: Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change, by Jeffrey Foote, Carrie Wilkens, and Nicole KosankeCo-Dependency Isn't What You Think, with Rawly Glass, LCSW: Hopestream podcast episode 324Hopestream Community free two-week trial of The Stream: https://hopestreamcommunity.org/tryFree e-book: Worried Sick by Brenda Zane: https://hopestreamcommunity.org/worriedThis podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms Find us on Instagram here Watch the podcast on YouTube here Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

    What Recovery Looks Like For Parents, with Janice

  8. Sep 17 ·  Video

    From Self-Harm to Healing: A Highly Sensitive Girl’s Path to Recovery, with Ciara Fanlo

    ABOUT THE EPISODE: You’ve heard some version of it: Leave me alone! I know what I am doing! You don't understand me!” Ciara Fanlo said all of that to her mother, but what her mom didn’t know was that those statements were hiding a plea…please help me. Ciara was a sensitive kid in San Francisco, the kind who felt everything the world hurled at her at full volume before she had language or coping skills for it. Her parents divorced and she started self-harming by age ten, before she’d ever seen anyone else do it. She just knew she needed to displace the emotional pain she felt. By high school she had been through therapists, medications, and a residential program. She came home on a contract and broke every rule on it in one afternoon, which ended with a wrecked car, police, and her mother angrier than she had ever seen. On the drive home they passed a church, and her mom pulled into the parking lot. That stop at the church led to a life-changing wilderness therapy experience where she spent three months getting to know and love herself. One night in the wild of Colorado she looked up at the moon and felt something she had never felt in her life, and it changed what she thought was possible. Today she mentors teen girls through her practice, Homing Instinct. This is a recovery story, and it is also the closest thing to a translation I can hand you. Ciara says out loud what our kids cannot, including one line about hope that will especially resonate if your child currently feels out of control and beyond reach. If your child is pushing you away with both hands, this one is for you. YOU'LL LEARN The second message running underneath every angry "leave me alone," and why parents almost never hear itWhat Ciara wanted an adult to say to her to felt heard vs. diagnosedHow she unraveled a home contract in a single afternoon, and her mom’s reactionWhy her mom got the worst of her, and why that was never about her mom EPISODE RESOURCES: Homing Instinct: https://www.hominginstinct.org/Work with Ciara, start here for parents: https://www.hominginstinct.org/mentorshipPeer support groups: https://www.hominginstinct.org/peer-support-groupsCiara's essays: https://www.hominginstinct.org/blogHoming Instinct parent support group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hominginstinctCiara on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ciarafanloThe Stream, free two-week trial: https://hopestreamcommunity.org/tryWorried Sick free ebook: https://hopestreamcommunity.org/worriedThis podcast is part of a nonprofit called Hopestream Community Learn about The Stream, our private online community for moms Find us on Instagram here Watch the podcast on YouTube here Download a free e-book, Worried Sick: A Compassionate Guide For Parents When Your Teen or Young Adult Child Misuses Drugs and Alcohol Hopestream Community is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and an Amazon Associate. We may make a small commission if you purchase from our links.

    From Self-Harm to Healing: A Highly Sensitive Girl’s Path to Recovery, with Ciara Fanlo
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When your teen or young adult is misusing drugs or alcohol, you need more than just tactics—you need hope, healing, and a path forward for your entire family. Hopestream delivers expert guidance and emotional support for parents navigating their child's substance use and mental health struggles. Hosted by Brenda Zane, Mayo Clinic Certified health coach and CRAFT-trained Parent Coach who nearly lost her son to addiction, this podcast goes beyond "how to get them into treatment" to address the full ecosystem of this journey. Episodes features: Leading addiction, prevention, and treatment expertsReal stories from families who've been thereEvidence-based strategies for helping your childSelf-care and coping tools for parentsDeeper conversations about finding meaning, joy, and even unexpected blessings through the hardest times Whether you're dealing with a teen or young adult's drug use, alcohol misuse, or co-occurring mental health challenges, Hopestream offers the comprehensive support other parenting and addiction podcasts miss. This is your safe space to heal, learn, and discover you're not alone. New episodes weekly. Join us between the episodes at hopestreamcommunity.org.

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