Get on Their Turf with Dr. Suzanne Simpson

Dr. Suzanne Simpson

Are you worried about your teen’s anxiety, screen time, or emotional distance? You’re not alone. Get on Their Turf is the parenting podcast that helps you support your child’s mental health and build lasting connection. I’m Dr. Suzanne Simpson, teacher and researcher with 3 decades of experience, and biweekly I share expert interviews, parenting strategies, and real stories from my work in classrooms and a youth psychiatric unit. Episodes explore teen anxiety, depression, screen time struggles, listening without fixing, and spotting early warning signs of stress or crisis. Let’s raise kids who feel safe, seen, and heard—because connection changes everything.

  1. Oct 26

    How to Teach Your Teenager to Self-Advocate in School

    Learn the 3-part email that helps your teenager ask a teacher for help, plus 4 steps to build their confidence to speak up. Your teenager is struggling at school but won’t ask the teacher for help. Maybe they assume the teacher already knows, or doesn’t care. Neither is usually true. In this Just Me Classic (Episode 62), Dr. Suzanne Simpson draws on 30 years as an educator, including teaching on a psychiatric unit, to share the five things she told her students about how teachers really think. Then she walks parents through four ways to teach self-advocacy, moving from writing an email together to your teen speaking up on their own. She closes by walking through that email, part by part, the way she used it with students for years. For parents of teens with anxiety, learning challenges, or hidden struggles at school. What You’ll Learn in This Episode:  0:00 – Why Self-Advocacy Matters for Teens in School  1:21 – 5 Things Teachers Wish Students Knew  4:15 – 4 Ways Parents Can Teach Self-Advocacy  8:12 – The 3-Part Email Template to Send a Teacher Find my podcast playlists on YouTube Dr Suzanne Simpson, at Get On Their Turf Guest Interviews:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7xFsX7h7tflz6UKyqfa4AVPf5l9zwve Just Me: https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLi7xFsX7h7tf_CsX5hZUEBTPkz967Sy2n New releases every second Monday 8:00 am PST. 👉 Get the free guide "8 Ways to Get on Your Kids' Turf" at https://www.drsuzannesimpson.com/#reconnect Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsuzannesimpson/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsuzannesimpson/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsuzannesimpson  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566148964209 Please note that the contents of this website are not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. My scope of practice is as an educator, and this work is intended to provide information for educational purposes only. Testimonials of lived experiences are opinion only and have not been scientifically evaluated.

  2. Oct 12

    Teen Mental Health Starts at Home: Why Parents Must Take Responsibility with Nicole Runyon

    Teen mental health support for parents starts with a hard truth: a child's well-being begins at home. So why is saying that out loud so controversial? In this episode of Get On Their Turf, Dr. Suzanne Simpson sits down with Nicole Runyon, former child psychotherapist, parent coach, keynote speaker, and author of Free to Fly: The Secret to Fostering Independence in the Next Generation. After 20 years of treating kids with severe mental health symptoms and no known trauma behind them, Nicole stopped seeing children for therapy and started coaching their parents instead. Their conversation started as a public disagreement on LinkedIn about social-emotional learning in schools. Suzanne brings her perspective from years of teaching on a youth psychiatric unit, and together they dig into parenting responsibility, the "blame game," and why permissive parenting is not working. In this episode: - Why Nicole calls today's kids "the canaries in the coal mine" of a modern comfort crisis - Should social-emotional learning belong to schools or to parents? - The contagion effect of talking more openly about mental health - Why kids see right through participation trophies - How missed developmental milestones can end up looking like a mental health disorder - "The wound isn't your fault, but it is your responsibility": ending the cycle of generational trauma - The number one thing parents must do to build authentic connection with their kids Chapters: 00:00 The Mental Health Parenting Crisis 01:30 Meet Psychotherapist Nicole Runyon 01:48 Why Nicole Left Traditional Therapy After 20 Years 04:26 The Problem With Social-Emotional Learning in Schools 08:10 The Contagion Effect of Destigmatizing Mental Health 15:09 The Blame Game and Political Correctness 17:22 Millennials, Technology, and Participation Trophies 26:49 Generational Trauma: Not Your Fault, But Your Responsibility 32:03 The #1 Way to Authentically Connect With Your Teen Find my podcast playlists on YouTube Dr Suzanne Simpson, at Get On Their Turf Guest Interviews:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7xFsX7h7tflz6UKyqfa4AVPf5l9zwve Just Me: https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLi7xFsX7h7tf_CsX5hZUEBTPkz967Sy2n New releases every second Monday 8:00 am PST. 👉 Get the free guide "8 Ways to Get on Your Kids' Turf" at https://www.drsuzannesimpson.com/#reconnect Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsuzannesimpson/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsuzannesimpson/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsuzannesimpson  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566148964209 Please note that the contents of this website are not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. My scope of practice is as an educator, and this work is intended to provide information for educational purposes only. Testimonials of lived experiences are opinion only and have not been scientifically evaluated.

  3. Sep 28

    Is It ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, or Trauma? 2 Questions to Ask Before a Diagnosis

    Is It ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, or Trauma? 2 Questions to Ask Before a Diagnosis Your teenager is struggling, and someone says it might be ADHD, autism, anxiety, or trauma. From the outside, they can look almost the same. In Episode 76, I share what I saw in five and a half years on a psychiatric unit: three realities about how mental health assessments actually work, the one piece of evidence that is almost never requested, and the two questions every parent needs to ask before a diagnosis is made. This isn't about avoiding a diagnosis. It's about making sure it reflects your child's whole story. What You'll Learn in This Episode:  0:00 – Is It ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, or Trauma?  1:23 – When a Teenager's Symptoms Appear Suddenly  1:54 – Why ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, and Trauma Look Alike  3:41 – Why No Blood Test or Brain Scan Can Confirm It  4:32 – Long Wait Times and Rushed Assessments  5:20 – The Early School Records Almost No One Requests  6:17 – 3 Things to Do Before Your Child's Assessment  7:18 – 2 Questions to Ask Before a Diagnosis Find my podcast playlists on YouTube Dr Suzanne Simpson, at Get On Their Turf Guest Interviews:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7xFsX7h7tflz6UKyqfa4AVPf5l9zwve Just Me: https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLi7xFsX7h7tf_CsX5hZUEBTPkz967Sy2n New releases every second Monday 8:00 am PST. 👉 Get the free guide "8 Ways to Get on Your Kids' Turf" at https://www.drsuzannesimpson.com/#reconnect Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsuzannesimpson/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsuzannesimpson/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsuzannesimpson  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566148964209 Please note that the contents of this website are not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. My scope of practice is as an educator, and this work is intended to provide information for educational purposes only. Testimonials of lived experiences are opinion only and have not been scientifically evaluated.

  4. Sep 14

    How to Protect Your Teenager During a Divorce

    Dr. Suzanne Simpson sits down with divorce recovery coach Leah Marie to break down how to protect your teenager's mental health during a divorce, the top three rules for dealing with a toxic co-parent, and why silencing your own inner critic is the first step to rebuilding connection with your kids. Divorce is consistently ranked as one of the hardest things a human being can experience, second only to the death of a loved one - and if you're a parent trying to navigate it, you were never meant to figure it out alone. In episode 75 of Get On Their Turf, Leah Marie, a certified divorce recovery coach and founder of Mindfully Ready, joins Suzanne to talk about protecting your teenager through a divorce and rebuilding connection on the other side. They cover why keeping communication in writing is your best defence against a high-conflict co-parent, the real reason teens melt down after coming home from the other house, what to say when an ex is telling your kids lies about you, and why putting your own oxygen mask on first is the first step toward showing up for your teenager. 00:00 - Meet Leah Marie 01:09 - Leah's personal story and wake-up call 02:58 - The hardest parts of divorce recovery 06:16 - Rule #1 for dealing with a toxic co-parent 07:39 - Rule #2: focus on what you can control 08:56 - Rule #3: your life outside the divorce 10:09 - Top 3 challenges kids face during a divorce 11:33 - How to handle your teenager's anger 14:02 - Why teens melt down on transition days 16:00 - The best way to reconnect after a visit 18:20 - What to do when your ex lies about you 22:45 - The truth about "doing it all" as a single parent 25:36 - How to silence your inner critic 27:44 - A simple way to connect with your teen today 30:01 - How healing yourself changes your child 33:02 - One final piece of advice 34:16 - Connect with Leah Marie Find my podcast playlists on YouTube Dr Suzanne Simpson, at Get On Their Turf Guest Interviews:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7xFsX7h7tflz6UKyqfa4AVPf5l9zwve Just Me: https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLi7xFsX7h7tf_CsX5hZUEBTPkz967Sy2n New releases every second Monday 8:00 am PST. 👉 Get the free guide "8 Ways to Get on Your Kids' Turf" at https://www.drsuzannesimpson.com/#reconnect Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsuzannesimpson/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsuzannesimpson/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsuzannesimpson  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566148964209 Please note that the contents of this website are not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. My scope of practice is as an educator, and this work is intended to provide information for educational purposes only. Testimonials of lived experiences are opinion only and have not been scientifically evaluated.

  5. Aug 31

    How to Connect With Your Teen: Support, Understanding, and Care (Classic)

    How to connect with your teenage child starts with three things teenagers told me they need: support, understanding, and care. This classic episode breaks down what that actually looks like, drawn from a year of research with 25 kids in a youth psychiatric unit. What's covered:  0:00 – Why Teenagers Lash Out  1:22 – What It Means to Support Your Child  2:12 – How to Understand Without Judgement  4:57 – Engaging and Caring for Your Teen  5:34 – How to Create a Connection with Your Teen  7:29 – How Attachment Influences Teen Behaviour  8:11 – Steps to Connect More Today Find my podcast playlists on YouTube Dr Suzanne Simpson, at Get On Their Turf Guest Interviews:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7xFsX7h7tflz6UKyqfa4AVPf5l9zwve Just Me: https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLi7xFsX7h7tf_CsX5hZUEBTPkz967Sy2n New releases every second Monday 8:00 am PST. 👉 Get the free guide "8 Ways to Get on Your Kids' Turf" at https://www.drsuzannesimpson.com/#reconnect Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsuzannesimpson/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsuzannesimpson/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsuzannesimpson  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566148964209 Please note that the contents of this website are not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. My scope of practice is as an educator, and this work is intended to provide information for educational purposes only. Testimonials of lived experiences are opinion only and have not been scientifically evaluated.

  6. Aug 17

    Is Your Teenager's Mental Health Label Actually Helping Them?

    Why mental health labels can spread through a group like a contagion, and what actually protects your teenager instead of another diagnosis. Is your teenager suddenly using words like anxious, ADHD, or depressed to describe how they feel, not because a doctor said so, but because everyone around them is saying it too?  In this classic episode, I sit down with therapist Matt Hussey to talk about something most parents have never considered: mental health struggles can spread through a group the same way a cold does.  We look at why more awareness hasn't lowered how much teens are struggling, how a label can help a teenager feel understood and still spread the same way, and what actually slows it down, which is connection, not another diagnosis. 0:00 The mental health contagion dilemma 2:16 Why more awareness isn't helping your teen 4:40 When normal teen behaviour gets labelled a disorder, and the birth month study that changed how I see ADHD 6:31 Why a diagnosis might not mean what you think 14:56 The true meaning of destigmatization 21:43 Can mental illness spread like a virus 26:28 Why your teen might use a label to get attention online 30:08 The one question to ask instead of accepting the label 32:22 Connection: the antidote to the algorithm Find my podcast playlists on YouTube Dr Suzanne Simpson, at Get On Their Turf Guest Interviews:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7xFsX7h7tflz6UKyqfa4AVPf5l9zwve Just Me: https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLi7xFsX7h7tf_CsX5hZUEBTPkz967Sy2n New releases every second Monday 8:00 am PST. 👉 Get the free guide "8 Ways to Get on Your Kids' Turf" at https://www.drsuzannesimpson.com/#reconnect Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsuzannesimpson/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsuzannesimpson/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsuzannesimpson  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566148964209 Please note that the contents of this website are not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. My scope of practice is as an educator, and this work is intended to provide information for educational purposes only. Testimonials of lived experiences are opinion only and have not been scientifically evaluated.

  7. Aug 3

    Why Teenagers Push Back (And How to Stop the Fight)

    Discover why asking a single question works significantly better than lecturing when your teenager pushes back, and learn how to stop the cycle of yelling.  Every parent has been in that moment: your teenager shuts down, pushes back, or says something that hits you like a wall. Every instinct tells you to react. In this episode, Dr. Suzanne Simpson breaks down why asking a question works significantly better than lecturing, correcting, or explaining.  What You Will Learn: • 0:00 - Why Yelling at Your Teenager Doesn't Work  • 0:46 - The Story Behind a Teenager's Pushback  • 2:00 - 4 Reasons Asking Works Better Than Reacting  • 4:52 - 3 Questions That Get a Teenager Talking  • 6:25 - Say This to Your Teenager Instead Tonight  Find my podcast playlists on YouTube Dr Suzanne Simpson, at Get On Their Turf Guest Interviews:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7xFsX7h7tflz6UKyqfa4AVPf5l9zwve Just Me: https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLi7xFsX7h7tf_CsX5hZUEBTPkz967Sy2n New releases every second Monday 8:00 am PST. 👉 Get the free guide "8 Ways to Get on Your Kids' Turf" at https://www.drsuzannesimpson.com/#reconnect Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsuzannesimpson/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsuzannesimpson/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsuzannesimpson  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566148964209 Please note that the contents of this website are not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. My scope of practice is as an educator, and this work is intended to provide information for educational purposes only. Testimonials of lived experiences are opinion only and have not been scientifically evaluated.

  8. Jul 20

    Working Mom Burnout: How to Stay Connected to Your Kids

    If you're an exhausted working parent, this one's for you. Erika Rothenberger joins me to talk about why "work-life balance" is the wrong goal, and why integration works better. We get into a simple daily ritual that builds connection in minutes, how to talk to your kids about your own failures without oversharing, and how surviving a violent attack in 2022 changed the way she parents. In this episode: 0:35 Why balance is a myth for busy parents 7:00 The question that gets kids talking in the car 16:14 How trauma shapes the way we show up as parents 31:10 The one thing Erika puts first, even before her kids Erika Rothenberger is a keynote speaker and author of Audacious Expansion. As a working mom who survived a violent attack, she shares how she turned trauma into purpose. Connect with Erika: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikarothenberger/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erikalearothenberger/ Audacious Women's Summit: https://www.erikarothenberger.com/audacious-womens-summit/ 👉 Share this with a parent who needs to hear it. Free guide: drsuzannesimpson.com Find my podcast playlists on YouTube Dr Suzanne Simpson, at Get On Their Turf Guest Interviews:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi7xFsX7h7tflz6UKyqfa4AVPf5l9zwve Just Me: https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLi7xFsX7h7tf_CsX5hZUEBTPkz967Sy2n New releases every second Monday 8:00 am PST. 👉 Get the free guide "8 Ways to Get on Your Kids' Turf" at https://www.drsuzannesimpson.com/#reconnect Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsuzannesimpson/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsuzannesimpson/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsuzannesimpson  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566148964209 Please note that the contents of this website are not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. My scope of practice is as an educator, and this work is intended to provide information for educational purposes only. Testimonials of lived experiences are opinion only and have not been scientifically evaluated.

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About

Are you worried about your teen’s anxiety, screen time, or emotional distance? You’re not alone. Get on Their Turf is the parenting podcast that helps you support your child’s mental health and build lasting connection. I’m Dr. Suzanne Simpson, teacher and researcher with 3 decades of experience, and biweekly I share expert interviews, parenting strategies, and real stories from my work in classrooms and a youth psychiatric unit. Episodes explore teen anxiety, depression, screen time struggles, listening without fixing, and spotting early warning signs of stress or crisis. Let’s raise kids who feel safe, seen, and heard—because connection changes everything.

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