Hopestream: Parenting Kids Through Addiction & Mental Health
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 experts
- Real stories from families who've been there
- Evidence-based strategies for helping your child
- Self-care and coping tools for parents
- Deeper 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.
Episodes
300 episodes
Fostering Independence With Boundaries and Discomfort, with Nicole Runyon, LMSW
ABOUT THE EPISODE:Author and therapist, Nicole Runyon, LMSW, witnessed something that reshaped her entire career: loving, intact families were producing children with trauma-like symptoms typically identified in severe abuse survi...
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Season 6
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Episode 300
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57:42
Why Can’t I Fix This? Eight Steps to Move From Wishing to Planning When Your Child Struggles with Addiction, with Brenda Zane
ABOUT THE EPISODE:Your 3am Google search spiral feels beyond frustrating when you're usually the one with answers. In this week's solo episode I acknowledge the unique exhaustion of spinning your wheels while your child struggles,...
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Season 6
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Episode 299
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45:58
When Your Child Doesn't Believe They're Ill: Understanding Anosognosia and Mental Illness, with Dr. Xavier Amador
ABOUT THE EPISODE:When your child doesn't believe they need help, finding a path forward can feel nearly impossible and is exhausting in every way. Dr. Xavier Amador offers profound hope through his LEAP method—a neuroscience-back...
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Season 6
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Episode 298
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44:55
How to Stop Normalizing Dangerous Behavior When Your Child Struggles With Addiction and Mental Health, with Dina Cannizzaro
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:If you've ever found yourself tiptoeing through your own home, rehearsing conversations to avoid triggering an explosion, or even putting a lock on your bedroom door for protection—you're not alone. Today's con...
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Season 6
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Episode 297
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56:44
Why Your Struggling Child Pushes You Away: The Attachment Connection, with Todd Sarner
ABOUT THE EPISODE:When a young person you love is struggling with substances or challenging behaviors, the instinct to fix everything can feel overwhelming. In this illuminating conversation, marriage and family therapist Todd Sar...
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Season 6
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Episode 296
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1:04:36
Think Like A Negotiator When Your Child Misuses Substances, with Cathy Cioth
ABOUT THE EPISODE: In this episode Cathy and I discuss unique skills from the business world that can be applied to our relationships - especially one with a struggling teen or young adult who is misusing substances and...
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Season 6
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Episode 295
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21:15
Amber Hollingsworth: Put The Shovel Down When Your Kid Is Misusing Drugs and Alcohol
ABOUT THE EPISODE:If someone in your life has an unhealthy relationship with drugs and/or alcohol, you likely already know my guest for today’s episode - Amber Hollingsworth. Amber hosts the wildly popular YouTube channel, “Put Th...
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Season 6
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Episode 294
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1:11:42
What Parents of Struggling Kids Really Need, with Brenda Zane
ABOUT THE EPISODE: When your friend or family member has a child struggling with mental health and substance use, it can feel awkward and difficult to know how to help support them. This episode is meant to be a resourc...
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Season 5
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Episode 293
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19:49
How Anxious Attachment Impacts Your Struggling Child, with Trevor Hanson
ABOUT THE EPISODE:Trevor Hanson had accumulated a pretty good life - from living on a beach in Hawaii, to getting a great job at Tesla and engaged to be married. One year later, he was unemployed, his engagement and his jaw were b...
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Season 6
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Episode 292
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51:11
The Best Way To Not Say or Do The Wrong Thing, At The Wrong Time, with Cathy Cioth
ABOUT THE EPISODE:We've all been there. A tense or heated conversation where something flies out of your mouth that you don't really mean, or you inflict your 'help' when it's not wanted or needed. You might, at times, find yourse...
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Season 6
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Episode 291
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44:36
When Your Child Says, “No Thanks” to The Faith They Were Raised With, with Heather Frazier
ABOUT THE EPISODE:Substance use and recovery can shift every aspect of a young person's life - even the faith that has been deeply ingrained in someone’s upbringing. Parents often have visions and expectations of their child...
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Season 6
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Episode 290
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54:25
Ed Ternan, Song for Charlie's Founder On His Unrelenting Work to Warn About Fake Pills
ABOUT THE EPISODE:When Ed and Mary Ternan finally met the police officer who had been on scene at their son's overdose death, he had an off-the-record theory: "This is not official, and you'll have to wait for toxicology to come b...
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Season 6
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Episode 289
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46:21
You Can Create Conditions For Change When Your Child Battles Addiction, with Dina Cannizzaro
ABOUT THE EPISODE:It’s hard to come to terms with how little control we have over whether our kids choose recovery or remain in an unhealthy lifestyle. In this episode, you’ll get to hear from Dina Cannizzaro, a mom who has been t...
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Season 6
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Episode 288
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54:33
Sending Your Struggling Kid Off To College?, with Cathy Cioth
ABOUT THE EPISODE:It’s the season parents often dream of - their high school senior has successfully walked the stage and they’re now packing the family car to make the ceremonial drive to the four-year university their family goe...
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Season 6
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Episode 287
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50:31
What Your 'Failure to Launch' Teen or Young Adult Kid Really Needs, with Dr. Mark McConville
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:In this summer 'from the vault' episode I'm resharing an impactful interview with Dr. Mark McConville, a clinical psychologist specializing in adolescents and young adults. We discuss:Strategies for...
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Season 6
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Episode 286
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52:47
Six Parenting Tools You Need for Navigating A Child's Substance Issues, with Cathy Cioth
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:A fresh new, 'from-the-vault' episode that is as relevant today as it was in 2022!Navigating life with a young person who’s misusing substances and struggling with mental health can feel like a ride in a...
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Season 6
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Episode 285
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33:03
Kids & Addiction: What 99 Parents & Pros Taught Me
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:In this 'from the vault' episode of Hopestream (originally episode #100), I share my journey since launching the podcast in January 2020 and curated the top 11 learnings and insights I gleaned from my incredib...
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Season 6
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Episode 284
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41:25
Break Through to Your Child Struggling with Drugs & Alcohol
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:Need a way to better navigate even the most challenging conversations? Over time, I've learned that making a request of someone can go south quickly when you don't know how to set it up properly. In...
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Season 6
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Episode 283
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21:47
Counterintuitive Parenting if Your Child Struggles with Substances & Mental Health
ABOUT THE EPISODE:In this episode from the vault, I draw from my own experiences to share four counterintuitive strategies that can transform relationships and encourage healing when you're parenting a young person struggling with...
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Season 6
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Episode 282
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31:55
Ten Hard Truths Every Parent Needs if Your Child Misuses Drugs or Alcohol
ABOUT THE EPISODE:This week I’m bringing back an episode from 2020 that is just as relevant today as it was then. The episode covers ten hard truths parents need to face when you recognize potential substance use, or if you know y...
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Season 6
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Episode 281
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36:35
Staying Strong Through Your Kid's Struggles: A Short Story
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:It's summer and we're diving deep into the Hopestream episode vault to bring you some listener faves and a few that just work when you need connection and understanding. Today, you'll hear about The Secret Menu...
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Season 6
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Episode 280
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13:11
Parenting with Confidence And Clarity Through Crisis, with Beth Hillman
ABOUT THE EPISODE:Figuring out your evolving role as a parent during your child’s adolescence is difficult, even if you aren’t dealing with substance misuse. The natural inclination to protect and nurture is already being...
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Season 6
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Episode 279
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56:22
Overcoming Parenting Doubt and Fear: Part Two, with Cathy Cioth
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:In part two of this two-part episode, Cathy and I dive deep into two more of those sneaky, often invisible struggles that so many of us experience when parenting through substance use and mental health challeng...
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Season 6
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Episode 278
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35:41
Overcoming Parenting Doubt and Fear: Part One, with Cathy Cioth
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:Sometimes, the hardest parts of our journey are the feelings we can't quite put our finger on, when you can tell something feels off but can't really articulate exactly what's wrong. In this two-part episode, C...
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Season 6
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Episode 277
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33:47
The Benefits of Acceptance (Not Accepting) When Your Child Struggles with Addiction & Mental Health
ABOUT THE EPISODE:At times it can be confusing for parents of teens and young adults who are misusing substances to tease apart the concept of acceptance vs. the act of accepting. In this solo episode, I help distinguish the two a...
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Season 6
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Episode 276
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22:37
