Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess and Raising Resilient Kids With Dr. Caroline Leaf

Episode Highlights With Dr. Leaf

• The problem with how we take care of depression, anxiety, and mental health
• How the mind can influence the brain and vice versa
• Why the brain isn’t the cause, it is the responder, and why this reductionist approach has been a disservice to those who struggle with mental health
• The problem with labeling conditions based on just looking at the brain and a better approach
• What mind management is and how to help our kids have a good foundation of this
• The neurocycle as a tool to help kids work through struggles
• How suppression creates imbalances in the brain and the body
• The most important thing we can do for our child’s mental health (hint: it starts with the parents)
• How to model mental health skills to our children
• The neurocycle approach to helping children become aware of and process things that happen to them and their interpretation of these events
• Why children can interpret body language so well and how to manage our own minds in a way that helps them
• How to model the neurocycle for your kids and make it part of your family culture
• You can’t make your children happy and you can’t fix them
• Safety net parenting vs. helicopter parenting 
• Most kids are only getting 7-10 minutes a day of free play, but they need 3-4 hours optimally
• Why to let your child be upset and cry when they are experiencing big emotions
• How giving your child space to struggle will help them work through their feelings safely and shape their own identity
• You can’t change what has happened to you but you can change what it looks like inside of you

You can’t change what has happened to you but you can change what it looks like inside of you - Dr Caroline Leaf

Resources We Mention

• How to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess: A Guide to Building Resilience and Managing Mental Health by Dr. Caroline Leaf
• Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Toxic Thinking by Dr. Caroline Leaf
• Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health by Dr. Caroline Leaf
• Caroline Leaf - website
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien