Ep 39. You're on Fire, It's Fine, with Katie K. May

What's in this episode

In today's episode, I have a special treat for you. Today I'm talking to Katie K. May, therapist, author, and founder of a therapy practice in the greater Philadelphia area that supports teens and families. Katie is also a board-certified self-harm specialist, and she wrote the book "You're On Fire, It's Fine: Effective Strategies for Parenting Teens with Self-Destructive Behaviors." This conversation was so good, and I know you're going to get so much out of it. In this episode, we talk about: What it means to be a "fire feeler" and why some teens experience emotions like an internal explosion that takes over everything, as well as why it's rooted in biology and not a character flaw What's actually happening in a teen's nervous system when they shut down and go to their room, and why pushing harder as a parent tends to backfire The transactional model of behavior and how the changes a parent makes on their own, even without their teen in therapy, can start shifting the patterns at home right away Why judgment-based labels like "manipulative" or "oppositional" can inadvertently reinforce the very behaviors we want to change, and what to do instead The difference between reactive pu