TPP 017a: One Mother's Radical, Nature-Based Approach to Helping Her Daughter Live with Anxiety
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
36 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 14 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is Jill’s family background and why did Anna’s anxiety become a focus?
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Hey there, it's Debbie and welcome to Playback Friday. Most Fridays, I re-release one of my favorite conversations from the archive. So unless you're a longtime listener of the show, there's a good chance you haven't heard this one yet. And even if you have, you just might get something completely different from it listening to it this time around.
At home. With medication, with a therapist, she usually has two to three, maybe four significant meltdowns a week because of anxiety. When we got out there in the woods, in that six weeks, she had one partial meltdown and that was all.
Welcome to the Tilt Parenting Podcast, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. I'm your host, Debbie Reber, and today we're talking with Jill Emmel Hines, the mother of a 14-year-old daughter with anxiety who's taken extraordinary measures to support her daughter. Last year, Jill and her daughter have gone on extended hiking expeditions on the Appalachian Trail, the longest hiking-only footpath in the world that extends all the way from Maine to Georgia in the eastern United States. Jill's story is fascinating, but perhaps what I love most about our conversation is that Jill offers a beautiful example of what it looks like when a parent commits to becoming fluent in their child's unique language.
and adapts their life to create experiences to help their child thrive. This is not to say that parents should pull their kid out of school, stock up on camping supplies, and hit the trail, but I do think it's really inspiring to consider how we as parents can creatively figure out ways to meet our children where they're at in a powerful way. Thank you as always for listening to the Tilt Parenting Podcast. To learn more about Tilt, visit www.tiltparenting.com. Hey everyone, this is Debbie Reber with the Tilt Parenting Podcast. And today I'm happy to welcome to the show, Jill Emelhines. Hi, Debbie. I've been really looking forward to speaking with you ever since I was kind of looking back at our correspondence.
And I think you filled out my podcast suggestion form back when I very first launched Tilt. And in that note to me, you wrote that you thought we should explore the topic of the significance of outdoor time for our kids. And specifically what you wrote was, We work hard to add this to daily life for our daughter. And later this week, she and I leave for our second five-week backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail, a setting where her debilitating anxiety drops to almost zero. So that message totally piqued my interest. And I know there are lots of listeners raising children who struggle with anxiety. So I definitely wanted to get you on the show. So here you are. And thank you so much for doing this.
Oh, I'm glad to talk.
I'd love if you could just kind of share your story with us. Maybe tell us a little bit about your family and your daughter. I was doing a little, you know, I always do my online research. I know you have several children, but it's your youngest daughter who is 14. That is the one you did the Appalachian Trail with. Is that correct?
Yep, that's correct. Yeah, as you said, we've got a big family. We've got seven kids. And at this point, Anna is the only one still left at home. The rest are grown and on their own. And Anna has had mental health issues that she struggled with first diagnosed when she was five. And it's a whole alphabet soup of different diagnoses. But the most significant issue we struggle with is her overwhelming anxiety that causes her at times to shut down. Other times she melts down with, you know, screaming or crying or rages when she's just overwhelmed with all of the sensory chaos that's around her.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is Jill’s family background and why did Anna’s anxiety become a focus?
0:00–4:54
2
How did Jill and her husband decide to try an extended Appalachian Trail hike?
4:54–9:12
3
What preparation and planning did they do before the six‑week fall hike?
9:12–13:56
4
How did Anna’s anxiety change during the first weeks on the trail?
13:56–19:03
5
What challenges did the family face on the trail and how did they handle them?
19:03–23:10
6
How did the outdoor experience help Anna develop coping skills for everyday life?
23:10–28:33
7
What practical tips does Jill share for getting kids excited about nature?
28:33–32:03
8
What resources and future adventures does Jill recommend for other families?
32:03–36:03
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids