TPP 249: Jessica Lahey on Her New Book, The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
46 min
2 speakers
6 chapters
transcribed 14 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the main focus of the episode and why is substance use a pressing issue for differently‑wired kids?
I'm so grateful for this that it's becoming normalized to have like dry January to take a little bit of a breather and reassess our relationship to substances. That's something I think it's gonna be important to do before you even start to think about how you're gonna talk to your kids about their use.
Welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. I'm your host, Debbie Rieber. Today I'm bringing you an important conversation about alcohol and substance abuse. In almost five years of podcasting, I've only covered this topic once so far, yet I know this is a pressing issue for parents of differently wired kids, as several studies have linked neurodivergence with higher rates of alcohol and substance addiction. Well, it just so happens that friend of the show and all-around amazing human Jessica Leahy has written a brand new book, The Addiction Inoculation, Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence.
As a recovering alcoholic herself and having taught in a rehab center for adolescents, Jessica wanted to better understand how to inoculate her own children against their own addiction inheritance. After delving into the current research and her own past, the result is a vulnerable and powerful resource for all parents, teachers, and caregivers. I was able to receive an advanced copy of Jess's book and had so many aha moments while reading it. I can't recommend it highly enough. I wanted to talk to Jessica specifically about the link between neurodivergence and addiction, something I know is a concern for many parents of differently wired kids, and that Jessica has seen firsthand in her teaching experience.
We talk about why that is, what parents need to know, as well as her best strategies for when and how to talk to kids about alcohol and drugs. You might be surprised by some of the things. of her research findings and her advice. So many great nuggets in this one. I hope it gives you a lot of food for thought. And a quick note before that that next week I am going to be celebrating the five year anniversary of Tilt Parenting with episode two hundred and fifty of this show. Please help me celebrate by subscribing to this podcast or leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts. Follow Tilt Parenting on social media. Share this show and Tilt Parenting with friends and family and educators and other people in your community who would benefit.
Basically just help me continue to grow this thing. And as always, thank you so much just for being on the other end of this conversation. conversation. I am so grateful to be on this journey with you. And now here is my conversation with Jessica Leahy. Good morning, Jess. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having
me. I love this podcast so much.
Thank you. And you know what? I was actually, um I think I was just seeing when I had you on last and it was almost four years ago, which is Was it really? Yeah, it was twenty seventeen, which is surprising to me. I feel like we've lived many lifetimes between then and now.
From the time that gift of failure came out to now has gone so fast, mainly because I've been on the road traveling a lot and a lot's been going on. And you know, it was funny before I figured out what I was gonna write about for my second book, I remember talking to um actually it was Susan Kane who wrote Quiet and she said, uh I said, you know, I'm feeling some pressure to write the w next book. And she's like, why? And I said, 'Cause I'm feeling some pressure and she said, From anyone other than you? And I said No, just me. She said, Well, sometimes it's good to just live in the content that you worked so hard to put together and are still exploring and still teaching to people and let that be enough.
And so it was nice actually to sort of sit back and and get to teach really for for the years in between that book and this new book.
Well and I just imagine too, the gift of failure is still well, I know that it's still incredibly relevant and it it's probably something you get emailed to to speak about all the time still, right?
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main focus of the episode and why is substance use a pressing issue for differently‑wired kids?
0:00–5:47
2
How does Jessica Lahey’s background in recovery and rehab teaching shape her new book, *The Addiction Inoculation*?
5:47–11:04
3
What research links neurodivergence (ADHD, autism, dyslexia) to higher risk of addiction?
11:04–20:32
4
When should parents start talking to children about alcohol and drugs, and why is waiting until middle school too late?
20:32–33:43
5
What are the biggest risk factors (trauma, academic failure, social ostracism) that increase a child’s chance of substance‑use disorder?
33:43–45:16
6
What practical, age‑appropriate conversation strategies does the book recommend for preventing addiction?
45:16–46:18
Speakers
2 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