Family Dialogues

What happens when the future you imagined for your child suddenly changes? How do you hold onto hope while grieving what may be lost?

Author and mother Angela Ricketts shares how her son’s diagnosis with choroideremia, a rare inherited retinal disease that causes progressive vision loss, transformed her parenting, marriage, faith, and understanding of resilience.

In this deeply personal conversation on Family Dialogues with Dr. Burke, Angela takes us from the moment doctors discovered something was wrong with her five-year-old son’s eyes to the realities of raising a teenager who is gradually losing his sight. She shares why parents need permission to grieve after a child’s diagnosis, why isolation can make an already difficult journey harder, and how finding community helped her family move forward without denying their pain.

Angela and Dr. Burke also explore parenting a child with a chronic illness or disability, caregiver grief, sibling empathy, maintaining a marriage under medical stress, faith, resilience, and finding hope after an unexpected diagnosis. Angela explains how she and her husband learned to become vulnerable with each other, reconnect as a couple, and “fall apart together” rather than carrying their grief alone.

Her experience eventually inspired Never Lose Sight and Sight Stones, a nonprofit supporting research into rare retinal diseases; a reminder that grief and gratitude, pain and purpose, can exist at the same time.

In this episode:

Processing an unexpected diagnosis for your child

Parenting through chronic illness, disability, and progressive vision loss

Helping children understand a diagnosis without defining themselves by it

Why parents should not navigate grief alone

What family and friends should and should not say after a diagnosis

Supporting siblings of children with chronic conditions

Protecting your marriage during caregiving stress

Holding grief, gratitude, faith, and hope at the same time

Turning a painful family experience into advocacy and purpose

Resources Mentioned

Sight Stones — SightStones.org

Never Lose Sight by Angela Ricketts — available on Amazon

Foundation Fighting Blindness

Sight Stones on Instagram

Sight Stones Facebook

Sight Stones on YouTube



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ADHD doesn’t affect just one person; it can shape the emotional climate, routines, communication, and relationships of the entire family.

Dr. Tamara Rosier explains how ADHD families can move from chaos, resentment, and shame toward emotional regulation, healthier boundaries, and stronger connection.

In this episode of Family Dialogues with Dr. Burke, ADHD expert, coach, and author Dr. Tamara Rosier explores what happens when ADHD is part of family life, whether it affects a child, parent, spouse, or several family members.

Dr. Rosier explains why emotional regulation needs to come before organization, using her memorable “emotional pool” metaphor to help families understand big emotions, meltdowns, shutdowns, and conflict.

She also discusses how overfunctioning and underfunctioning develop in ADHD households, why parents may need to allow children to experience appropriate consequences, and how couples can divide responsibilities according to their strengths rather than resentment or unrealistic expectations.

The conversation also explores ADHD in women, including late diagnosis, perimenopause, hormonal changes, shame, and the grief some women experience when they finally understand why life has felt so difficult.

You’ll also learn:

How the window of tolerance affects ADHD emotional regulation

Practical ways to move out of hyperarousal or shutdown

How to correct children without reinforcing shame

Why collaborative problem-solving can work better than constant correction

How to move from survival thinking to transformational thinking

Dr. Rosier’s three-step conflict repair process: Reach, Repair, Reconnect

Why protecting the relationship matters more than getting every parenting moment right

Whether you are parenting a child with ADHD, navigating ADHD in your marriage, or recognizing these patterns in yourself, this conversation offers practical tools for creating a calmer, more connected ADHD family.

Resources & Programs Mentioned

Dr. Tamara Rosier: TamaraRosier.com

ADHD Center of West Michigan

Pathways to Success – Cindy Goldrich

Book: You, Me and Our ADHD Family by Dr. Tamara Rosier



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Want your teenager to talk to you without every conversation turning into advice, arguments, or shutdowns?

Parenting coach Emily Ricks explains how “holding space” can help parents build trust, improve communication, and stay connected with their teens even during conflict.

In this episode of Family Dialogues, Dr. Taniesha Burke speaks with certified life and parenting coach Emily Ricks, host of the Parenting Teens podcast, about one of the most powerful skills parents can use when raising teenagers: holding space.

Instead of immediately fixing the problem, dismissing a teen’s feelings, or agreeing with everything they say, Emily encourages parents to pause, listen with curiosity, and create room for teenagers to explore what they think, feel, and want to do.

You'll learn:

What it really means to hold space for your teenager

Why fixing, rescuing, or dismissing can shut down parent-teen communication

Simple phrases such as “Tell me more” that encourage teens to keep talking

How to validate emotions without automatically agreeing with your teen’s interpretation

Why parents need to regulate their own emotions before difficult conversations

How vulnerability, apologies, and repair can rebuild trust with your teenager

What to do when your teen gives one-word answers or doesn't want to talk

How to offer advice without taking over your teenager’s decision-making

When holding space is appropriate and when parents need to set clear boundaries around risky behavior

Why trusting the “long game” matters when your teenager seems distant or resistant

Emily also reminds parents that mistakes do not have to define the relationship. Parents can acknowledge when they reacted poorly, apologize, and create a new opportunity for connection. Sometimes, rebuilding trust begins with simply saying, “I’m ready to listen.”

And when your teenager seems to be pulling away? Emily encourages parents to zoom out. Raising children is a long-term relationship, and seasons of distance do not mean the relationship is lost.

Connect with Emily Ricks

Emily Ricks Coaching: EmilyRicksCoaching.com

Parenting Teens Podcast

Instagram: Emily Ricks Coaching

Facebook: Emily Ricks Coaching



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Struggling with toxic texts, hostile emails, or constant conflict with your co-parent? Learn how to respond without escalating the fight.

High-conflict expert Bill Eddy shares the BIFF method: a practical communication strategy to help separated and divorced parents stay calm, set boundaries, and protect their children from ongoing conflict.

In this episode of Family Dialogues, Dr. Taniesha Burke speaks with Bill Eddy, co-founder of the High Conflict Institute, former child and family therapist, family law attorney, mediator, and author of more than 20 books.

Bill explains why texts and emails can quickly intensify high-conflict co-parenting and how the BIFF method (Brief, Informative, Friendly, and Firm) can help parents respond strategically instead of emotionally.

You’ll learn:

How to respond to blaming, hostile, or provocative messages from an ex

Why defending yourself can sometimes escalate co-parenting conflict

The three A's to avoid in BIFF responses: advice, admonishments, and apologies

When you should respond—and when it is better not to respond

How to set firm boundaries without sounding hostile

How to document difficult interactions factually if conflict may become a legal issue

Why children can absorb a parent's anger toward the other parent

How to communicate with a child who is rejecting or distancing themselves from one parent

How BIFF skills can also improve communication with spouses, teenagers, and other family members

Bill emphasizes that children can absorb a parent's emotions during divorce and separation, particularly when they repeatedly hear anger or negative messages about the other parent. His central message for parents: communication does not have to be driven by fear, anger, or the need to win. With practice, parents can become more deliberate about what they need to communicate and what outcome they want from the conversation.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

High Conflict Institute: website, articles, courses, and resources

BIFF for Co-Parent Communication by Bill Eddy

Don’t Alienate the Kids: Raising Resilient Children and Avoiding High-Conflict Divorce by Bill Eddy

Splitting: Protecting Yourself While Divorcing Someone with Borderline or Narcissistic Personality Disorder by Bill Eddy

New Ways for Families — co-parenting/divorce program

New Ways for Couples and Families — communication program for intact families

New Ways for Life — program for youth ages 12–17

It’s All Your Fault — High Conflict Institute podcast



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When your teenager is struggling with an eating disorder, knowing what to say and what not to say can make a profound difference.

Jennifer Hope Longenecker shares what parents need to know about warning signs, treatment, relapse, family support, and helping a teen move toward recovery without blame or shame.

In this episode of Family Dialogues, Dr. Taniesha Burke speaks with Jennifer Hope Longenecker, trauma-informed mental health coach, mother, and co-author of Held in the Dark: A Mother Daughter Guide to Navigating an Adolescent Eating Disorder, Treatment and Recovery.

Drawing from her family's experience supporting her daughter through an eating disorder, Jennifer discusses the subtle early warning signs of eating disorders in teenagers, including avoiding family meals, restrictive eating, excessive exercise, secrecy around food, and changes that can easily be mistaken for normal teenage behavior.

Jennifer and Dr. Burke explore anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and restrictive eating, as well as how parents can begin a conversation when they suspect something is wrong. Jennifer also explains why finding a professional who specializes in eating disorders, rather than simply having experience with them, can be critically important.

They also discuss:

How diet culture and body talk at home can influence children and teens

Why families may need to stop labeling foods as “good” or “bad”

What to say instead of commenting on a teen's weight or appearance

How an eating disorder can affect siblings, marriage, and the entire family system

Why parents may need individual or couples therapy while supporting their child

The importance of a multidisciplinary eating disorder treatment team

Residential treatment, partial hospitalization (PHP), and intensive outpatient programs (IOP)

Why relapse does not erase previous recovery progress

How parents can support recovery without becoming the “food police”

Managing parental guilt, shame, and self-blame

Why recovery often involves ups and downs rather than one straightforward path

Jennifer reminds parents that needing additional treatment does not mean their child has lost everything they previously accomplished; it can simply mean they have reached a hurdle that requires more support.

Her message to families is one of hope: recovery is possible, parents are an important part of the treatment team, and neither teenagers nor their families need to navigate an eating disorder alone.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Held in the Dark: A Mother-Daughter Guide to Navigating an Adolescent Eating Disorder, Treatment and Recovery — Jennifer Hope Longenecker

Held in the Dark five-question parent quiz

F.E.A.S.T. — eating disorder education and support resources for families

Jennifer Hope Longenecker on Instagram

Jennifer Hope Longenecker's website

Jennifer's Facebook support group for parents and teens navigating eating disorders



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Our Journals on Amazon

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