Complicated Kids

For some kids, the most powerful support is not one more program. It is an adult who keeps showing up.
Jorie Das is the Executive Director of Friends of the Children Los Angeles, an organization doing something that immediately got my attention: pairing children who have experienced significant adversity with paid, professional mentors who make a 12-plus-year commitment to them. These are not volunteers dropping in for a semester or a program that disappears when the funding cycle ends. Friends spend intentional time with kids at school, at home, and in the community while helping them navigate goals, transitions, new experiences, and the very ordinary business of growing up.
As Jorie says, childhood is not a program cycle. A kid can be doing beautifully at eight and struggling enormously at thirteen. Schools change. Families change. Adolescence happens. The commitment is designed to stay in place through those changes because the child does not have to reach a milestone or behave a particular way to earn the relationship.
That becomes especially important when we talk about trauma. Jorie explains that we cannot expect a child who has experienced instability in relationships to immediately trust a new adult just because that adult has excellent intentions. Kids may pull away, shut down, or test whether this person is really staying. The mentor gets to respond through their actions: "You don't have to earn my consistency. I'm still here." Over time, that relationship can create new experiences of safety, predictability, and repair. Mentorship is not a replacement for therapy when a child needs clinical care, but a safe and consistent adult can absolutely be part of the healing environment.
What I also love about the Friends model is that the child is not treated as though they exist in a vacuum. The organization supports caregivers, works with schools, connects families with community resources, and supports the mentors themselves. Because if we are asking adults to show up consistently for kids carrying a lot, those adults need people showing up for them too.
We also talk about neurodivergence and educational advocacy. Jorie shares that a large percentage of the young people served by Friends LA have IEPs, which has pushed the organization to build more training around ADHD, autism, IEPs, and helping caregivers communicate with schools. Sometimes the parent knows something is not working but does not know the language, the process, or even who they are supposed to talk to. Having someone who knows the child and can help bridge that gap can change the entire conversation.
And underneath all of this is something very simple and very human: kids need people who do not give up on them. Not because the relationship will always be easy. In fact, sometimes the most important moment may be after the really hard day, when the adult can say, "I'll see you Tuesday."
For a child who has learned that people or support can disappear, knowing somebody is coming back can be a very big deal.
Key Takeaways
Consistency can be an intervention, especially for children who have experienced trauma or instability in relationships.
Children should not have to behave a certain way or reach a milestone to earn a trusted adult's continued presence.
Long-term relationships give adults the chance to know the whole child as they grow and change over time.
Trauma can make it difficult for children to trust adults, even when those adults have good intentions.
Safe, predictable relationships can create new experiences of trust, repair, and connection.
Mentorship can support healing, but it does not replace therapy or other clinical care when those services are needed.
Supporting children also means supporting caregivers, schools, mentors, and the larger community around them.
Neurodivergent children and their caregivers may need additional support navigating IEPs and advocating within school systems.
When a child pushes an adult away, curiosity about what they have learned about relationships can be more useful than taking the behavior personally.
Sometimes the most powerful message an adult can give a child is simply, "I'm still here."
About Jorie Das
Jorie Das is the Executive Director of Friends of the Children Los Angeles, where she leads an evidence-based professional mentoring program serving children and families impacted by the child welfare system. With more than a decade of experience in nonprofit management, youth programming, and advocacy in Greater Los Angeles, Jorie is deeply committed to positive youth development, trauma-informed care, and the transformative power of long-term relationships. Her own experience in foster care also brings an important lived perspective to her work.
Under Jorie's leadership, Friends LA has expanded its reach across Los Angeles County, growing the number of youth and families served and developing additional programming to support young people as they move toward adulthood. She previously served as Interim Executive Director at InsideOUT Writers and held executive roles at Baby2Baby and Free Arts. Jorie holds a BA in Ethnic Studies and Art from the University of Oregon and an MA in International Affairs and Business from Chapman University.
About Your Host, Gabriele Nicolet
I'm Gabriele Nicolet, toddler whisperer, speech therapist, parenting life coach, and host of Complicated Kids. Each week, I share practical, relationship-based strategies for raising kids with big feelings, big needs, and beautifully different brains. My goal is to help families move from surviving to thriving by building connection, confidence, and clarity at home.
Complicated Kids Resources and Links:
🌎 www.gabrielenicolet.com
📅 Schedule a free intro call: https://calendly.com/gabrielenicolet/free-15-minute-1-1-session
📺 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@complicatedkids/featured
👾 Grab Tell the Story (anti-anxiety tool for kids): https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/tell-the-story
📝 Read my latest blog posts: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/blog
🎤  Explore my upcoming live workshops: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/live-workshops
🎥 Explore my on-demand workshops: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/workshop-replays
➡️ Instagram: http://instagram.com/gabriele_nicolet
➡️ Facebook: http://facebook.com/gabriele.nicolet
➡️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielenicolet/
🌺 Free "Orchid Kid" Checklist: https://www.raisingorchidkids.com/orchid-kid-check-list-sign-up/
Enjoying the show?
If Complicated Kids has been helpful, the best way to support the podcast is to follow, rate, and leave a quick review. It helps other parents find the show—and it means a lot.
If there's a topic you'd love to hear covered on a future episode, you can always reach out at podcast@complicatedkids.com. I love hearing what's on your mind and what would support your family.
Thank you for being here. 💛

If we spend childhood teaching a kid that adults know their body, needs, and limits better than they do, it is a pretty big leap to expect self-trust to magically appear in adulthood.
Jenn Glacel is back on the podcast, and this time we are talking about what she calls radical acceptance of children's inner knowing or wisdom.
Before anybody starts rolling their eyes, this is not an argument that a four-year-old has all the information necessary to run the household. Jenn makes an important distinction between knowing something about your own experience and having the language, context, or skills to explain it. Kids may know what they are feeling or what they need without being able to communicate it in a particularly useful way.
We also talk about the difference between autonomy and independence. We tend to treat autonomy as something children earn once they can be independent in the ways adults expect. But needing help does not mean a person should lose their say over their own body, preferences, or experiences.
The humble winter coat becomes our case study. If your child says, "I'm not cold," and you repeatedly respond, "Yes, you are," what are they learning? Maybe they are learning about coats. But they may also be learning that their own bodily experience is less trustworthy than an adult's interpretation of it.
This does not mean we let a kid wander into ten-below weather in shorts because autonomy. Context matters. Sometimes the adult has information the child simply does not have yet, and safety requires us to step in. But at 45 degrees, maybe we bring the coat and let the kid gather some data. A lot of learning can happen without a lecture.
That trust becomes especially important when we ask children to try something new. Jenn makes a point I love: when a child knows that their "no" will actually be honored, a push can feel safe. They can try the roller coaster, the new activity, or the unfamiliar experience because they know that if they change their mind, the adult will listen. If we say, "You can stop anytime," and then immediately argue when they want to stop, we have changed the deal.
We also talk about shifting from judgment to curiosity. Jenn's starting assumption is that if a child can do something, they will. If it is not happening, instead of jumping immediately to lazy, defiant, disrespectful, or "they just don't want to," we can ask what is getting in the way.
As I say in the episode, you can be right and indignant, or you can be curious and in relationship.
And yes, sometimes what we discover is that the dishes are not going to get done on our preferred timeline and, tragically, we may have to wash them ourselves.
That same idea of mutual respect comes up in the tiny daily interactions too. If we want children who say please and thank you, are we saying please and thank you to them? If we want respect, are we treating them as people worthy of respect? Kids are watching what we do much more closely than they are memorizing the lecture.
None of this requires children to communicate their needs beautifully. Dysregulated kids can express themselves in some truly spectacularly unappealing ways.
Our job is not to assume that a badly delivered need is not a real need. Our job is to become detectives, slow things down, and figure out what the child may not yet be able to tell us clearly.
Because helping kids trust themselves starts with showing them that we are willing to listen.
Key Takeaways
Children can know something about what they need or feel even when they cannot explain it clearly.
Autonomy and independence are different. Needing support does not mean a child should lose their voice or choices.
Children build self-trust when adults take their bodily experiences and signals seriously.
Supporting autonomy does not mean ignoring safety. Adults still provide protection, context, and support when the stakes require it.
Kids may be more willing to try something new when they trust that their "no" will actually be honored.
If a child is not doing something we expect, curiosity is more useful than immediately assuming laziness, defiance, or disrespect.
Sometimes the question is not "How do I make my child do this?" but "What is preventing this from happening?"
Respect works both ways. Children learn respect by experiencing it, not just by being told to show it.
Dysregulation can make it difficult for kids to express what they need in ways adults can easily hear.
Parents can become detectives, slowing down enough to look beneath the behavior and figure out what their child may be communicating.
About Jenn Glacel
Jenn Glacel is an autistic licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist with a private practice in Falls Church, Virginia. Through Seven Corners Psychotherapy, she works with children, adults, parents, and families through a radically neurodiversity-affirming lens.
Her work includes child-centered play therapy, family support, and education for parents and practitioners about what neurodiversity-affirming care looks like in practice. Jenn's approach focuses on helping people better understand and trust themselves while building relationships rooted in mutual trust, respect, and acceptance.
About Your Host, Gabriele Nicolet
I'm Gabriele Nicolet, toddler whisperer, speech therapist, parenting life coach, and host of Complicated Kids. Each week, I share practical, relationship-based strategies for raising kids with big feelings, big needs, and beautifully different brains. My goal is to help families move from surviving to thriving by building connection, confidence, and clarity at home.
Complicated Kids Resources and Links
🌎 Website: www.gabrielenicolet.com
📅 Schedule a free intro call: https://calendly.com/gabrielenicolet/free-15-minute-1-1-session
📺 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@complicatedkids/featured
👾 Grab Tell the Story (anti-anxiety tool for kids): https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/tell-the-story
📝 Read my latest blog posts: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/blog
🎤 Explore my upcoming live workshops: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/live-workshops
🎥 Explore my on-demand workshops: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/workshop-replays
➡️ Instagram: http://instagram.com/gabriele_nicolet
➡️ Facebook: http://facebook.com/gabriele.nicolet
➡️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielenicolet/
🌺 Free "Orchid Kid" Checklist: https://www.raisingorchidkids.com/orchid-kid-check-list-sign-up/
Enjoying the show?
If Complicated Kids has been helpful, the best way to support the podcast is to follow, rate, and leave a quick review. It helps other parents find the show—and it means a lot.
If there's a topic you'd love to hear covered on a future episode, you can always reach out at podcast@complicatedkids.com. I love hearing what's on your mind and what would support your family.
Thank you for being here. 💛

When your child needs so much from you, your relationship with your partner can quietly become one more thing that gets put on the back burner.
There is always something more urgent. A school issue. An appointment. A meltdown. A sibling who also needs something. A decision that has to be made. Caron Starobin's argument in this episode is that the relationship between the adults is not separate from all of that. It is part of how the family gets through it.
Caron is a clinical social worker and couples therapist who works extensively with neurodivergent people and their families. She explains that raising complicated kids can take enormous amounts of time, energy, money, and emotional resources. When the relationship between the adults is also full of tension and conflict, that becomes another source of depletion. When there is enough security and connection between the adults, the family has one less complicated thing to navigate.
And no, we are not talking about a perfectly harmonious partnership where nobody ever gets annoyed.
We are talking about being connected well enough to navigate the storms together.
One of the biggest traps Caron sees is the very familiar idea that, "If my partner would just do this differently, then I could feel better." The problem is that our regulation cannot depend on somebody else regulating first. Your partner may absolutely be doing something that activates you, but you still have to figure out how to come back to yourself.
That also changes how we define whether regulation "worked." If you got calmer and your partner did not, that does not mean you failed. You regulated yourself. You stayed in your seat. You kept two dysregulated people from escalating together. That counts.
Caron also talks about what happens when old relationship patterns get activated. The ways we learned to protect ourselves in our original families can show up again with our partners. Maybe you shut down. Maybe you get loud. Maybe you leave. Maybe you start trying desperately to make everybody happy. Those responses may have been useful once, but they may not work particularly well in the relationship you are in now.
Sometimes, as Caron puts it, it is basically two adaptive teenagers trying to run the adult relationship.
We also bring this back to the kids, particularly teens and young adults. Parents often arrive saying their child is disrespectful, unmotivated, angry, or refusing to listen. Underneath the frustration and worry, what they usually want is connection. They want trust. They want communication. They want to know that they can still reach their kid as the stakes get higher and their direct control gets smaller.
Caron makes an important distinction here too: taking your child seriously and building connection does not mean abandoning boundaries. In fact, the trust you build when children are younger gives you a much stronger foundation for navigating the harder conversations that come later.
Raising complicated kids is a long game.
And the relationship between the adults does not have to be perfect. But it does deserve to be part of the plan.
Key Takeaways
The relationship between parents or co-parents is part of the family system and deserves attention too.
Ongoing conflict between adults can drain energy that is already stretched by the demands of raising complicated kids.
A healthy partnership does not mean never struggling. It means being connected enough to navigate hard things together.
Your own regulation cannot depend on your partner calming down first.
Co-regulation starts with someone choosing to work on their own nervous system rather than trying to control someone else's.
Success can simply mean that you stayed grounded, even if your partner was still having a difficult day.
Stress can bring old relationship patterns back to the surface, including shutting down, getting loud, withdrawing, or people-pleasing.
Recognizing those old patterns can help you respond from a more grounded adult place.
When parents say they want their teen or young adult to listen, what they often want underneath that is more connection and trust.
Building connection with your child does not mean giving up boundaries. Trust can make those boundaries easier to navigate.
About Caron Starobin
Caron Starobin, LCSW-C, is a clinical social worker, couples therapist, and owner and clinical director of Starobin Counseling, a private practice based in Olney, Maryland. For more than 25 years, she has worked with individuals, couples, and families, with a particular focus on relationships, neurodivergent people, and families navigating autism and other complex needs.
Caron's work is relational and neurodiversity-minded, with extensive experience in couples and family therapy and Relational Life Therapy. Through Starobin Counseling, she and her team also offer groups including Parents Together, which provides support and connection for parents raising autistic children, teens, and young adults. Her approach helps families strengthen communication, understand one another more deeply, and build relationships with greater connection and ease.
About Your Host, Gabriele Nicolet
I'm Gabriele Nicolet, toddler whisperer, speech therapist, parenting life coach, and host of Complicated Kids. Each week, I share practical, relationship-based strategies for raising kids with big feelings, big needs, and beautifully different brains. My goal is to help families move from surviving to thriving by building connection, confidence, and clarity at home.
Complicated Kids Resources and Links
🌎 www.gabrielenicolet.com
📅 Schedule a free intro call: https://calendly.com/gabrielenicolet/free-15-minute-1-1-session
📺 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@complicatedkids/featured
👾 Grab Tell the Story (anti-anxiety tool for kids): https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/tell-the-story
📝 Read my latest blog posts: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/blog
🎤 Explore my upcoming live workshops: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/live-workshops
🎥 Explore my on-demand workshops: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/workshop-replays
➡️ Instagram: https://instagram.com/gabriele_nicolet
➡️ Facebook: https://facebook.com/gabriele.nicolet
➡️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielenicolet/
🌺 Free "Orchid Kid" Checklist: https://www.raisingorchidkids.com/orchid-kid-check-list-sign-up/
Enjoying the show?
If Complicated Kids has been helpful, the best way to support the podcast is to follow, rate, and leave a quick review. It helps other parents find the show—and it means a lot.
If there's a topic you'd love to hear covered on a future episode, you can always reach out at podcast@complicatedkids.com. I love hearing what's on your mind and what would support your family.
Thank you for being here. 💛

You cannot teach your child to trust you while constantly second-guessing yourself.
There is no shortage of parenting information out there. Books, podcasts, influencers, experts, schools, research, and your neighbor's cousin all have thoughts about what you should be doing with your child.
And sometimes all that information makes parenting harder.
In this episode, I talk with fellow parent coach Allyn Miller about something underneath all those strategies: self-trust. Allyn's premise is simple and also slightly inconvenient. We cannot ask our children to trust us if we do not trust ourselves.
That does not mean ignoring good information, deciding experts know nothing, or confidently making every parenting decision while birds sing around you.
It means getting clearer about what actually matters to you, your child, and your family.
Allyn suggests paying particular attention to the word "should." When you hear yourself thinking, "My child should be doing this," or, "I should be parenting this way," ask: Who says?
Sometimes there is a perfectly good answer. School has requirements. Families live inside communities and systems. There may be real consequences to stepping outside a particular norm. But sometimes we discover that the mysterious "they" telling us what we should do does not actually exist.
We also talk about what this looks like when you have to advocate for your child. It is one thing to know what your kid needs at home. It is another thing entirely to walk into a school meeting, talk to someone you perceive as an authority, and say, "This is not working."
Allyn encourages parents to get curious about what they are bringing into those conversations. Your own experiences with school, authority, failure, approval, and conflict are coming into the room with you, whether you invited them or not.
Which brings us to the voices in our heads.
Allyn makes a distinction I love: there is a difference between an internal voice and an external action.
You can see five granola bar wrappers sitting next to your kid and have a very judgmental thought. The thought happened. Fine. Your brain is allowed to be dramatic.
But there is still a space between that thought and what comes out of your mouth.
That tiny bit of space is where we get to choose.
And if "just pause" feels completely impossible when your brain is moving like a freight train, Allyn has a wonderfully concrete suggestion: move your body. Literally walk in a circle. Change your physical position, come back to your adult self, and see whether you can return to the interaction differently.
We also talk about how our own younger parts show up in parenting. Sometimes there are not just two people in the interaction. There is you, your child, and the seven-year-old version of you who just got activated and would also like someone to meet her needs immediately, thank you very much.
None of this is about becoming a perfectly regulated parent who never has an ugly thought.
It is about noticing what is happening, reconnecting with what matters, and giving yourself a little more choice about what happens next.
Because trusting yourself does not mean always knowing the answer.
It means knowing you can come back to yourself and figure out your next move.
Key Takeaways
Parenting advice can be useful, but too much outside information can make it harder to hear your own judgment about what your particular child and family need.
Self-trust starts with getting clear about what actually matters to you rather than automatically following every parenting rule, trend, or expectation you encounter.
When you notice yourself thinking that you or your child "should" be doing something, ask who is setting that expectation and whether it actually fits your family.
Not every conventional expectation should be thrown out. Parents can consider the real risks, resources, and consequences involved before deciding whether to follow a norm or choose a different path.
Advocating for your child is easier when you understand what you are bringing into the conversation, including your own past experiences with school, authority, conflict, or being judged.
Vulnerability can create room for collaboration. A parent does not need to walk into a school conversation with every answer in order to clearly say what they are seeing and ask what might be possible.
The thoughts running through your head are not the same as the actions you take. An angry, judgmental, or fearful internal voice does not have to determine what comes out of your mouth.
Old family patterns and younger parts of ourselves can get activated during difficult parenting moments, which is why the reaction can sometimes feel much bigger than what is happening right now.
When mentally "pausing" feels impossible, changing your physical position or moving your body can create enough interruption to help you step out of an automatic reaction.
Building self-trust is not about becoming a parent who always knows exactly what to do. It is about noticing what is happening, remembering what matters, and choosing how you want to respond.
About Allyn Miller
Allyn Miller is a former teacher, parent coach, and founder of Child Connection. She helps parents build healthier, more connected relationships with their children by focusing on the everyday interactions that shape trust, communication, and family dynamics.
Her work helps parents move away from rigid parenting "shoulds" and toward a more intentional approach grounded in self-trust, connection, and clarity about what matters most to their family. Allyn is especially passionate about protecting children's dignity, helping parents break unhelpful patterns, and creating relationships that support both the child and the parent.
About Your Host, Gabriele Nicolet
I'm Gabriele Nicolet, toddler whisperer, speech therapist, parenting life coach, and host of Complicated Kids. Each week, I share practical, relationship-based strategies for raising kids with big feelings, big needs, and beautifully different brains. My goal is to help families move from surviving to thriving by building connection, confidence, and clarity at home.
Complicated Kids Resources and Links:
🌎 www.gabrielenicolet.com
📅 Schedule a free intro call: https://calendly.com/gabrielenicolet/free-15-minute-1-1-session
📺 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@complicatedkids/featured
👾 Grab Tell the Story (anti-anxiety tool for kids): https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/tell-the-story
📝 Read my latest blog posts: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/blog
🎤 Explore my upcoming live workshops: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/live-workshops
🎥 Explore my on-demand workshops: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/workshop-replays
➡️ Instagram: http://instagram.com/gabriele_nicolet
➡️ Facebook: http://facebook.com/gabriele.nicolet
➡️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielenicolet/
🌺 Free "Orchid Kid" Checklist: https://www.raisingorchidkids.com/orchid-kid-check-list-sign-up/
Enjoying the show?
If Complicated Kids has been helpful, the best way to support the podcast is to follow, rate, and leave a quick review. It helps other parents find the show—and it means a lot.
If there's a topic you'd love to hear covered on a future episode, you can always reach out at podcast@complicatedkids.com. I love hearing what's on your mind and what would support your family.
Thank you for being here. 💛

Understanding the problem is not always the same as changing the pattern.
In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Julie Lopez, founder of Viva, for a conversation about trauma, implicit memory, brain-based therapies, and why talk is not always the language the nervous system understands.
Julie starts with a story from early memory research that shows something fascinating and, honestly, a little unsettling. A person may not consciously remember an event, but their system can still remember enough to respond. The body may hold information that never becomes a neat story with a beginning, middle, and end.
Which matters a lot when we are talking about complicated kids.
So many of the kids we talk about on this podcast have sensory systems, nervous systems, stress responses, and bodies that are taking in the world in ways they may not be able to explain. They may not have language for what feels unsafe, overwhelming, painful, intense, or confusing. And when they do not have words, their bodies may speak instead.
Crying. Kicking. Screaming. Biting. Shutting down. Melting down. Refusing. Running away. Looking like they are "being difficult" when something much deeper may be happening.
That does not mean those behaviors are fine. It does mean we need to be curious about where they come from.
Julie and I talk about the limits of relying only on talk, especially when the struggle is not stored only in the thinking, explaining, logical part of the brain. Talk can be connecting. It can help people feel seen. It can help us organize a story and make sense of what happened. But if the body is still reacting as if the danger is happening now, understanding may not be enough.
And that is where this conversation gets really interesting.
Julie explains implicit memory, the role of the nervous system, and why experiences from very early life, high-stress moments, trauma, or overwhelming sensory experiences may be stored outside of conscious language. We talk about babies, NICU experiences, sensory triggers, and the way a child may respond to an environment that their body recognizes as dangerous, even if their conscious mind cannot explain why.
We also talk about therapies that work beyond talk, including EMDR, brainspotting, somatic experiencing, sensory motor psychotherapy, and other approaches that help the system process what got stuck.
One of my favorite moments in this episode is when Julie describes the goal of this work, and I realize that what we are talking about is not erasing memory. It is uncoupling the event from the full-body alarm that still comes with it. You may still remember what happened, but you are not still living inside it.
That feels important.
This episode is not anti-therapy. It is not anti-talking. We are relational creatures, and being with another human who can listen and help us make sense of ourselves absolutely matters.
But some things cannot be talked into changing.
Sometimes the body needs a different language.
And when we understand that, we may have a better chance of helping complicated kids, complicated adults, and, frankly, all of our complicated human systems.
Key Takeaways
Talk can be helpful, but it is not always enough to create deep nervous system change.
Some patterns are stored in implicit memory, outside of conscious language.
The body can remember and respond to experiences the mind does not consciously recall.
Complicated kids may not have words for what their nervous systems are experiencing.
Behaviors like crying, kicking, screaming, shutting down, or running may be communication from a system that feels overwhelmed or unsafe.
Understanding why something happens does not always make the body stop reacting.
Trauma-informed care asks what the nervous system is trying to tell us, not just what behavior needs to stop.
Brain-based therapies like EMDR, brainspotting, somatic experiencing, and sensory motor psychotherapy work beyond storytelling alone.
Effective therapy can help uncouple a memory from the physiological alarm that still comes with it.
There is nothing wrong with you. Sometimes there is a knot in the system that needs a different kind of support.
About Dr. Julie Lopez
Dr. Julie Lopez is the founder of Viva, a mental health organization serving clients in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, as well as through telehealth. Julie is passionate about helping people understand how their complicated human systems work so they can move beyond outdated models of change and access therapies that work with the brain, body, nervous system, and implicit memory.
Her work focuses on trauma-informed, brain-based, and body-based approaches that help people create lasting change without relying only on talk or storytelling. Through Viva and her educational work, Julie helps adults, parents, clinicians, and families better understand why some patterns do not shift through insight alone and what becomes possible when we use tools that speak the nervous system's language.
About Your Host, Gabriele Nicolet
I'm Gabriele Nicolet, toddler whisperer, speech therapist, parenting life coach, and host of Complicated Kids. Each week, I share practical, relationship-based strategies for raising kids with big feelings, big needs, and beautifully different brains. My goal is to help families move from surviving to thriving by building connection, confidence, and clarity at home.
Complicated Kids Resources and Links
🌎 www.gabrielenicolet.com
📅 Schedule a free intro call: https://calendly.com/gabrielenicolet/free-15-minute-1-1-session
📺 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@complicatedkids/featured
👾 Grab Tell the Story (anti-anxiety tool for kids): https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/tell-the-story
📝 Read my latest blog posts: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/blog
🎤 Explore my upcoming live workshops: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/live-workshops
🎥 Explore my on-demand workshops: https://www.gabrielenicolet.com/workshop-replays
➡ Instagram: http://instagram.com/gabriele_nicolet
➡ Facebook: http://facebook.com/gabriele.nicolet
➡ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielenicolet/
🌸 Free "Orchid Kid" Checklist: https://www.raisingorchidkids.com/orchid-kid-check-list-sign-up/
Enjoying the Show?
If Complicated Kids has been helpful, the best way to support the podcast is to follow, rate, and leave a quick review. It helps other parents find the show—and it means a lot.
If there's a topic you'd love to hear covered on a future episode, you can always reach out at podcast@complicatedkids.com. I love hearing what's on your mind and what would support your family.
Thank you for being here. 💛