Episode Details

Parenting isn't just about guiding your children — it's about learning to guide your own mind. When the house is loud, emotions are running high, and you're stretched thin, the difference between snapping and staying grounded often comes down to one skill: psychological flexibility.

In this episode, board-certified behavior analyst and author Brooke Susanne Barrett shares how acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can help parents move through overwhelm with more awareness, compassion, and intention — and how those same skills, when shared with children through simple language and daily habits, can transform the emotional culture of an entire family.

Brooke Susanne Barrett is a board-certified behavior analyst, former special education teacher, author, and homeschool mom based in Arvada, Colorado. She is the creator of the Oaklings Children's Book Series, which brings ACT principles to life for young readers through nature-based stories and shared family language. Her work is grounded in behavioral science and lived experience as a mother of two.

• Psychological flexibility isn't about staying calm — it's about staying present. Rather than pushing emotions away or fusing to them as identity, it means noticing what's happening, opening up to it, and choosing a response that aligns with your values.
• The ACT hexaflex gives families a practical roadmap. The six core skills — acceptance, cognitive defusion, present moment awareness, self-as-context, values, and committed action — work together as a system, not in isolation.
• Your thoughts are not your identity. Saying "I am overwhelmed" locks you into a story; saying "I am feeling overwhelmed" creates space to respond rather than react — and you can model this shift for your children every day.
• Children learn emotional flexibility through consistent, shared language. Simple phrases like "that makes sense that you feel that way" or "what do you notice in your body right now?" build emotional literacy over time, far more than telling a child to stop crying.
• Short-term fixes in parenting often undermine long-term connection. Yelling to stop a sibling argument ends the noise but teaches nothing. Pausing, getting on their level, and naming the emotion creates a values-based response that builds the family culture you actually want.
• The process is the point. Psychological flexibility is not a destination — it's a daily practice of returning to what matters, especially when it's hard.

• Website: www.brookesusannebarrett.com
• Instagram: @brooke.barrett_

[00:00] Welcome & Host Intro — Setting the scene: why the hardest part of parenting might be your own inner world

[04:05] Meet Brooke Barrett