Ep 105: The Evolution of Parenting Teens and Beyond with Parent Coach Casey O’Roarty

I’m excited to share this conversation with my longtime fellow podcasting friend and parenting guide, Casey O’Roarty.

Casey is a positive discipline trainer, certified coach and facilitator of personal growth and development, who encourages parents to discover the purpose of our journey. Through workshops, live and online classes, individual coaching, a published book, and her Joyful Courage Podcast, Casey helps us reconnect to our own empowerment and excitement in parenting, providing us with tools and a shift of mindset that allows us to deepen relationships with ourselves and our families.

In recent years, as Casey’s own children have grown and flown, Casey has shifted her focus to supporting parents of tweens, teens and young adults. As I’m navigating fall school-year transitions—sending Ryan off to his junior year of college and guiding my youngest Jacob, now 12, as he starts middle school, I knew I wanted to interview Casey, so that I could anchor into her wisdom, humor and heart-centered approach to parenting during this pivotal time.

In this episode, we dive into the heart of Casey’s E.P.I.C. life journey, from her experiences growing up as a child of divorce to her deep and supportive relationship with her daughter, Rowan. Casey shares openly about the ways that she had to evolve her own parenting and trust in the process, when Rowan’s mental health challenges in high school led Rowan to chart an untraditional path.

We also talk about the gifts of midlife—self-awareness, personal growth, and the new adventures that come when we embrace our roles as “bird launchers” vs. empty nesters. This conversation left me deeply reflective about motherhood, the unpredictable twists and turns it brings, and the ways we can seek trust, connection, and even stillness in the midst of it all.

I hope this conversation, and a Spark Session that Casey and I will collaborate on this fall, invite you to evolve your parenting, finding new ways to nurture connection with your children and within yourself. 

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• How Casey’s strained relationship with her mother transformed into a supportive one, with the birth of her first child as a catalyst for the transformation. 

• Casey learned to embrace uncertainty and trust the evolving process of parenting when her daughter Rowan experienced mental health challenges and charted an untraditional path in high school and beyond. 

• Casey’s positive discipline coaching practice has evolved to support parents of tween, teens and young adults, plus some of the tools she shares to help parents navigate tumultuous times. 

• Casey’s refusal to fear a future that has not manifested or created suffering if it is not needed. 

• The empowering perspective Casey holds on midlife, seeing it as a time of self-awareness, integrating personal growth with new life experiences.

 

About Casey O’Roarty 

Casey O’Roarty, Med, is a facilitator of personal growth and development.  Her work encourages parents to discover the purpose of their journey, while also providing them with tools and a shift of mindset that allows them to deepen their relationships with themselves and their families. As a Positive Discipline Trainer since 2007 and certified coach, Casey has led countless groups through workshops and classes that have left them feeling empowered and excited about parenting. She also offers an engaging podcast, live and online classes, and ind