Mastermind Parenting Podcast

Finding out your child is heading down the path of drugs or alcohol are some of the darkest days imaginable. What do you do when the person you love the most is self-destructing?
My guest this time is Lisa Katona Smith. She’s a teacher, author, and mom who knows all about the fear of seeing a child in the grip of addiction. Fortunately for all of us, when she found the usual advice failing her, Lisa decided to find a better way.
Her book Parallel Recovery is a raw, honest, empowering read. It combines Lisa’s perspective as an educator with her up-close experience as a mom. If you’ve ever worried about how you’d show up for your kid in that situation, this is the convo for you.
Something clicked while listening?
We’d love to talk with you if you want to dig deeper into your family’s specific situation. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start knowing what works, it might be worth a conversation. https://mastermindparenting.com/live-assessment/
Get all the links, resources, and transcripts here: https://mastermindparenting.com/podcast-335
About Randi Rubenstein
Randi Rubenstein coaches parents raising strong-willed kids. Randi searched endlessly to find the magical resource that would help her own highly sensitive, strong-willed child. (He’s now in his 20’s, healthy and happy-ish:). She’s been passionate about helping other “cycle-breaker” parents like herself for almost two decades.
Randi’s Web and Social Links
Website: https://mastermindparenting.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermindparenting
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mastermind_parenting/

About Lisa Katona Smith
Lisa Katona Smith, M.Ed., is a TEDx speaker, educator, and author of Parallel Recovery—a family-centered model that empowers loved ones to heal alongside someone facing mental health and substance use challenges. Known for her clarity, compassion, and systems-level insight, Lisa helps families and professionals build sustainable, connection-based recovery through consulting, training, and transformative conversations.
Lisa’s Web and Social Links
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parallel_recovery/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-katona-smith-985b48212/
TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@parallel_recovery
Website: lisakatonasmith.com

Resources Discussed/Links
Our 12-week Basics Bootcamp program is now available as a 100% online self-study course! https://mastermindparenting.com/minimasters/
Live assessment: https://mastermindparenting.com/live-assessment/

We’ve come a long way in understanding how neurodivergence expresses itself in kids, compared to when I became a new mom. But even now, an Autism diagnosis can feel like some of the most dreaded words imaginable to a parent.
Can you fathom what it was like for parents in the 1980s?
Leland Vittert can. And even though his parents chose not to share his diagnosis with him until his early 20’s, he now knows the whole story of what they went through for him.
Leland is a successful journalist with his own nightly news show. But when he was a kid, Leland struggled to relate to his classmates. He was bullied by other kids, and at times, by teachers as well. After Leland was diagnosed with Autism, (now considered level 1, formerly known as Aspergers), his father made it his mission to help Leland learn the skills he’d need to function in a world that would not understand or mold to his differences.
Leland tells the whole inspiring story in his new book Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism. He’s here to share his gratitude to his dad, and offer hope to parents who are anxious about how to best support their neurodivergent kids.
Something clicked while listening?
We’d love to talk with you if you want to dig deeper into your family’s specific situation. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start knowing what works, it might be worth a conversation. https://mastermindparenting.com/live-assessment/
Get all the links, resources, and transcripts here: https://mastermindparenting.com/podcast-334
About Randi Rubenstein
Randi Rubenstein coaches parents raising strong-willed kids. Randi searched endlessly to find the magical resource that would help her own highly sensitive, strong-willed child. (He’s now in his 20’s, healthy and happy-ish:). She’s been passionate about helping other “cycle-breaker” parents like herself for almost two decades.
Randi’s Web and Social Links
Website: https://mastermindparenting.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermindparenting
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mastermind_parenting/

About Leland Vittert
Leland Vittert is the host of On Balance with Leland Vittert and serves as NewsNation’s Chief Washington Anchor. A veteran journalist, Vittert joined NewsNation in May 2021, where he has been pivotal in covering national affairs and delivering special reports across the network’s primetime weeknight newscasts. Before joining NewsNation, Vittert worked for Fox News from 2010 to 2021, starting as a foreign correspondent based in Jerusalem and later anchor and correspondent in Washington.
Leland’s Web and Social Links
Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism: https://www.harpercollinsfocus.com/9781400254750/born-lucky/
On Balance with Leland Vittert:

Let’s be real. Lots of dads aren’t ready (or willing) to take on their share of responsibility in their families. And for the dads who do want to step up, where are the role models of dads doing their part and showing up as strong and loving pack leaders?
Enter Jeff Hittner, leadership and fatherhood coach, and host of the Ambitious Dads podcast.
Jeff spent years teaching executives how to lead and inspire teams in the workplace. But when it came to his lifelong dream of fatherhood, he was shocked to realize how hard it was to not repeat unhelpful patterns of the past.
Now, Jeff is using his skills as a coach to help educate dads who want to lead in their families, and pass on a new definition of fatherhood to their kids.
Something clicked while listening?
We’d love to talk with you if you want to dig deeper into your family’s specific situation. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start knowing what works, it might be worth a conversation. https://mastermindparenting.com/live-assessment/
Get all the links, resources, and transcripts here: https://mastermindparenting.com/podcast-332
About Randi Rubenstein
Randi Rubenstein coaches parents raising strong-willed kids. Randi searched endlessly to find the magical resource that would help her own highly sensitive, strong-willed child. (He’s now in his 20’s, healthy and happy-ish:). She’s been passionate about helping other “cycle-breaker” parents like herself for almost two decades.
Randi’s Web and Social Links
Website: https://mastermindparenting.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermindparenting
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mastermind_parenting/

About Jeff Hittner
Jeff Hittner is an executive coach, leadership expert, entrepreneur and father to two amazing boys that are the light of his life. This was only possible because Jeff learned how to disassemble a lifelong definition of what fatherhood was, in order to reimagine the possibilities. Jeff believes that all of us have the capacity to transform, even around our longest-held beliefs.
Jeff’s Web and Social Links
Website: https://www.ambitiousdads.com/
Podcast: https://ambitiousdads.transistor.fm/
Substack: https://ambitiousdads.substack.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AmbitiousDads
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ambitiousdads/

Resources Discussed/Links
Our 12-week Basics Bootcamp program is now available as a 100% online self-study course! https://mastermindparenting.com/minimasters/
Live assessment: https://mastermindparenting.com/live-assessment/

It’s no secret that kids can put a real damper on your sex life. Kids just have so many needs - the feeding, bathing, playdate coordinating…and let’s not forget all the freaking paperwork.
Those school forms nearly about killed me with three kids.
It seems like a small miracle if there is still desire for your partner after a long thankless day involving all that.
My guest, Dr. Rebecca Eudy, has spent over a decade helping couples navigate the complex realities of intimacy during the parenting years. Now, she’s written a book to share her insights and help with this tough topic affecting so many of us.
If sex secretly feels like another chore in your life, you won’t want to miss this convo!
Something clicked while listening?
We’d love to talk with you if you want to dig deeper into your family’s specific situation. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start knowing what works, it might be worth a conversation. https://mastermindparenting.com/live-assessment/
Get all the links, resources, and transcripts here: https://mastermindparenting.com/podcast-331
About Randi Rubenstein
Randi Rubenstein coaches parents raising strong-willed kids. Randi searched endlessly to find the magical resource that would help her own highly sensitive, strong-willed child. (He’s now in his 20’s, healthy and happy-ish:). She’s been passionate about helping other “cycle-breaker” parents like herself for almost two decades.
Randi’s Web and Social Links
Website: https://mastermindparenting.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermindparenting
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mastermind_parenting/

About Dr. Rebecca Eudy
Dr. Rebecca Howard Eudy, LMHC, is an AASECT-certified sex and couples therapist and author of Parents in Love: A Guide to Great Sex After Kids (2025). She blends cutting-edge research with 15 years of clinical experience to help couples navigate sex, desire, and connection in the whirlwind of parenting, even when life (and kids) make it feel impossible.
Dr. Eudy’s Web and Social Links
Book link: https://a.co/d/8RcMcYJ
Website: rebeccaeudy.com
Instagram: @rebeccahowardeudy
Substack: @parentsinlove

Resources Discussed/Links
Our 12-week Basics Bootcamp program is now available as a 100% online self-study course! https://mastermindparenting.com/minimasters/
Live assessment: https://mastermindparenting.com/live-assessment/