A tense moment hits and your brain goes straight to fight, flight, or freeze. The scary part is how fast that reflex can turn a normal disagreement into yelling, shutdowns, or patterns that feel impossible to break. We sit down with educator, psychologist, and domestic violence prevention researcher Dr. Denise Healy to talk about what actually helps families stay nonviolent, connected, and emotionally safe, especially when stress is high.

We trace her path from working with women and children in shelters to “flipping the script” toward prevention and accountability, including virtual classes designed to help people change violent behavior. Then we get practical: active listening without judgment, a simple body-level reset that starts with averting your eyes, and the surprisingly powerful “what” question like “What’s my next best step?” that shifts you back into problem solving. If you’re parenting a teen, we also dig into homework fights, miscommunication, and why school dynamics and bullying can make a capable kid feel unsafe and fall apart.

We also zoom out to the relationship habits that kids watch every day: putting down defensive “shields,” using appreciation to rebuild trust, and creating a new cycle that replaces denial with awareness and tension with problem solving. Dr. Healy shares resources at S2S DV Online plus her books Mending Broken Connections and Christopher’s Anger for younger kids.

Connect with Dr. Healy
Check out Streets2Schools, book her as a speaker or see her upcoming events, or connect with her on LinkedIn or Instagram.

If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with a parent or partner, and leave a review so more families can find these anger management and domestic violence prevention tools.

Welcome to Speak Out Stand Out — the show where we build confidence in our future, one voice at a time. I’m your host, Elizabeth Green.

I grew up shy, so I know firsthand how life-changing it can be when someone helps you find your voice. Now, I get to help kids and teens do exactly that — and this podcast is a place to share those tools with you.

Each week, I talk with experts and inspiring guests about simple, practical and tangible ways to help the young people in

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