Why Your Teenager Can’t Talk to You — and What to Do Starting Today | Tatjana Simakova

Family reconnection, teenage mental health, and breaking cycles of trauma: psychotherapist and art therapist Tatjana Simakova joins Debra L. Morrison, CFP®, in Episode 36 of We Can Do It Women for one of the most quietly powerful conversations the show has aired. Based in County Clare, Ireland, and practicing in English, Russian, and Lithuanian, Tatjana brings 12 years of clinical work with teenagers, children, and families — and a deeply personal story that drives every session. Growing up in Lithuania with an alcoholic mother she never saw sober, Tatjana moved to her father's home at 11, where the chaos stopped but the emotional silence began. Art became her survival tool — knitting, cross-stitching, painting, anything creative. Two decades later, she discovered that the same tools that saved her as a child are what reach the teenagers she works with who have no words for what they feel. In this conversation she shares the three-part art therapy workshop structure, why teenagers are living in fight-or-flight on Snapchat, the mirror exercise that reveals a teenager's relationship with themselves, the story of a 13-year-old boy from the Traveller community who processed grief through painting, and the practical first step she gives every parent: one meal a day, together, no screens, genuine interest in your child's day. She also introduces Salvos Parenting — her new online platform building the village parents need to raise teenagers in today's world. 🌐 Therapy practice: https://salvustherapy.ie/ 🌐 Join Debra's community: https://www.wecandoitwomen.com/ 👥 Facebook Group:   / wcdiwgroup   ⭐ Leave a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Subscribe for new episodes every week.