Ep. 62- Family Trauma, Breaking Cycles of Harm, and Supporting Young People with Youth Untroubled

Wise Yourself Up is back!!We’re starting off the season with three incredible guests, Natasha Gold, Una O’Brien and Carly MacDonald, the founders of Youth Untroubled, to talk about something that so many families experience but very few people talk about honestly.Across the UK, more and more young people are entering care, psychiatric units or the justice system. Yet behind these statistics are families who were often asking for help years before things reached crisis point.Parents who felt overwhelmed, children who were struggling with trauma, and systems that simply did not have the capacity to respond in the way that was needed.Youth Untroubled was created to challenge that reality.Natasha, Una and Carly have developed the ISAC model, an intensive systemic approach that works with the whole family instead of placing the responsibility for change solely on the child.By working closely with parents, understanding the context around behaviour, and supporting families consistently over a longer period of time, they are seeing outcomes that are genuinely life changing.In this episode, they explore how trauma can show up as challenging behaviour in young people, why many parents feel blamed or overwhelmed by conflicting advice, and how real repair can begin when shame is replaced with understanding.The conversation also opens up rarely discussed topics such as sibling sexual abuse and harmful sexual behaviour, and why accountability and rehabilitation are essential if we want to break cycles of harm rather than simply punish them.Trigger warning: This episode includes discussion of child sexual abuse and sibling harm. Please listen with care.Timestamps00:00 Welcome to the podcast03:44 Meet the founders of Youth Untroubled06:37 How Natasha, Una and Carly first met and their journey into this work12:16 How the ISAC model was created to support families in a different way14:15 What out of home placements are and why young people end up there19:23 Understanding trauma and the behaviours that often follow26:50 Navigating blame, shame and repair within families32:39 Discussing sibling sexual abuse and the complexity families face44:38 The results of the Youth Untroubled model and plans for wider rolloutA huge thank you to Natasha, Una and Carly for the important work they are doing to support young people and families and for sharing their knowledge in this episode.Please consider sharing the episode if you enjoyed it, as spreading awareness about these topics is one of the most powerful ways we can support change.Connect with Carla:Instagram: ⁠⁠@CarlaMcGreevy1⁠⁠Work with Carla: ⁠⁠Carla McGreevy⁠⁠Join Carla’s mailing list: ⁠⁠Stay Connected⁠Connect with Youth Untroubled:Youth Untroubled Website: https://www.youthuntroubled.co.uk/ISTAC Website: https://www.istac.co.uk/