Tuning in to Teens® | Parent Program
When “I’m Fine” Doesn’t Mean the Conversation Is Over
Parenting a teenager can feel like learning a new language. The child who once told you everything may suddenly answer with one word. Advice can be met with frustration. Questions can feel intrusive. Sometimes you know something is wrong — but every attempt to help seems to push the conversation further away.
Tuning in to Teens® is a structured parenting program that helps parents and carers better understand their teenager’s emotions and develop practical emotion-coaching skills for responding to them.
It is not about having the perfect response. It is about learning when to listen, when to empathise, when to problem-solve, and how to stay connected when emotions are running high.
Your teenager does not attend the program. This is a space for parents to learn, reflect and practise.
- Parent-Only
- Emotion Coaching
- Evidence-Based
- Practical Skills
About the Program
A Different Way of Listening to What’s Underneath
Tuning in to Teens® is an evidence-based parenting program developed at the University of Melbourne by Professor Sophie Havighurst, Ann Harley and Dr Christiane Kehoe. It was developed specifically for parents and carers of adolescents and focuses on emotion coaching — a way of responding to emotions that begins with noticing, understanding and validating the emotional experience before moving too quickly into advice, correction or problem-solving.
Parents learn about adolescent emotional development as well as their own responses to emotion. This matters because difficult conversations involve two nervous systems, not one. A teenager may be angry, anxious, embarrassed or overwhelmed. A parent may simultaneously feel worried, frustrated, helpless or rejected. Tuning in to Teens® creates space to understand both — not by asking parents to stay perfectly calm, but by helping them notice their own reactions early enough to have more choice in how they respond.
The goal is not to remove difficult emotions. It is to help parents become more confident navigating emotional moments while maintaining connection, boundaries and respect.
Program Suitability
Could Tuning in to Teens® Be a Good Fit for Your Family?
Tuning in to Teens® may be worth exploring if you would like practical ways of understanding and responding to emotions while navigating the changing relationship that comes with adolescence.
Conversations with your teenager often become tense or shut down
Your teen is less willing to talk about what is happening
You are unsure whether to listen, problem-solve or give space
Strong emotions can quickly become conflict
You want to understand what may sit underneath behaviour
You sometimes find your own emotions taking over during difficult conversations
You want to support your teenager without constantly fixing things for them
You want practical strategies for emotion coaching
You are trying to balance empathy with appropriate boundaries
You want to maintain connection as your teenager becomes more independent
You do not need to be experiencing major family conflict to participate. Tuning in to Teens® can also be relevant for parents who simply want to better understand adolescent emotions and develop another set of communication tools.
Skills & Practice
Learning What to Do in the Moments That Matter
Recognising Emotions
Recognising emotional cues
Understanding what may sit underneath behaviour
Noticing changes in tone, body language and communication
Becoming more aware of your own emotional responses
Listening & Empathy
Listening without immediately fixing
Communicating empathy
Accepting emotional experiences
Helping teenagers feel understood even when you see the situation differently
Navigating Intense Emotions
Staying present when emotions are strong
Recognising your own reactions
Responding to anger without dismissing the emotion
Distinguishing between feelings and behaviour
Problem Solving & Boundaries
Knowing when problem-solving is useful
Helping teenagers consider options
Setting boundaries around behaviour
Maintaining connection while still holding appropriate limits
How It Works
Learn It. Practise It. Try It at Home. Reflect.
- 01
Understand
Learn about adolescent emotions, emotion coaching and the role parents play in emotional socialisation.
- 02
Notice
Become more aware of your teenager's emotional cues and your own reactions.
- 03
Practise
Use discussion, examples, role-play and structured exercises to practise different responses.
- 04
Try It
Experiment with strategies in everyday interactions between sessions.
- 05
Reflect
Consider what happened, what felt different and what you might try next time.
Why This Program?
What Makes This Program Different
Parent-Only
Parents learn without requiring their teenager to attend the group.
Adolescent-Specific
The program considers the developmental shift toward autonomy and how this changes communication between parents and teenagers.
Emotion-Focused
The starting point is understanding emotional experience rather than immediately correcting behaviour or solving the problem.
Practical
Parents practise skills through examples, discussion and role-play rather than only learning theory.
Connection + Boundaries
Emotion coaching does not require parents to abandon boundaries. Parents learn ways of acknowledging emotions while maintaining appropriate limits.
Research & Evidence
What Does the Research Tell Us?
Tuning in to Teens® has been examined in randomised controlled research investigating emotion coaching, parent emotion socialisation, family conflict and adolescent emotional and behavioural outcomes. Studies have reported improvements in several areas for participating families, although findings should be understood as group-level research outcomes rather than predictions for an individual parent or teenager.
Parent Emotion Coaching & Internalising Difficulties
Schools were randomised to intervention and control conditions, with data collected from 225 parents and 224 young people. Parents participating in Tuning in to Teens® showed improvements in emotion socialisation, and the intervention condition showed reductions in young people's internalising difficulties. (Kehoe, Havighurst & Harley, 2014 )
Family Conflict & Externalising Difficulties
Research following participating families into the young person's first year of secondary school found improvements in parents' emotion socialisation and impulse-control difficulties, together with reductions in family conflict and youth externalising difficulties. (Havighurst, Kehoe & Harley, 2015 )
How Change May Happen
Further analysis of the randomised trial found that improvements parents reported in their own emotional awareness/regulation and emotion socialisation were associated with reductions in youth internalising difficulties. The study also found greater program benefits among young people with higher anxiety before the intervention. (Kehoe, Havighurst & Harley, 2020 )
Important Context
Research findings describe outcomes observed across groups of participating families and cannot predict how an individual parent or teenager will respond. Tuning in to Teens® has been evaluated in controlled research, but outcomes vary between families and delivery contexts. Participation does not guarantee a particular change in communication, behaviour or mental health, and program suitability is considered individually.
Mode of Delivery
Telehealth / Online
Tuning in to Teens® is currently offered online, allowing parents and carers to participate from home. Sessions remain interactive and include facilitator guidance, discussion, examples and opportunities to practise skills with the group.
Current program availability is discussed during the initial consultation.
Want to Learn More About Tuning in to Teens®?
Our team can learn more about what you are looking for, answer your questions and discuss whether Tuning in to Teens® and the available parent group format may be a suitable option.