Ep16. What’s Really Going On in Your Teen’s Brain?

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In this episode, I sit down with Eugenia Gallo, Certified Teen Coach and founder of Creators Will Create, to unpack what’s happening in the teenage brain during adolescence - a time known as the “second window of opportunity.”

We talk about the dramatic brain changes that shape identity, decision-making, and emotional regulation, and how parents can support their teens in becoming confident, emotionally intelligent young adults.

Eugenia shares practical strategies that blend neuroscience and holistic tools like breathwork and cold therapy to help teens regulate their emotions, build resilience, and feel safe and seen at home. Whether you’re raising tweens or preparing for what’s ahead, this episode is full of insight and encouragement.

You’ll Learn:

• What the “Second Window of Opportunity” really is

• How brain changes affect teen emotions and behaviours

• The role of dopamine, neuroplasticity, and pruning in teen development

• Why emotional intelligence is essential for teenagers

• Simple ways to help teens build self-awareness and regulate emotions

• How to support your teen without trying to fix everything.

Why This Episode Matters

Understanding what’s happening in your teen’s brain is like finding the instruction manual you never got.

These years are not just challenging - they’re full of growth, potential, and emotional intensity.

Knowing how to respond with curiosity instead of control can shift your entire relationship.

This episode will help you stay grounded, supportive, and ready to connect - even in the chaos.

Take Home Action

Next time your teen is upset, pause, breathe.

Say to yourself,

“I’m not here to fix. I’m here to stay open and curious.”

Then say to your teen:

“I can feel you’re upset. When you’re ready to talk, I’m here.”

Then zip it. No advice. No lectures. Just presence.

And a cheeky bonus:

Sit down and watch Inside Out 2 together. It’s not just for kids - it’s a surprisingly brilliant look at what’s happening inside the teenage brain. Plus, it gives you an easy way to open up a conversation without it feeling like a lecture.

Take the Next Step

If you’re looking for tailored support navigating the emotional ups and downs of parenting - especially as your child approaches the tween and teen years - I’d love to support you. Book a 60 minute SOS Parenting Support Call to chat through a current challenge and walk away with 1–2 tools you can use right away.

And if your child is already in the thick of adolescence, check out Creators Will Create - Eugenia offers coaching, workshops, and soon-to-launch parent memberships that blend science and mindfulness to help teens grow their emotional intelligence, confidence, and resilience.

Links and Resources Mentioned (and not mentioned)

• Explore the Creators Will Create website

• Follow Eugenia on Instagram

• Inside Out 2 – the animated movie we referenced that beautifully shows the emotional shift in adolescence

• For more tips on listening to your teen, check out Episode 12 and Episode 13 of Your Calm Parenting Path

Let’s Connect

• Follow Nina on Instagram

• Website: mindfulparentinglifestyle.com.au

• Email: nina@mindfulparentinglifestyle.com.au

About the Hosts

Nina Visic is a mindful parenting coach, speaker, and mum to three energetic boys. She supports parents who are tired of yelling, walking on eggshells, or feeling like they’re not getting through to their kids. Through coaching, workshops, and practical tools grounded in mindfulness and Parent Effectiveness Training, she helps you shift from overwhelmed and reactive to calm, confident, and connected.

She's been there too - feeling like the only parenting advice out there either didn’t work for my family or made me feel like a failure. But through her own journey, she discovered how mindfulness can completely change the way we parent - not by turning us into perfect people, but by helping us slow down, tune in, and lead with compassion.

In this episode, as she and Eugenia talk about teen brain development and emotional regulation, we hope you feel empowered. Parenting through adolescence isn’t about control - it’s about connection. She's here to help you build the tools to support your child through every stage, including this big one..

Eugenia Gallo is a Certified Teen Coach, youth worker, and founder of Creators Will Create. With over a decade of experience supporting young people, Eugenia blends her deep understanding of brain development with holistic practices like breathwork, mindfulness, and even cold therapy to help teens build emotional resilience and self-awareness.

Born and raised in Argentina and now based in Western Australia, Eugenia’s approach is both evidence-based and heart-led. She’s passionate about equipping teens with the tools they need to navigate the complex emotional landscape of adolescence - and just as passionate about helping parents shift from fixing and controlling to supporting and guiding with empathy.

Whether through coaching, workshops, or her upcoming parent membership, Eugenia is on a mission to help families move through the teenage years with more connection, more calm, and a whole lot more understanding.

Transcript

This transcript was created using Headliner. It has been copied and pasted but not proofread or edited, so it may contain errors or inaccuracies.

Nina: You're listening to your calm parenting path. I'm your host, Nina, a mindful parenting coach and mum m here to help you go from overwhelmed and reactive to calm, confident and connected with your kids. This show is for parents who want to raise their children with more patience, less stress and a whole lot more joy. Pick because small shifts make a big impact and you can build the parenting life you've always wanted. If you want to see what I'm up to, follow me on Instagram Mindful parenting lifestyle. And don't forget to hit, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. Let's get started.

Nina: Hello and welcome back to your calm parenting path. Today we're diving into the emotional world of pre teens and teenagers. Those often confusing, passionate and transformative years. My guest is Eugenia Gallow. The founder of Creators will create and uh, a certified teen coach with over a decade of experience supporting young people. Eugenia brings a unique blend of neuroscience, emotional, intelligent and holistic practises like breath work and cold therapy into her work with teens. So whether you're raising uh, a tween, navigating high school dynamics or preparing for what's ahead, this is a conversation that you do not want to miss. Eugen, welcome to the show.

Eugenia: Thank you, Nina. Thank you. It's a pleasure being here today. I really appreciate you giving this ph o.

Nina: Uh, I'm excited to chat because my boys right now are 4, 6 and 8 and the teenage years seems like a lifetime away but I'm sure they are go goingna creep up on me so fast.

Eugenia: I always say that early as you start, the better you are prepared. Of course things are gonna happen, but at least it doesn't take you for surprise at the moment. And they was like oh my God, what's going on today? Because it can happen very quickly like overnight when puberty hits. Yeah. Oh God, yeah.

Nina: Okay. So Eugen, to start off with, can you just tell us a little about your own journey and how you came to specialise in teen coaching and emotional well being?

Eugenia: Yeah, absolutely. So my journey began a long time ago. I honestly I have, I struggle so much when I was a teenager myself. I come from a high achieving family so I'm identify as a high achiement as well and same as my mom and my dad. My dad is a very successfulreprene. My mum a PhD in mathematics which she is very very smart. But emotions were something that any of us, not even my siblings, we'never been tall, um, come from a family of if you show that you're Vulnerable people are going to take it that you re weak or we don't talk about these things. And very. I don't like to say old school but it is definitely um. An old way of parenting like they never have been until as well by my grandparents. So I struggle very much. I struggle a lot. I What they did is they. They put me to therapy for six, seven years during those times.

Nina: Okay.

Eugenia: And yeah it kind of like helped with the relief having someone of course professional they can hear. But I'NEVER really learned the tools and what to do with my own self regulation and how to explore the world by being a teenager. It's uh. Because actually is very interesting. It's a moment in life where you are building your identity. You are understanding who. Who you are, who you want to be, who you want to become, what you like, what you don't like, what kind of people you like around. What do you want to get out from your friendships. And having the right tool to naviggate those years. It's crucial. It's crucial for when you become out later. So I strgle myself my background history. I was born and raised in Argentina and I been part of the corporate world for a long time before. Before changing and transition to becoming a youth worker. Uh, that transition happened New Zealand actually. But this is like has been go through for the last 10 years.

Nina: Right.

Eugenia: And that ignite my passion for working with young people. What draws you to work with young people? I love the energy. I love how their way how they see life. They're so innocence not the same time so creative. How they see how explore how they understand the world. Like I have a very different way of seeing teenager. Like I know a lot of parents are very scared but it's. If you think about is they're so fascinated about everything and they have so much energy and when you guide them and they feel they are safe and they've been seen and hurt. They trust you. And when you can create that connection

00:05:00

Eugenia: and the trust you are helping a young person very. I see like a big babies of hair. But it's a very like very littleiter young person to become later on a beautiful strong adult. A woman, a man, someone that is gonna one day be working out there is going to be part of this community isnna take on um. Leadership roles. It'snna be raising other children. And it's such misunderstood age. And I feel that we really need to step up more as a society and have more people doing the type of work that I do.

Nina: Oh Eugen, that's beautiful.

Eugenia: Yeah, Yeah.

Nina: I can really sense your enthusiasm and your passion coming through. That's fantastic.

Eugenia: Yeah.

Nina: One of the things that you talk about that you've mentioned to me in the past is this second window of opportunity. So would you be able to explain that to the listeners and why it's such a crucial phase in a child's development?

Eugenia: Absolutely. So the first window opportunity happens from the moment of birth up to when a child is around three, four, five years. Depends off maturity and the context and environment. So if you think about the brain, because I'm gonna talk more about brain now, it's more might. They are um, learning everything. They are sponge. Their brain is in theta brain states. And you don't have this opportunity to help your kid reire your brain until they hit again their teenage years.

Nina: Okay.

Eugenia: Yeah. It's very interesting. It's a very interesting compendium by UNICEF as well. If you want to learn and not more about it. It's very interesting. So the second win the opportunity is this moment in life since they hit puberty. But it can start a little bit early, around 10 years, up to 25 years. But the teenage beers are uh, the years that the brain is massively changing. There is a growth in the prefrontalorttex. So the prefrontalorttex goes under construction heavily during this year. So neuroplasticity and pruning is, it's crucial. So you have neuropasticity happening, pruning. So you either like use it or you lose it. That's how the brain works during uh, this moments. The dopamine secretry is also having this very powerful moment of being reainforced depending on what the teenager. Unfortunately, some of them, they've a lot bit long technology.

Nina: Are uh, you able to explain those three terms?

Eugenia: Yeah. So neuroplasticity is the ab of the uh, brain to rewire itself. So how the brain connects, let's say for example, when we have little kids. So it's the capacity of learning very quickly and rewind the brain quickly. So depending on what they're disciplineing, the habits, the environment, how safe they feel m what kind of role models they have around them, what they learn in school. It's very important. Caus these moments in their life, the neuroplasticity is at its peak. It's the moment there is at this peak even more than when we are there. They are a child.

Nina: Right.

Eugenia: So everything they learn, they're gonna take them to the adult life. I'm not saying that uh neuroplasticity kind of happen when you're low because it can. It's just that uh. It drops down and lowers very quickly. So it. It's big in the teenagers year from 13 to 1718.

Nina: Yep. Great.

Eugenia: Then the pruning is what I mentioned before is like that you use it or you lose it. So. Ah.

Nina: Gotcha.

Eugenia: Yeah. With the neuroplasticity, the connections if you reininforce them. M let's say that you have a uh. Teenager that is an athlete and it's really good with learning discipline and habits and uh. How to stay focused, how to be in flow that he's gonna use this, he's gonna use this uh neurural pathfulways and reinforce them with practise that it's more likely to be an adult later. Uh regardless like if he or she chooses to be an athlete that has the capacity to have strong discipline, good healthy habits and it's gonna behave and it's gonna be that role model when they are adult. That's the pruning part. And dopamine. So dopamine which is the reward system. Uh a lot of people talk about dopamine the robot system today. Unfortunately the phone doesn't help much with thatuse uh you having dopamine hits by having immediate reward in a way that it's not healthy or real.

Nina: So as in like social media, TikTok, Snapchat, that type of thing.

Eugenia: Yeah, yeah. Which social media has good stuff'just see how you use it. Dopamine secret to the reward system is to speak

00:10:00

Eugenia: at this moment as well. So that's why teaching our teamens to have discipline and healthy habits. It's important so they then transition into becoming an adult with a healthy brain. Wow. Because it's all we want in these years is to help develop healthy bright.

Nina: You know what's popping up in my mind as you're talking about all this stuff and that is the inside out movie the number two.

Eugenia: Yeah, I love it. I love it.

Nina: Where she turns into a teenager and all of a sudden her brain goes into. What did you call it like a construction site and she gets all these different kind of aspects of her personality and then you've got the tree roots growing and there. That's a neuroplasticity where she's building those neural pathways to have those skills.

Eugenia: Yeah. Those are the beliefs. So the core beliefs. So the neuroplasticity and the peer influence, the experiences they have. They all help mhm to then give them the structure fore the core belief Y that's the tree that she have. But these happens with neuroplicity.

Nina: So would you recommend parents of teenagers watch that film to get an idea of what it's like?

Eugenia: Absolutely, Absolutely. I do absolute with all my clients and we teenagers, I do ask them always to see the number one first. Yeah. And then if they are a bit more interested, have a look at number two. Because it help both. It helps parents, but it also helps te because they really don't understand what's going on. If you watch the movie, she wakes up one day and everything happens so quickly that she didn't understand what was going on with herself. So this is what happens with them. Family dynamics don't help. And this is when unfortunately, this is a big part of my work that parents shift into trying to fix, trying to give unsolicited advice, try to control or punish. And this uh, creates the opp. Opposite and unfortunately leads the relationship, the parenting relationship to disconnection. And they really need to feel safe. They really need to feel their mom and dad is gonna hop my back.

Nina: Yeah.

Eugenia: No matter what happened. Of course. Of course. And I always say limit boundaries. Absolutely. There is way of putting limits and boundaries in a healthy way, a healthy outlet, and then doing that in more controlling way, which is not. Yeah, it's not the healthy way. It's not's not actually going to get what you're looking for as brand.

Nina: Yeah. I often say one of the goals of mindful parenting, especially most of my clients have younger children, is to parent them in such a way that when they get to be a teenager, they actually want to talk to you and they want to. They know that if they're having trouble, they can come and talk to you and you're going to have their back no matter what. So I think it's really great your approach from the kid's point of view and then also teaching the parents those skills to be able to be there for their kids and to not be the judge and the jury of every single thing that their child does. So I think they work nicely hand in hand, don't they?

Eugenia: Yeah, absolutely. What I see most with pants is they like from like home chei tools, which they not talk about this anyway, to be honest. And that has become big part of my work. I help them to coach the teenager because that's the way of still you still the authority. That's why I always say like boundaries and limits are important. You're looking after them, you're caring for them. And your job as a parent is to as much as possible, make sure that your kid is safe and your kid is exploring this complex world and still have the capacity to come back to you and feel they come back to you.

Nina: Yeah.

Eugenia: And. But you become more cementtored guy.

Nina: That's it.

Eugenia: Once they transition to a teenage year, uh, fantastic.

Nina: So what are some simple but powerful ways that young people can start building emotional intelligence even if they're struggling with some of those big feelings that come with adolescence?

Eugenia: Yeah, most of them they haven't even learned to name and, uh, recognise the emotions. And now it's a big change happening in the schools. But the teenagers to ris it went raised like in school five years ago, ten years ago, they have never learned. So my first job is to make sure that they can name. Okay, this is how I'm feeling. I am feeling angry, I am feeling sad. I am. And recognise the symptoms. Ye and the senses because yes, emotions are uh, the main ones at least they do have kind of like the same signos. However, and this is very important for teenagers, the way that we internalise and the story that we run behind that emotion, it's going to be different for each depend on context. And when I talk about context is, uh, environment, school, um, family

00:15:00

Eugenia: dynamics and cultural background. I always talk about. I was bornn raised Argentina. My family is Italian. So we're very, very passionate. The way we express or the way I'seen expressing ea very different to what people took ye. And that means that what I internalised, normalised when I was growing up. I'm sure you know this with your work as well. Kids, including teenagers, they learn 90% of what they see.

Nina: Yes.

Eugenia: You can tell them something if you don't roleaw model. Role modeling'the key theyn what they say they learn through observation. So yeah, the first one is recognising the feeling. And uh, when I say the feeling is I go a little bit more deeper and it's like you, you're not your emotion.

Nina: Yeah.

Eugenia: Your emotion is signing. Your body is sending to you to understand what's happening in the environment. The emotions actually run through, uh, the body for 90 seconds. It's one minute and a half. All the rest is just what we create about it. Wow.

Nina: I didn't know that.

Eugenia: Yeah.

Nina: Interesting.

Eugenia: Yeah. Science that's so, so interesting. So to recognise and then name it and then I go, I have simple questions like, what is the emotion? What is the emotion trying to tell me and what's happening in my environment at this moment? So those are the first three. Name it. And Then be curious about it. Yeah.

Nina: Fantastic. So we know that teens experience these intense emotions, ups and downs. Apart from the three tips that you've just mentioned, what are some tools or what strategies do you teach them to use in the moment to manage anxiety or anger or overwhelm?

Eugenia: Well, I'm a big fan of breath work. I'm um, a certificate coach.

Nina: Great.

Eugenia: And I use the blend between breeding techniques and cor therapy. So I teach them call therapy when they come to my well. Yeah, they start with the showers. We do ice fath as well.

Nina: Interesting.

Eugenia: And yeah, they if they get the connection with breeding and understanding how to expand the diaphragm. Mhm. This is what I trained them to do. Once they learn this for them, drop into breeding techniques. It happens faster and quicker because the connection is there.

Nina: Great.

Eugenia: The diaphragm. The expansion of the diaphragm is what helps to activate the butagus nerve, is what helps to activate the branches, the alveolis and the lungs, which are the ones in charge of sending sinos to the body. Their hay. It's time to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Nina: Ye.

Eugenia: So I teach them breeding techniques, of course. But if they come to my world and they really learn and most of them, they. They're very interesting. Once they learn how to expl ###res the body to call therapy, they get hooked.

Nina: Yeah.

Eugenia: Ca because it's like, oh wow, this is so simple. And this is beautiful. And really works. And it really works. Yeah. Breeding techniques like you can always do the 4, 7, 8. But really focusing on doing the afrai, uh, breeding.

Nina: Yeah. Fantastic. So as we come to a close, this podcast is all about small m shifts that create big impacts. So for parents listening, what's one small shift that they can make today to better support their teen'emotional well being.

Eugenia: The first one is we're not fixing. Yeah. So train them to understand that we need to stop the fixing.

Nina: Great.

Eugenia: And becoming curious. M and I would say you can tell to yourself and the moment that you feel the trigger or your teenager is doing something that it's putting your. Your nervous system all over life.

Nina: Yep.

Eugenia: Bre again, readath again and it'and repeat to yourself, I'm not gonna fix. I'm gonna stay open and curious. Beautiful. And from that place you can ask questions that comes from a place of curiosity.

Nina: Yeah.

Eugenia: And also help the team to open up and talk.

Nina: Perfect.

Eugenia: They can say something like, okay, I can see or I can feel that you are upset in this moment when you are re ready to talk. I'm, um, here. Beautiful. M. Just like that.

Nina: And then zip it.

Eugenia: And then sip it. Not fix it. Sip it. No giving I sollicited advice. Yeah. Yeah.

Nina: Fantastic. Thank you. Eugen. This chat has been amazing. You've certainly taught me some things that I wasn't aware of. And I do feel knowing that bit about the brain, about how it's that second window of opportunity, that's when our kids are really going to learn and take things in. And I think it's really great to know in advance. Like you said.

Eugenia: Yeah.

Nina: Now, if people want to know more about

00:20:00

Nina: you, where can they find you? What have you got coming up?

Eugenia: I do have a website, so creatorswillcreat.com Instagram. Uh, creators will create a you and I have a membership coming up very soon for parents. That's very exciting. I'm working on that. Yeah.

Nina: Very exciting.

Eugenia: Ah. Hopefully the next uh, in a month. Month or two.

Nina: Great.

Eugenia: Everything's gonna come live. And if they are in self birth, I am holding event monthly which is the empowerment. Ah.

Nina: Uh, fantastic.

Eugenia: So they will learn everything we talk to la. They will learn how to help them reframe limiting beliefs, how emotions work, and help to have a more balanced, calm and loving relationship with a pre teteen and teenager.

Nina: Oh, brilliant. Well, I'll put links to the show notes for all of those.

Eugenia: Thank you.

Nina: Eugen, thank you for your time. It's been wonderful to chat to you today.

Eugenia: My pleasure. Thank you.

Nina: Thanks for listening to your calm parenting path. I am so glad you're here and I hope this episode gave you something useful to take into your parenting journey. If you'd like to dive deeper, sign um up to my mailing list@mindfulparenttingl lifestyle.com.au for more tips and insights or book a free chat to learn how we can work together. And don't forget to hit, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. I look forward to speaking with you next time on your calm parenting path.

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