What makes the transition to adulthood feel overwhelming for many neurodivergent young adults—and how can families help? On this episode, Zack interviews Justin Messinger, LCMHCS, Clinical Director at Intrepid Young Adults in the Asheville, North Carolina, area. Together, they explore how anxiety, executive functioning challenges, and years of feeling misunderstood can affect confidence, relationships, college, and employment. Justin discusses why applying for a job or accessing college support can involve more hurdles than others realize, and how past setbacks can make trying again feel intimidating.

For young adults seeking greater independence and parents wondering how to support them, Justin emphasizes building trust, understanding individual goals, and doing things with young adults rather than for them. He explains how practicing everyday skills in the community, offering the right level of support, and listening to feedback can help young adults build confidence at their own pace. The conversation also considers the value of online friendships, the importance of belonging, and why recognizing small steps forward can nurture hope and make the next challenge feel more manageable.

Zack's Hack: In this week's anxiety hack Zack shares a quote from The Hunger Games movie to help you fear less!

Fear Less is sponsored by Mountain Valley Treatment Center.

How did a family's commitment to education and experiential learning lay the groundwork for Mountain Valley Treatment Center? In this episode Zack speaks with Jay Wolter, president of Moosilauke Visions, the nonprofit organization behind Mountain Valley. Jay traces the organization's roots to his parents, John and Joan Wolter, and the founding of Beckett Academy in Connecticut in 1964. He shares how his father's struggles with dyslexia helped shape an approach that combined academics with outdoor adventure, meaningful work, and community life. From canoe expeditions to farming and residential programming, Jay describes the experiences and challenges that shaped his family's commitment to helping young people find environments where they could thrive.

Jay also recounts leaving his career as a healthcare attorney in 1993 to lead the struggling Pike School in New Hampshire, renaming it Beckett School and rebuilding its programming. That work grew into a broader network of services and eventually created the foundation for Mountain Valley. Jay explains how conversations with Dr. Dan Villiers led to a residential program focused specifically on anxiety, with Dan, Carl Lovejoy, and Jen Fullerton helping bring the vision to life. Combining specialized treatment with the Wolter family's longstanding emphasis on experiential learning and a supportive community, Mountain Valley began on a farm in Pike before moving to Plainfield in 2018. As the program approaches its 15th anniversary, Jay and Zack reflect on that legacy and discuss plans for a new dormitory and expanded services.

Zack's Hack: In this week's anxiety hack Zack shares a quote from experiential educator, John Dewey to help you fear less!

Fear Less is sponsored by Mountain Valley Treatment Center.

Why is it so hard to think clearly when anxiety takes over—and why can telling someone to "calm down" make things worse? In this episode Zack welcomes Dr. Bruce Perry, child and adolescent psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and coauthor of "What Happened to You?" with Oprah Winfrey. Dr. Perry explains how developmental experiences shape our stress responses and why understanding a person's history can help us make sense of their emotional struggles. Drawing on his Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics, he explores how stress can interfere with learning, communication, and interpreting other people's intentions, offering parents and people living with anxiety a more compassionate way to understand these challenges.

The conversation brings these ideas into everyday life through Dr. Perry's practical framework: regulate, relate, reason. Before offering advice or trying to solve a problem, we can attend to our own emotional state, help the other person become more regulated, and establish a sense of connection. For parents supporting an anxious child or teenager, this means paying attention to timing, tone, presence, and basic needs rather than expecting explanations to work during an overwhelming moment. Dr. Perry and Zack also explore how relationships, belonging, and supportive environments can encourage growth—and how shaming or punitive responses can undermine it. Listeners will leave with a clearer understanding of why connection matters and how to approach difficult moments with greater patience and intention.

Zack's Hack: In this week's anxiety hack Zack shares a quote from Dr. Bruce Perry which will help you have less fear!

Fear Less is sponsored by Mountain Valley Treatment Center.

Can marijuana help you feel calmer or fall asleep while gradually becoming something you depend on? In this episode, Zack welcomes back clinical psychologist Dr. Roberto Olivardia to explore the relationship between ADHD, anxiety, and cannabis use. Roberto explains why people with ADHD may be more vulnerable to substance dependence and why marijuana can feel helpful in the short term, even as frequent use begins to affect attention, motivation, and daily life.

Zack also shares his experience of using cannabis and the fears he faced when he stopped using it. Together, they discuss today's high-potency cannabis, what parents and family members may notice when use becomes a concern, and how treatment can address the needs a person has been trying to meet with marijuana. It's a compassionate conversation for people questioning their own use and for families wondering how to understand what is happening.

Zack's Hack: In this week's anxiety hack Zack shares a quote from .

Fear Less is sponsored by Mountain Valley Treatment Center.

What will the next chapter of Mountain Valley Treatment Center look like—and how can alumni, parents, families, and community members help make it possible? As Mountain Valley celebrates its 15th anniversary, Executive Director Zack Schafer announces plans to build a new adolescent dormitory at its Plainfield, New Hampshire, campus. The project will strengthen the residential experience for teens with anxiety, OCD, and related challenges while freeing existing space for a future young adult program. The larger vision includes outpatient and day services for local families, educational workshops, professional training, and expanded opportunities for emerging clinicians.

To launch the fundraising campaign, Zack will run approximately 60 miles from Mountain Valley's original campus in Pike to its current home in Plainfield on November 15, 2026. His route includes more than 40 miles of the Appalachian Trail and more than 11,000 feet of climbing. By deliberately choosing the harder path, Zack hopes to honor the courage of Mountain Valley alumni and families who have faced fear, accepted difficult challenges, and found confidence through community. He invites alumni, parents, former families, friends, and members of the broader Mountain Valley community to donate, help crew the run, or join him for part of this journey toward Mountain Valley's future.

To support this fundraising effort please check out Mountain Valley's website

What is it like to return to Mountain Valley Treatment Center as an intern after once being a client? James Norris first arrived at Mountain Valley in 2021 after social anxiety had begun to derail his life. Emerging from the isolation of the pandemic, he struggled with social situations, college tours, advocating for his needs, and imagining a successful transition to college. Although James did not want to spend his final summer before college in residential treatment, Mountain Valley gave him a welcoming community where therapy extended beyond the clinician's office. Through exposure work and everyday challenges, he practiced facing discomfort, managing conflict, speaking up for himself, and moving forward even when anxiety told him to avoid.

James's progress was not a straight line. After initially doing well in college, anxiety, depression, and executive-functioning difficulties contributed to a significant setback that required him to step away and seek additional support. Now studying psychology at the University of Rochester, James returned to Mountain Valley as a residential counselor intern, helping young people facing many of the same fears he once experienced. His story offers families an honest look at Mountain Valley's approach: anxiety may not disappear, but exposure, community, practical support, and the courage to keep trying can help young people develop confidence, independence, and resilience.

Zack's Hack: In this week's anxiety hack Zack shares a quote from Dr. Brene Brown who is a researcher, storyteller and author.

Fear Less is sponsored by Mountain Valley Treatment Center.

When does helping a struggling child become over-accommodating them? Educational and therapeutic consultant Josh Doyle joins host Zack to explore why loving, well-intentioned parents may repeatedly rescue an anxious teenager or young adult—and how that pattern can unintentionally undermine confidence, independence, and resilience. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience with adolescents, young adults, and families, Josh explains the difference between offering compassion and removing every obstacle or uncomfortable experience.

Josh and Zack discuss parental accommodation, anxiety and OCD, failure to launch, and the importance of allowing young people to experience manageable struggle. They explore why parents must learn to tolerate their own discomfort, how rescuing can communicate a lack of confidence in a child's abilities, and why stepping back may be one of the strongest ways to say, "I believe in you." This episode offers parents a thoughtful framework for supporting a child or young adult without taking over—helping them develop the skills to navigate discomfort, solve problems, and build their own path into adulthood.

Zack's Hack: In this week's anxiety hack Zack shares a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt that will help you to Fear Less!

Fear Less is sponsored by Mountain Valley Treatment Center

A second episode, recorded live at Mountain Valley's 2026 alumni reunion, brings together more former residents to reflect on treatment, friendship and personal growth. It starts as Zack encourages more alumni to share their stories. It begins as Amelia describes arriving at Mountain Valley withdrawn and afraid of being known, then discovering comfort through friendship, exposure work and the program's animals. Ivy reflects on carrying Mountain Valley's spirit into college, where friends now trust her with their struggles and she can offer the support she once needed. Ami, returning nearly ten years after treatment, emphasizes the lasting value of connections with peers and staff. Lucy discusses receiving new OCD and autism diagnoses, feeling truly understood for the first time and developing greater peace and a better relationship with her parents. Jacob shares how treatment taught him to stop hiding pain behind humor, admit when he is not okay and ask for support—a lesson that has also helped him begin coming out as transgender.

Michelle offers a parent's perspective, explaining how Mountain Valley involved her family in Audrey's treatment and taught them better ways to support her. Livy reflects on managing anxiety, depression and performance anxiety while pursuing music in college, stressing that life may not always become easier, but people can become stronger. Olivia reads from her college essay about overcoming social anxiety, finding her personality beneath it and learning to "sit with" discomfort. Willow returns to speak more vulnerably about ending years of denial and rediscovering her life through a community where she felt safe being imperfect. Shane talks about becoming more confident as a young adult, accepting support, listening to others and bringing pieces of Mountain Valley into new communities.

Zack's Hack: In this week's anxiety hack Zack shares an inspiring quote from the Reverend Billy Graham.

Fear Less is sponsored by Mountain Valley Treatment Center