About Colleen O’Grady

You really can improve your relationship with your teen and young adult. And reclaim your life!

Colleen O’Grady, MA, a licensed professional counselor, life coach, popular speaker, and trainer is changing what’s possible for moms and their teens and young adults. Known as a thought leader in her field, she offers hope, encouragement, and practical advice to moms from all over the world: “You don’t have to survive the teenage years; you can actually enjoy them. First you need to dial down the drama before you can dial up the dream. And what is the dream? It’s the dream you had for you and your child before they were even born.”

Colleen O’Grady has been a successful psychotherapist and life coach for over twenty-seven years with a focus on parents and teens/young adults. During this time Colleen published her award winning and best-selling book Dial Down the Drama: Reducing Conflict and Reconnecting with Your Teenage Daughter, A Guide for Mothers Everywhere, while she was in the parenting trenches with her own teenage daughter. Colleen wrote her next best-selling book, Dial Up the Dream: Make Your Daughter’s Journey to Adulthood the Best—For Both of You, during her daughter’s emerging young adult years. Tried and true, Colleen found these principles not only helped thousands of moms, it also helped transform her own relationship with her daughter and her life.

Colleen has been able to enjoy a vibrant, authentic, close connection with her daughter through the teenage years and young adult years. Colleen states, “My daughter has been my greatest teacher.”

But it wasn’t always like this.

Despite being the “expert” and well versed in parenting theories, Colleen was shocked at how easily she got hooked in her daughter’s drama, and how Colleen let her anxiety steal her joy. After much soul-searching she discovered the missing pieces to having a healthy connection with her teenage daughter and how to reclaim her life. And these same principles apply to your relationship with yours. These “missing pieces” became the framework for her books, programs, blog, weekly e-zine, and popular podcast Power Your Parenting (which has surpassed a million downloads) and changed the lives of thousands of moms from all over the world.

Colleen’s desire to help teens started early. In 1981 she became a youth minister and was immersed in the teenage culture for the next ten years. She observed them in numerous settings struggling to discover who they are, where they belong, and what they’re supposed to do with their life. Witnessing one miracle after another, Colleen also saw what these amazing teenagers were capable of, and decided to act on her passion to help parents truly see these astonishing attributes in their teens.

Besides her private practice in Houston, Texas, Colleen has been an approved supervisor with the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists on a state and national level for nineteen years. She has consulted in inpatient psychiatric hospitals and women’s shelters; supervised family therapy teams at both University of Texas Mental Science Institute and Texas Children’s Hospital Learning Support Center; and received multiple awards for her invaluable contributions.

Colleen’s message to national and state associations, local schools, employee resource groups, organizations, churches, and synagogues is consistent: “Dial down the drama and dial up an amazing connection with your teen and young adult. Don’t miss these precious years. They really go by fast.”

“Instead of worrying about everything that could go wrong during the teen and young adult years, why don’t you shoot for the stars.”

Contact Colleen at colleen@dialdownthedrama.com