Lisa Gay Nichols is the mom of a former difficult teen and learned the biggest lessons of her life, which she shares in Surviving Your Out-of-Control Teen. Lisa Gay Nichols is the mom of a former difficult teen. She went through hell and back with her son and learned the biggest lessons of her life, which she shares with moms of teenagers in Surviving Your Out-of-Control Teen. Within Surviving Your Out-of-Control Teen, moms learn: An easy technique that can disrupt the patterns in their relationship with their child, three beliefs that may stop them from turning things around, why it's not just their teen that's causing them misery and what they can do about it, the steps they can take to reduce their stress and feel calmer no matter what, and what to do if they're stuck trying to decide how to help their teen.