Finding the right program for your struggling young adult is often difficult. We understand the anxiety parents feel when young adults seem to be sitting it out on the sidelines of life. Every parent wants their child to jump into life with both feet and become the person they were born to be. Challenges, like mental health struggles, external pressures like grades and social media, and internal pressure to meet expectations, can completely derail a child from his once bright future.
The lack of motivation in young adults has been a trending topic for years now, and it doesn’t look like it will resolve any time soon. That said, there are amazing programs for struggling young adults to help them get “unstuck” and moving again! As you start your search for that “just right” program, make sure to fully investigate each program’s accreditation, program structure, and staffing credentials.
Understanding The Difficulties Of Young Adulthood
Navigating our world is complex, and the transition from dependence to independence can seem overwhelming and daunting. Why is young adulthood difficult? Here is a list of the top five most common difficulties that young adults face today:
- Forming a solid identity. With so many voices claiming to be experts on what success should look and feel like, young adults find their sense of identity constantly under attack. Feeling less than others or comparing yourself to social media channels can quickly turn a struggling young adult into an unmotivated mess.
- Academics. Whether it’s pressure to attend your parent’s alma mater, worried about testing well, or handling life away from home and friends, going away to college is often a big change for young adults. The process can be overwhelming and many young adults wonder if they have the skills to be successful in a collegiate environment.
- Relationships. Ah, young love, right? To some, maybe. But to many others, navigating the social scene to find the one person you want to spend the rest of your life with is often confusing and fraught with challenges. Dating is not for the faint of heart, and once a child moves into college, relationships take on a whole new level of seriousness. Relationships with parents and siblings change, and so do childhood friendships. Change can be scary for many young adults, and young adulthood is FULL of change.
- Money. Especially today, the price of rent and gas is a cause for concern. Many young adults wonder if they can make it financially on their own. And with tuition costs skyrocketing, the fear of not being able to make enough to pay back student loans at a comfortable rate could be a reality.
- Mental health challenges. More than ever, today’s young adults struggle with crippling mental health issues like anxiety and depression. And while these challenges are very real, they are 100% treatable with a variety of different approaches. If your young adult is struggling to take the next step in life, there are wonderful programs for struggling young adults that are well-suited to helping them find the next right step.
Identifying The Key Psychological Issues For Young Adults
Adolescence and the transition into young adulthood is an exciting time of life, but it can also present many unique challenges, especially for young people dealing with depression and anxiety. These challenges are very real and can be debilitating. It is not uncommon for even the brightest young people to feel “stuck” or “paralyzed” in the transition. Some struggling young adults self-medicate with substances, overeat, undereat, or by avoiding, isolating, giving up easily on everything, or just simply sitting in their parent’s basement and shut down.
DISCOVER: Parenting Your Teen For Higher Education
Most of the challenging problems that young adults face today are psychological. And although this makes them tricky to overcome, it is not impossible. Whatever your challenge may be, there is hope and help available. With the right help, your child can thrive and live his best life as a well-adjusted young adult. To best help your child, you must understand and identify the key psychological issues that young adults face:
Low Self-Esteem And Lack Of Confidence
With fewer opportunities to stretch their wings and develop emotional resilience, young adults are constantly faced with the terrifying idea that they might make mistakes. Instead of a growth mindset where mistakes are valued learning experiences, young adults fear the unknown and resist the very experiences that would help them develop the self-confidence that comes from facing challenges head-on.
Executive Function Deficits And Organization
Whether it’s tracking doctor’s appointments or breaking down a large assignment into smaller bite-size pieces, executive function, and organization skills are essential for a successful launch into adulthood. Many young adults have well-meaning parents that have taken the lead on too many of these executive function tasks with the unintended consequence of delaying this skill development in their young adults. Developing any skill takes practice. Letting youth manage their own schedule and find systems of organization that work for them is crucial to helping them launch successfully into adulthood.
Trauma And Its Effects
Prolonged trauma can cause fatigue, sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, or avoidance of emotions and activities once associated with the trauma. If your child has experienced unresolved trauma, it is common to see mental health issues arise along with disengagement from life. It’s important to seek professional help. Processing and understanding the emotions that accompany trauma is an essential component of developing healthy future relationships, not to mention your child’s ability to interact and cope with the world around him.
Substance Abuse And Addiction
While it is common knowledge that substance abuse and addiction can hijack life as we know it, these forms of emotional regulation are often used by young adults to take the edge off of anxious thoughts and curb the debilitating long-term effects of stress. We all have anxious thoughts and encounter stressful situations. That’s part of being human. The key is to help your child find appropriate creative outlets and healthy coping habits, develop their talents, and find ways to develop meaningful and fulfilling relationships with family and friends.
Strategies For Dealing With Unmotivated Young Adults
While it may be tempting to treat symptoms, especially if they are causing major disruption to family life, take the time to dig deeper and look beyond the symptoms to the root cause. If you are struggling to encourage and motivate a young adult in your life, try any of the following:
- Set realistic goals. Your child may be overwhelmed and in a place of acute pain. Make simple, achievable goals that your child can accomplish.
- Create a supportive and structured environment. Stability comes from knowing what to expect. If you can, remain positive at all times. Your child can sense your anxiety, and it will only add pressure and stress. Keep calm, and provide a non-judgemental environment that is encouraging and structured. Help your child experiment with organization systems that will help them be successful, whether that means breaking down tasks into smaller chunks, or gently prompting them to take action.
- Encourage autonomy and self-discovery. Let your child find their way! Although this is scary, trust that your child can figure it out. They will need to stand on their own two feet in the world, and allowing them to make mistakes and take ownership of their decisions while still in the safety of your home will create a strong, resilient young adult that can face challenges with courage and grit.
- Incorporate outdoor experiential learning and adventure. Learning new things will ignite the fire of curiosity in your child and build self-esteem. Go on an adventure together, or experience something new. It will breathe life into your normal routine.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Utilize therapy and counseling. By consulting with a professional, parents can enlist another caring adult that can guide their struggling adult. The benefits of counseling are well-known. It can change lives and reinvigorate a struggling young adult.
- Enroll in a program that specializes in helping young adults. Programs, like Pure Life’s Adventure Therapy Program, provide an immersive cultural experience with an added element of fitness and adventure. The program is run by licensed and trained staff and they offer group and individual therapy and counseling. Programs like these are amazingly powerful tools to help a struggling young adult develop life skills, mindfulness, and new skills and talents. We also offer many amazing resources for parents to learn more about how they can help a struggling young adult.
If your unmotivated young adult is struggling to take the next step in life, there are wonderful programs for struggling young adults that are suited to helping them find the next right step.
Choosing The Right Program For Your Struggling Young Adults
When choosing the best program for your struggling young adult, it is important to have a framework in place to evaluate and compare different options. As you search for the right program, keeping the following in mind will help you choose the best program for your child:
- Do your research. Look for programs that align with your goals and values and cater to struggling young adults. Carefully evaluate the credibility and expertise of each program by considering factors such as the program’s reputation, accreditation, licensing, and the qualifications of its staff.
- Understand the program’s approach and methodology. Does your potential program offer individualized treatment plans? A personalized approach is crucial for addressing the specific needs of struggling young adults. Do they offer a range of therapeutic modalities, like group and individual therapy and cognitive behavior therapy? Do they offer a novel environment, cultural immersion, or an outdoor experiential learning component? New experiences offer the potential for growth and change, as well as developing new skills, talents, and an appreciation for life.
- Look for qualified and experienced staff. Choose a program that employs qualified, licensed staff that specialize in working with struggling young adults.
- Choose a program that offers fitness, mindfulness, and life skills. In many cases, struggling adults suffer from a lack of basic life skills, regular exercise, and a peaceful mind. Studies abound illustrating the positive link between exercise and mental health. Exercise is a must-have for any program. Mindfulness will help with decision-making and processing emotions, while life skills will prepare them for life on their own.
- See what others are saying. A reputable company will have reviews and testimonials from young adults that have experienced the program. See what they have to say. In many cases, you will be inspired by what participants have to say about the efficacy of the program.
Unlocking Growth-The Journey To Adventure Therapy
Are you feeling stagnant and confused about how to proceed with your struggling young adult? Are you ready to unlock real growth through a journey of self-discovery? If so, we welcome you with open arms. Pure Life’s Adventure Therapy Program is a bicultural team of professionals that are dedicated to providing a therapeutically sophisticated and holistic approach to help young adults and adolescents overcome depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, lack of motivation, executive function deficits, trauma, and substance abuse. By utilizing traditional individual and group therapy in combination with outdoor experiential learning and adventure, our students can experience lasting change.
Are you ready to unlock growth? Contact Pure Life to find out if our Adventure Therapy Program is right for you. Our dedicated and licensed staff will guide your child through a journey of self-discovery that emphasizes fitness, mindfulness, life skills, and cultural immersion. We have a proven track record to show that our students develop a new love for life, new skills and talents, the courage to face challenges, and the grit to tackle the unknown with confidence.
