Therapy For Young Adults
Are You Feeling Overwhelmed By Life’s Challenges?
As an adolescent or young adult, have you been struggling with a lack of confidence? Are the demands of school or work adding stress to your life, making it difficult to find balance? Do you wish you had someone to talk to other than your parents or friends that could help you figure things out?
You walked into young adulthood with excitement and curiosity. But lately, you may be feeling anxious, confused, and overwhelmed. While this new stage is filled with once-in-a-lifetime memories, it also brings with it a host of new challenges. With pressure on you to make decisions and find direction, you may be feeling intimidated and insecure about what lies ahead.
And if you have been dealing with difficult life circumstances—such as family conflict, problems with a relationship, or confusion related to gender or sexual identity—you might be experiencing anxiety or depression.
You Realize You Don’t Have All The Answers
Finding your direction amid all the changes you’re facing can get overwhelming. It might feel like there is always something to do and someone to please. Although you’re excited to move toward independence, maybe you don’t have the right tools. Perhaps you’re looking to find a balance between freedom and responsibility where you can live your life to the fullest and not neglect your goals and dreams.
Fortunately, therapy for young adults has the answers you’re looking for. Counseling will help you get to a place where you can set healthy boundaries, know when to say “no”, and when to ask for help. A mental health counselor for young adults can help you become motivated to create your best life based on your values, not your fears.
The Transition Into Adulthood Can Be Difficult
Being a young adult has always been an adventurous yet challenging phase of life. At this age, we are no longer seen as kids—suddenly, we are held to a different standard by the authority figures around us. And when our own standards of who we want to be get added to the mix, our stress levels can shoot up very quickly.
Sadly, living through the pandemic has made this already tough transitional time even harder. Many of us feel burned out and exhausted like we’ve been running a marathon but never getting to the finish line.
The Pressure To Know What Our Path Is Can Be Intense
One of the main challenges we face is the pressure to figure it all out. Halfway through high school, we’re often expected to know what path we want to take in life—everything from the career we want to pursue, where we want to live, and the relationships we may desire. We are expected to sort it all out quickly, successfully, and efficiently. It often feels like we have very little room to make mistakes or change direction midstream.
Sometimes, the pressure to prove ourselves and find our footing in the adult world can feel paralyzing, making it harder for us to take any action or make decisions. When we get stuck vacillating, we are left feeling ashamed, disappointed, and embarrassed. We feel like we are letting ourselves down as well as the people around us.
What compounds our sense of isolation is when everyone on social media is seemingly living the “perfect” life. With constant access to our phones, we can’t help but play the comparison game. But unfortunately, when we compare our journey to others, we often draw negative conclusions about our own path.
You may be looking for a therapist that understands the unique challenges you face amid the current social and political climate. And if you’re feeling unmotivated and experiencing a failure to launch, therapy can challenge you to grow, instill confidence, and help you become the best version of yourself.
Therapy For Young Adults Can Help You Gain Confidence And Inner Strength
Right now, the challenges of being a young adult may be holding you back from living wholeheartedly. But with the help of a therapist specializing in working with young adults, you can develop clarity on the direction of your life. If perhaps you are exploring your sexual or gender identity, therapy is a safe and accepting space for you to discuss your thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment. With their support, you can build more peaceful and joyous relationships, both with yourself as well as others.
Our services are individually tailored because we don’t want to simply give you a toolbox to help you cope with anxiety, stress, and worry. We want you to find clarity about your passion and feel excited about the opportunities life offers so you can thrive.
What To Expect In Therapy For Young Adults
In therapy customized for young adults, we want to get to know the real you—not the version that your parents or society tell you to be. We want to learn about your feelings, thoughts, the things that keep you up at night, and what you want to achieve for yourself.
One of our core treatment goals is to address the inner monologue that runs in your head all day long. It tells you what things you can or cannot do and the places you do and don’t belong. We want to make sure that you get out of your own way by debunking any self-limiting beliefs you may have. Our therapists offer practical and thoughtful feedback that will help you look at things objectively, helping you discover new perspectives and creative solutions.
No matter what stage of life you are in, any unresolved issues from your past can impact what’s happening currently. When you get control of your thoughts and feelings, you will gain clarity about how your past is shaping your present. From there, you can start working towards a more authentic life.
The Modalities We Use In Young Adult Counseling
Over the years, you may have developed unhealthy beliefs. As such, a common issue among young adults is negative self-talk. We utilize Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for treatment to help you uncover these rigid thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. For example, you may have thoughts like, “I have to do things perfectly to be valued” or “I need to be successful and know the direction of my life.” By learning to challenge these unrealistic thought patterns, you will begin to shift away from perfectionism and adopt more realistic expectations.
Once you better understand what is keeping you stuck, you’ll be able to let go of worry, rumination, and self-loathing. Additionally, our therapists who specialize in working with young adults will help you learn to tolerate making mistakes. By transforming self-judgment into self-compassion, you will let yourself off the hook and be able to make decisions more confidently. Further, you will build a “toolbox” to help you navigate new opportunities as they arise.
You have so much to achieve. And whether you know it or not, you are capable and worthy of pursuing your goals and dreams so that you can create the life you want. The confidence lies within you to change.
But You May Have More Questions About Therapy For Young Adults…
When I go to therapy for young adults, will the therapist end up telling my parents everything we talk about?
Maintaining your confidentiality while fostering a trusting relationship with your therapist is our main priority. Confidentiality is breached only if we have concerns about your physical safety. If you are a young adult but receiving support from your parents to cover the cost of therapy, you remain the holder of confidentiality. And if you are still a minor and your parents would like to be kept in the loop, we encourage them to join the session for the first or last five minutes on an as-needed basis. This way, they can participate but with parameters that you are comfortable with.
My problems are not that bad and are just part of growing up. Isn’t young adult counseling for serious things like trauma?
We encourage our clients to never compare their experiences to other people. Anyone can benefit from therapy to process their life experiences, gain insight and understanding about themselves, and learn healthy coping skills that will help them later in life. You do not have to wait until things “get bad” to seek guidance—therapy is a safe place for young adults to learn better ways to manage anxiety and depression, develop closer relationships, and gain confidence to manage life’s ups and downs.
Begin Therapy For Young Adults
You can learn the skills you need to feel more resilient and develop authentic relationships with yourself and others.
To schedule an appointment to begin therapy for young adults at our Woodland Hills therapy practice or online, please fill out the contact form to schedule a free phone consultation.
