New York
Therapy for Young Adults
Are you struggling with the transition to adulthood?
Many young adults feel alone in these experiences, with the idea that everyone else seems to “have it all together.”
Big Changes Can Be Both Exciting And Stressful
Transitions such as graduating high school, starting college, starting your first job, experiencing your first relationship, and working towards being financially independent are all exciting moments in time, but they can also bring stress and uncertainty. Many young adults feel overcome with anxiety about with the array of options for picking a major or a job path, fearing they’ll choose the “wrong” thing and that it will have a permanent negative impact on their future. College students might be thrown by how much harder academic life is than in high school, no longer having the structure and accountability provided by teachers or parents. Making friends in a new setting may also be harder than you expected, leading to feelings of failure. Especially since having a social life with peers can feel even more important when you’re far from home. Coming home from college for the summer or winter break, many young adults are thrown by the fact that their friends have grown and evolved in different ways than them, making friendships feel strained.If things aren’t working out as you expected, you may start to feel down or depressed, anxious, or a sense of isolation and loneliness. That’s where we enter in. We’d love to help you feel a little less alone in this phase of life and to start working through the challenges you’ve been dealing with.
Challenges in Mental Health Are Particularly Common for Young Adults
We know that this stage of life is associated with greater mental health difficulties, with research showing that 1 in 3 young adults (ages 18-25) experience a mental illness, and 1 in 10 experience a serious mental illness1. The unique challenges and transitions of this stage of life make these statistics unsurprising. Those challenges include things such as pressure to figure out what you want to “do with your life,” financial strain, changes in relationships with friend groups, and difficulty finding a job. Social media also plays a big role in young adults’ unhappiness, since it can lead to FOMO (fear of missing out) and negative comparisons of yourself to people you know or to over-filtered influencers, and perpetuates the idea that everyone has figured it out when you don’t. More freedom also brings more access to and ability to experiment with drinking and using drugs, and many young adults find themselves confused about whether their ways of using alcohol or weed are “normal” for this phase of life, or have become a problem worth addressing.
There are also ways in which parenting styles and the way adolescents are treated in our society can lead to poor preparation for the demands of living on your own and adulthood. Finally, the COVID pandemic has created uniquely difficult disruptions to young adults’ experiences since 2020, with many young adults missing milestones like graduations, starting college virtually rather than around peers, or starting college later than usual to avoid this. These are unprecedented situations which have left many people at a loss for how to navigate them. 23% of young adults report that the pandemic had a significant negative impact on their mental health1.
In A City of Millions of People, It’s Not Uncommon to Feel Alone
Life in New York City can also bring its own unique challenges, especially for attending college or starting your first job. Being thrown into a bustling city, without a contained campus, can be disorienting. Even though there are so many people around, it can be hard to connect with others and find “your people.” Dating in NYC also has a reputation for being overwhelming and frustrating, with people taking each date less seriously due to the idea that there could always be someone better out there. Our therapists at Elevate CBT understand all of this and have worked with many other young adults going through similar things. We are ready to support you in navigating your unique struggles. Our in person sessions are offered at an office in Union Square, conveniently located to many college campuses.
Our Specialized Therapy for Young Adults Can Help You Build The Life You Want
We specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which focuses on addressing thinking and behavioral patterns that may be keeping you stuck and preventing you from having the life you want. It’s a very goal-driven kind of therapy, so your therapist will work with you to identify what is currently a struggle in your life, and what you want to work towards to have a more satisfying life. We have helped many young adults in therapy work towards finding their “people” and figuring out aspects of their identities, improving academic organization and decreasing procrastination, creating a more balanced relationship with alcohol or weed, and asserting independence from parents while still being respectful of the ways in which parental support may still be needed. We also have specialized training in helping young adults with anxiety disorders, OCD, panic attacks, insomnia, trauma, BFRBs (skin picking and hair pulling), and perfectionism.
Many of the college students we’ve worked with have commented on it being helpful to have a consistent supportive person to help them across semesters, and have appreciated how therapy played a role in their evolving over the course of college. Meeting with a therapist regularly can create a sense of stability during an otherwise unstable period. For those already beyond college, therapy can help you navigate the ups and downs of that “in between” phase in which you’re expected to be an adult, but don’t feel like you’re fully there yet. Whether it’s adjusting to an intense work schedule, difficult boss, or living solo for the first time, or figuring out how to create balance and prioritize self-care, we’ll help you break down your goals into small steps, learn ways to manage emotions and be self-compassionate, and build new skillsets for “adulting.”
Are You A Young Adult Interested In Therapy, But Still Have Some Reservations?
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If your parents are funding your therapy, that doesn’t automatically give them access to anything that is discussed in your sessions. In order for the therapy process to work best, we strongly believe in protecting your privacy. And even if we didn’t, since you’re over the age of 18, we’re required to get your consent to speak to your parents about anything other than payment for therapy. We will happily involve family members if it’s something you want, but will never pressure you to do so.
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Many young adults find it to be a really different experience to choose to start therapy on your own, as compared to being required to see a therapist as a child, and not having any say in who you saw and what you focused on. We offer 15 minute phone consultations to give you a chance to see if one of our therapists feels like a good fit for you. It's important to us that we understand your personal needs and goals for therapy. Another difference is that many people also do not receive CBT in their early therapy experiences, which can be very different from play therapy or supportive talk therapy you might’ve had in the past. CBT will provide you with a concrete set of skills to help get you through the challenges you’re dealing with, and help you become more aware of patterns in your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.
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If you’re considering whether therapy would be helpful but aren’t sure, our stance is that it’s worth trying it out to see what it has to offer. Even if you’re experiencing what feel like “typical” concerns for your age group, that doesn’t mean that extra support can’t help. There’s also something to be said for addressing things early on before they become a bigger problem, to prevent something more disruptive like having to take a leave of absence from school or work.
Get Started With Young Adults Counseling Today
If you’re ready to learn more about the specialized therapy for young adults offered at Elevate CBT, or have additional questions, Contact Us today. Or Click Here to schedule your a free 15 minute consultation to help you decide whether you want to get started.1NAMI. (n.d.). 2020 Mental health by the numbers. Retrieved June 1, 2024, from https://www.nami.org/wpcontent/uploads/2023/11/NAMI_2020MH_ByTheNumbers_Youth-r.pdf