Emerging into adult life can be confusing. College and young adulthood is an exciting time for growth and development and can be fun. This is a time when we can begin to live life on our own terms. You finally get to make your own decisions, leave the nest, get your own apartment (usually with roommates), develop new friendships and maybe start dating. You choose your friends, career path, and where you want to live. At the same time, young adulthood can also be a time of confusion and disappointment and things can get super stressful, hard, and overwhelming. Often we are not sure if we are making our own choices or if we are doing what others want us to do. We may begin to wonder if the path we’ve chosen is really right for us. When we are living someone else’s idea of a good life, we can become anxious, depressed and uncertain of our own capabilities. Therapy is a process of self-exploration and reflection on what it is you truly want and what may be holding you back. In therapy, we work to separate the influence of others so you can find what works for you. Some of the main challenges I often address when working with college students and young adults include: Depression and loneliness; Anxiety about how to manage school or work responsibilities; Substance use/abuse; and Relationship challenges with roommates, friends, partners, and family members.
You believed that once you “grew up” you could finally leave behind unpleasant memories from childhood and create a “new you”. Maybe you even succeeded in some areas of your life. But at some point, you realized that the stuff that happened to you, whether you thought it was big or small, is getting in your way of being happy.
The good news is that with counseling and personal growth work, things do get better. If you understand how your past is influencing your present challenges and work through it, you can finally create a new version of yourself. This “new you” will be more mature, integrated, stronger and better able to set good boundaries and make healthy life decisions. Let’s work together to help you create the life you really want.