A look at what care can feel like for young adults navigating a life stage that often gets skipped over.
There’s a stretch of life that many individuals and families struggle to navigate. It isn’t adolescence anymore, and it isn’t quite adulthood yet—it’s the space where someone is moving out, moving back in, changing majors, quitting jobs, and starting over, sometimes all in the same year.
That’s the territory of Forward Issue 03. Researchers have started calling this stretch “emerging adulthood” and treating it as a developmental stage in its own right, rather than a leftover from teen care or a preview of adult care. Identity is still forming. Independence is new and often shaky. Relationships with family are being renegotiated in real time.
Our specialty programs reflect that same thinking, with separate tracks for children, teens, young adults, and adults.
Here are a few topics that kept coming up as we put this issue together.
1. The years between adolescence and adulthood deserve their own conversation.
The transition into adulthood is often treated like an extension of the teen years or the beginning of adult life. In reality, it’s something different. Identity, relationships, and independence are all still forming, and mental health care should reflect that. In this issue, we explore why emerging adulthood has become its own field of study and what that means for treatment.
2. Healing has to fit into real life.
A young adult in crisis is still enrolled in classes. Still has a shift at work. Still has a lease, a roommate, or a group project due Thursday. Asking them to put life on hold to get better often makes the situation feel even more overwhelming, and it can turn care into one more thing on which they fall behind.
This issue takes a closer look at treatment models that allow young adults to receive meaningful support while continuing to navigate the responsibilities that come with this stage of life.
3. Support and independence can grow together.
Many young adults have spent years being told, in one way or another, to figure it out themselves. Asking for help can feel like failing at the independence they’ve been working toward.
We explore why reaching out for support isn’t a detour from adulthood. For a lot of people, it’s part of building a foundation that lasts.
4. Mental health and substance use often overlap.
For a lot of young adults, social settings that used to feel manageable in high school suddenly come with real anxiety attached. Alcohol or substances, in places like parties and dorm rooms, often become the thing that makes uncomfortable moments feel temporarily more bearable.
Inside, we examine how mental health and substance use influence one another and why looking at the whole picture leads to better care.
5. What happens after treatment deserves just as much attention.
Graduating from a treatment program isn’t the finish line for a young adult; it’s often the moment school, work, and independent living all come rushing back at once. This issue looks at how continuity of care can help young adults stay connected to treatment as they move into the next chapter.
Why We Created Forward: For The In-Between Years
Young adulthood is a time of enormous change, but conversations about mental health during these years are often missing.
If you’ve ever wondered what mental health treatment looks like for someone navigating the space between adolescence and adulthood, Forward Issue 03 offers a closer look at the challenges, the care available, and the paths to getting support.
Flip through Forward Issue 03 here.
