Young Professionals / Students

The old saying, “being thrown in at the deep end” is perhaps never more appropriate than for young professionals and students in their 20s and 30s. This phase of life is filled with significant transitions where young people are initiated into a new existence we call “adulthood”. Part of this transition comes through some concrete changes such as leaving home for post-secondary school, independently assuming financial responsibilities or starting your career. These concrete changes can be tough enough to adjust to on their own, but what about the symbolic transitions that occur inside our psyche?

The experience of many young professionals and students is one of deep frustration and confusion. How can a time that is so exciting leave you feeling like you are simply “trying to keep your head above water?” Is this what adulthood is really like? What have you gotten yourself into?

Our current culture is lacking in support for the symbolic transitions that assist young people in feeling initiated into becoming an independent and resourceful adult – what I like to call a “choiceful adult”. It only takes a little bit of historical insight to see that formal, meaningful psychological initiation into adulthood has been a multicultural tradition for thousands of years. In the present day, however, the goal of building of a strong “LinkedIn” profile is not doing the trick in providing young adults with the meaningful initiation they need.

To support my position, I would like to draw from personal experience and share that I first went to counselling as a young adult at 24 years old. I had just started my first career as a high school teacher and, simultaneously, was going through the break-up of my first truly loving intimate relationship. Again, these are very clear concrete transitions, but they had nothing to do with the symbolic, inner changes that I needed to talk about and experience. I began to see, over time, that those external events actually mattered less in comparison to letting go of the myths and emotional struggles that accumulate in childhood and adolescence.

Young adulthood is such an important time to invest in your psychological and emotional development. The effort and pace of life present during university and our first career experiences are enough to unsettle even the highest achievers. As a counsellor I can help you strategize what steps will be best for you to get out of feeling constantly overwhelmed and to also grow into being a conscious and capable adult.