Addiction is a terrible disease that continues to run rampant globally. There are a lot of resources to help adults get back on their feet and receive treatment for their substance use disorder. However, young adults who have issues have an even more difficult time returning to normalcy because they must return to an (often) highly enabling environment. While available to adults, transition coaching focuses more on adolescents and young adults who have suffered from addiction-related issues. The purpose is to help young adults and adolescents cope with their unique circumstances when returning to their everyday lives.

A Culture of Binge Drinking

Referencing a SAMHSA report, 74% of adults participating in a substance abuse treatment program had started the use of drugs and/or alcohol before the age of 17. Of the estimated current number of alcohol drinkers, 19.3% of them comprise the youth of America (12-20).

Animal House, Van Wilder, American Pie, Neighbors, there are no shortage of raunchy college-comedies past present or future. It is almost a genre qualification for these movies to feature excessive drinking and partying. Undoubtedly, the purpose of this is to make these movies appealing to young adults—both in high school and in college.

This isn’t film class, so rather than analyze the genre we should look at what the genre imparts on the expectations of young adults. If you’re a young person—in high school, middle school even, you’ll undoubtedly have access to these films. They give an expectation of what the high school and college experience should be like. This is called normalization and it essentially means that expectations enable circumstances.

In this example, modern films, music, television all portray high school and college in America as a time to party, binge drink alcohol, do drugs, and participate in hook up culture.

We tend to think of alcoholics as older people encroaching on or beyond middle-age. However, as the statistics show, a great portion of the youth of America drink alcohol.

College is a Breeding Grounds for Substance Use Disorders

Why is the college experience so prominently involved with substance abuse—particularly alcohol? The most straightforward answers are that students are away from home for the very first time in many instances. This sudden freedom encourages many students to let loose from their ordinary constraints in an environment with people relatively close to their age who are doing the same.

When you add alcohol into the mix, it quickly escalates. Notice that the YA demographic stops at age 21, drinking behaviors tend to deviate at age 21 as well. Young adults who cannot yet legally purchase alcohol are much more compelled to binge drink whenever the opportunity to drink alcohol presents itself.

Transition Coaching for Young Adults

If you are a young adult who is suffering from a substance use disorder or the guardian of one, consider how irresponsible it would be to return a student to that environment. In the addiction treatment community, a great deal of time is spent discussing triggers and in this case, enabling behaviors and environments. Before one can learn to resist these things through practice, they must first put distance between themselves and these environments so that they can gain perspective.

However, in the case of school or being involved with young peer groups, it’s almost impossible to avoid witnessing binge drinking behaviors or seeing it glorified.

This is where transition coaching becomes an incredibly powerful component and deterrent to re-engaging in negative behaviors and patterns that will lead to relapse.

Addiction Transition Coaching in Virginia

Recovery Care Partner is with you every step of the way during the addiction treatment process. We firmly believe that this process does not end with the completion of a treatment program, we are always concerned about the wellbeing of our current patients as well as alumni. In certain cases such as with young adults and adolescents, we can understand they face some unique issues when returning to a normal life. They do not yet have the flexibility to completely remove themselves from people who may pose a negative influence on their recovery, and so it is for this group especially that transition coaching is a great way to follow through with treatment.

Let us be your partner in recovery, contact Recovery Care Partner today to consult about transition coaching or addiction treatment.