Three Challenges Facing Young Adults

Young adults have a lot on their plates and, at times, their lives can feel overwhelming. Here are three areas that can be particularly challenging for young adults – peer pressure, college life, and dating. The Claudia Black Young Adult Center is here to help young adults in these areas and in every step on their journey of recovery.

Peer Pressure

Although peer pressure has affected most of us at some point in our lives, it plays an especially significant role in the lives of young adults who are trying to find their way in the world. Peer pressure knows no limits. Celebrities even grapple with it. Young adults who are prone to peer pressure may feel compelled to drink and take drugs; lack a sense of self; not know their true likes and dislikes; lose themselves in relationships (codependency); and feel pressured to be in relationships. Young adults may pressure their peers to use in order to justify their own behavior. Here are three ways young adults are impacted by peer pressure in the area of prescription drug abuse arizona.

1. Peers: Many of the young adults we treat struggle with peer pressure because they crave a sense of belonging. Almost all of us want to fit in. Many of our clients really want to get sober, but peer pressure persuades them to remain committed to drugs and alcohol – and not to recovery. Although they may initially want to stop their self-destructive behavior and shrug off peer pressure, they may ultimately lose the ability to choose and find themselves in the grips of addiction. We’ve even seen cases where peer pressure persuaded young adults to stage diet competitions to see who can reach the lowest weight. Essentially, young adults want to be accepted. This can, of course, be the case for people of any age. As we unpack the layers, we often find that wanting to be part of the “cool” crowd may even play a major role in introducing drugs and alcohol to young adults. Aside from a way to fit in, drinking is also used to self-medicate and to seek intensity. Many young adults also use drugs and alcohol as a way to pass the time with friends when there’s nothing else going on. Peer pressure carries a lot of weight. These unhealthy relationships are given a great deal of power, and we’re here to help young adults break free and empower themselves.
   
   
2. Siblings: We’re seeing a lot more peer pressure from older siblings. Oftentimes, younger siblings might want to get “clean,” however, using drugs or alcohol may be the only way they truly know how to connect with an older sibling. Younger siblings want to be accepted, so they’re often willing to go to almost any lengths for this approval.
   
   
3. Technology: Twitter. Facebook. Instagram. Everyone has something to say online these days and many young adults want to be a trendsetter. There is no shortage of comments. Besides, no one wants to be invisible online. Many of today’s young adults want their actions to stand out because they want to feel like they’re the life of the online party. If their friends can do it, they can, too. So, they post photos of themselves engaging in rowdy behavior in the hopes it will give them an online edge.
   
   

At the Claudia Black Young Adult Center, we help young adults combat peer pressure by enhancing their self-identity and by helping them find their authentic voice. By aiding them in creating healthy boundaries, they’re able to say no to negative peer pressure. We want young adults to embrace who they are and live life to the fullest.

College Managing college life can be a big challenge for young adults. Unfortunately, a combination of peer pressure, feelings of worthlessness, depression, addiction, and trauma flashbacks can create huge barriers to the college experience. There may also be untreated ADHD, making concentration a tall order. Young adults in crisis may swing from being the life of the party to becoming depressed and isolated. In extreme cases, they may become so crippled they’re unable to function or even get out of bed. Having to interact without substances may feel intolerable and unbearable, so they continue to self-medicate. College can pose a lot of stressors.

What brings some young adults to the Claudia Black Young Adult Center are circumstances such as failing out of college; parents finding out they aren’t attending classes; or getting caught using drugs or alcohol. In many cases, college roommates are the ones who tell the parents of their roommates about maladaptive behaviors.

As a result, parents may stage an intervention that may, ultimately, transform their child’s life.

Treatment offers space and time to look at the issues – and to pay attention and honor them. Young adults are able to connect with their peers in a sober environment on a truly authentic level without any walls or defenses. The experience allows them – for the first time in their lives – to connect deeply and honestly with their peers.

Dating 

A lot of young adults have yet to experience healthy romantic relationships. Unfortunately, this is an especially difficult feat if you don’t have healthy role models. There are so many relational issues that can sabotage relationships - codependency, not realizing one’s worth and value; being in abusive relationships whether physical or emotional; love addiction; love avoidance; and confusing love with sex. It can be a struggle.

At the Claudia Black Young Adult Center, we encourage young adults to seek support from their own gender, so we offer gender specific meetings to facilitate this bonding. We sometimes encounter young adults who swear they only relate to the opposite sex. This all changes once they get a chance to be around people of their own gender under healthy circumstances. We also have groups open to both sexes in order to help opposite sex partners learn how to relate to each other in non-sexual ways. It’s important for both parties in any relationship to learn that their value and self-worth doesn’t come from another person - it comes from within.

About The Claudia Black Young Adult Center

The Claudia Black Young Adult Center in Wickenburg, Arizona, provides an intensive, experientially based 45-day treatment program for young adults ages 18 – 26 who are struggling with unresolved emotional trauma, addiction, have a dual diagnosis or who have failed past addiction treatments. Dr. Claudia Black - renowned author, speaker, and trainer who has been working with family systems and addictive disorders since the 1970s - is the clinical architect of the Claudia Black Young Adult Center. In a safe and nurturing community composed of their peers, young adults are guided on their journey of recovery by examining the underlying causes of addiction and co-occurring disorders. The goal is for these individuals to gain the courage to face difficult issues, including grief and loss; heal from emotional trauma; and become accountable for their own feelings, behaviors, and recovery. To learn more or to speak with an Admissions representative please call 855-333-6075 or visit.

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Dr. Claudia Black Launches Center for Young Adults

Claudia Black, Ph.D., recognized internationally for her pioneering and cutting-edge work with family systems and addictive disorders, recently launched The Claudia Black Young Adult Center for young adults ages 18 - 26 who are struggling with unresolved emotional trauma, addictions, or who have a dual diagnosis.

“Our mission at the Claudia Black Young Adult Center,” said Dr. Black, whose work fueled the development of the codependency and developmental trauma fields, “is to help young adults and their families forge recovery paths, so they can heal, blossom, and thrive. As the clinical architect for this groundbreaking treatment program, I am honored to be a conduit for the journey of recovery for young adults.

There’s nothing more rewarding than witnessing the many miracles realized as a result of these transformations for such individuals who are bright, passionate, and full of hope.” In the late 1970s, Dr. Black’s work with children impacted by drug and alcohol addiction created the framework for the adult children of alcoholics’ movement. She has also authored over fifteen books, including 'Intimate Treason'; 'It Will Never Happen To Me!'; and 'Changing Course: Healing from Loss, Abandonment and Fear'.

The innovative Center, one of three treatment programs run by The Meadows, is an intensive, experientially-based, 45-day inpatient drug addiction treatment program focusing on a nurturing community, family systems, proven testing and assessments, life skills, experiential therapies, and 12-step work.

Although trauma comes in many forms, young adults may be victims of circumstances, such as bullying, sexual assault, abandonment, and may have faced absent, controlling, or addicted parents. Young adults, said Dr. Black, look to their peers for acceptance, guidance, and support, so creating an empowering recovery community for this population is instrumental to the healing process.

The Claudia Black Young Adult Center utilizes an array of experiential healing modalities – along with other therapies - including neurofeedback, mindfulness practices, equine-assisted psychotherapy, challenge courses, and trauma-informed psychodrama, along with EMDR and Somatic Experiencing.

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New Workshop Offered at the Claudia Black Young Adult Center

Young adult women at the Claudia Black Young Adult Addiction Treatment Center now have the opportunity to experience a Personal Safety and Empowerment Workshop led by the center’s wellness instructor Tracy Jones. The workshop is offered on an ongoing weekly basis throughout the patient’s stay.

Many of the center’s patients come from a history of being immobilized in their fear; have often been victimized, and today engage in a host of self-defeating behaviors. These behaviors range from the abuse of substances, self-harm, and attachment to unhealthy partners, to succumbing to states of defeat and hopelessness. Lacking the skills to protect themselves, they set themselves up for re-victimization and the perpetuation of self-destructive defenses.

''These young women are walking out of this class having garnered an embodied sense of empowerment, feeling an inner strength and confidence that has previously been nonexistent. It is inspiring to see them embrace their courage and to stand in their power,'' said Dr. Claudia Black.

Full Article Here

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Claudia Black Center Introduces T.O.V.A to Screen for ADHD

The Claudia Black Young Adult Center has incorporated the Test of Variables of Attention (T.O.V.A.) to its assessment protocol. This initiative brings an objective functional measure to inform its clinical assessment with regard to the differential diagnosis and treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

“Using the T.O.V.A is a critical piece to comprehensive assessments to address such complexity of symptoms and behaviors in our clients. It raises our high standard of service to an even greater level,” says Claudia Black, Ph.D., clinical architect of the Claudia Black Young Adult Center and renowned speaker and author who has been working with family systems and addictive disorders since the 1970s.

The Claudia Black Young Adult Drug Addiction Treatment Centers has incorporated the Test of Variables of Attention (T.O.V.A.) to its assessment protocol. This initiative brings an objective functional measure to inform its clinical assessment with regard to the differential diagnosis and treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

“Using the T.O.V.A is a critical piece to comprehensive assessments to address such complexity of symptoms and behaviors in our clients. It raises our high standard of service to an even greater level,” says Claudia Black, Ph.D., clinical architect of the Claudia Black Young Adult Center and renowned speaker and author who has been working with family systems and addictive disorders since the 1970s.

Essentially, T.O.V.A. is a computerized test of attention that assists in the screening, diagnosis, and treatment monitoring of attention disorders, such as ADHD. The introduction of T.O.V.A. complements the multidisciplinary clinical assessment developed by nursing, general medicine and addictions specialists, along with the psychotherapy and psychiatry staff at the Claudia Black Young Adult Center. This new corroborative psychological testing that was by recommended Dr. James Cahill of the Claudia Black Young Adult Center helps to better understand each patient as an individual.

Many of the young adults presenting to the Claudia Black Young Adult Center report either a history of a prior diagnosis of ADHD/ADD (often with associated trials of medication treatment) or ongoing prominent symptoms of distractibility, impulsivity, restlessness, poor frustration tolerance, and inconsistent task completion. This report often accompanies a history of substance use disorders, relational trauma, anxiety disorders, and mood dysregulation. The symptoms of ADHD may at times be directly due to a substance withdrawal syndrome, the consequences of trauma or a mood disorder itself. The presence of such comorbidity complicates the diagnostic process and necessitates a careful consideration of the specifics unique to each individual’s clinical presentation.

About The Claudia Black Young Adult Center

The Claudia Black Young Adult Center in Wickenburg, Arizona, provides an intensive, experientially based 45-day treatment program for young adults ages 18 – 26 who are struggling with unresolved emotional trauma, addiction, have a dual diagnosis or who have failed past addiction treatments. Dr. Claudia Black - renowned author, speaker, and trainer who has been working with family systems and addictive disorders since the 1970s - is the clinical architect of the Claudia Black Young Adult Center.

In a safe and nurturing community composed of their peers, young adults are guided on their journey of recovery by examining the underlying causes of addiction and co-occurring disorders. The goal is for these individuals to gain the courage to face difficult issues, including grief and loss; heal from emotional trauma; and become accountable for their own feelings, behaviors, and recovery. To learn more or to speak with an Admissions representative please call 855-333-6075.

Read More

The Claudia Black Young Adult Center Now Open

In January of this year, the young adult program at The Meadows in Wickenburg, Arizona became the Claudia Black Young Adult Center – an intensive, experientially based program specifically tailored to young adults ages 18 -26 struggling with emotional trauma, addiction, have a dual-diagnosis or who have failed past addiction treatments.

This 45-day treatment program is an opportunity for young people to interact and engage in a safe, secure and nurturing community of their peers, but it also includes a strong focus on family systems. The Claudia Black Young Adult Center strongly focuses on how family systems can transform the lives of young adults and their families. Through real-time webinars, patients and their families are embraced into the process before treatment even begins.

The program includes a focus on life skills such as interviewing techniques, resume development and how to secure important life necessities in order to empower young adults. Experiential healing modalities are a large part of the treatment process, including neurofeedback, mindfulness practices, equine-assisted psychotherapy, challenge courses and trauma-informed psychodrama, along with EMDR and Somatic Experiencing. There is 12-step involvement if necessary and the most current testing and assessment tools are used to paint an accurate picture of each patient’s status and unique needs.

Claudia Black, Ph. D., is the clinical architect of the Claudia Black Young Adult Center. She is internationally recognized for her pioneering and cutting-edge work with family systems and addictive disorders since the 1970s. Dr. Black is a renowned author, speaker and trainer whose passion is to help young adults overcome obstacles and strengthen families. Not only is Dr. Black the clinical architect of this groundbreaking treatment program, but she is also actively involved with the treatment team, patients and their families.

“Our mission at the Claudia Black Young Adult Center is to help young adults and their families forge recovery paths, so they can heal, blossom and thrive,” said Dr. Claudia Black.

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