Failure to Launch: What It Means and How SunCloud Health Helps Young Adults Thrive

In the dramatically complicated and fast-moving world of today, too many young adults fail to gain traction in launching themselves into their independent adulthood. These are the individuals who are experiencing even the most overwhelming barriers – emotional, psychological, or developmental – that stand in the way of achieving a number of typical milestones of maturity, such as pursuing education, structuring a career, or living on one’s own. As such, the phenomenon has come to be termed “Failure to Launch.” SunCloud Health proudly offers a strong and supportive Failure to Launch program (Chicago location) that empowers young adults to surmount these challenges and gives them the skills they need to succeed in the world.

What does the term “Failure to Launch” mean?

“Failure to Launch” is not a clinical diagnosis; it is primarily a descriptive term referring to young adults who do not make a successful transition from adolescence into independent adulthood. Some of the issues these individuals may confront include:

  • Lack of motivation or direction: Difficulty setting goals or taking steps toward their future.
  • Dependence on family: Being overly reliant on parents for financial, emotional, or logistical support.
  • Failure to take responsibility: Unwillingness to accept adult responsibilities for work, school, or management of finances.
  • Poor mental health: Anxiety, depression, substance use, and other varieties of issues that make it impossible to move forward.

Failure to Launch can manifest differently, and is common among the young adult age groups between 18 and 30 years. Some retreat into social isolation, refuse to undertake any meaningful employment or education, and/or remain dependent on their parents well into adulthood.

Although the name is pejorative to some degree, here at SunCloud Health, we understand that this is a person burdened with difficult emotional, psychological, and developmental issues. Our Failure to Launch programs for young adults are designed to provide the needed therapeutic support, life skills training, and guidance that will help young adults overcome such obstacles and reach their fullest potential.

The Root Causes of Failure to Launch

There may be many factors responsible for Failure to Launch, including:

  • Mental health disorders: Anxiety disorders, mood disorders such as depression, and ADHD may curtail the enterprise, the dealings with stress, and the involvement in challenges during adulthood.
  • Substance use: Abuse of drugs or alcohol interferes with sustaining focus, motivation, and responsibility.
  • Overprotective parenting: Parents who buffer their children from challenges or responsibilities inadvertently hinder them from developing ways of coping with adulthood.
  • Trauma: Traumatic experiences like having been bullied or abused, or suffered huge loss in earlier life, may be the direct emotional hindrance to get along in life for young adults.

At SunCloud Health, we understand that the struggles of many young adults run deep with emotional and psychological disturbances. Our Chicago Failure to Launch program is one that digs deep into these underlying causes and equips the young adult to take responsibility for their path toward independence and success.

How SunCloud Health’s Failure to Launch Program Works

SunCloud Health provides a structured and multidisciplinary Failure to Launch program designed to meet the needs of a young adult unable to launch into independent adulthood. Our program is specifically focused on helping individuals learn life skills, build emotional resilience, and acquire mental health support that will enable them to flourish.

What does this program offer that is unique?

  1. Individualized Treatment Plans

No two individuals are the same at SunCloud Health, and each young adult is involved in a customized treatment plan – one that has been decided based on unique needs and situations. Our distinguished clinicians, including psychiatrists, therapists, and life skills coaches, collaborate to assess the challenges of each patient in order to provide specific personalized treatment plans that meet each particular goal.

We begin by conducting a comprehensive assessment of the young adult’s mental health, family dynamics, and life circumstances. From there, we map out a route that is supposed to involve therapeutic support for a variety of specified mental health challenges, life skills training, and practical guidance to enable them to overcome their obstacles with confidence.

  1. Therapeutic Support for Mental Health Challenges

More specifically, with many cases of Failure to Launch, there is generally some sort of deeper mental health issue at play: anxiety, depression, trauma – something blocking the way. Our Failure to Launch programs for young adults at SunCloud Health integrate evidence-based therapies like CBT, DBT, and trauma-informed care to help patients work through their mental health challenges.

CBT helps young adults to identify and change the negative thought patterns that promote feelings of hopelessness or anxiety, while DBT teaches methods of emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. Individual and group therapy can enable the young adult to understand and work through the emotional dynamics involved in their holding back.

  1. Life Skills Training

The hallmark of the Failure to Launch program is training in life skills. A lot of these young adults who come through a “Failure to Launch” course are short on the practical skills necessary for them to take up the challenges of adulthood. SunCloud Health provides training in specific areas, including but not limited to:

  • Time management and organization: systemization of day, setting of goals, and prioritizing activities.
  • Financial literacy: budgeting, expense management, financial independence.
  • Career development: Resume building, interview preparation, job-seeking skills.
  • Communication and interpersonal skills: Healthy relationships and effective communication strategies.

Our life coaches ensure that each resident leaves with the proper tools to be successful in every situation they may encounter, whether it be finding a job, enrolling in school, or managing their living arrangement.

  1. Family Involvement and Support

At SunCloud Health, we know that, most often, “Failure to Launch” develops in the context of a very powerful family system. Most of the young adults in these families continue to depend on Mom and Dad for their livelihood rather than taking responsibility for their adult lives. We have built our program to include both family therapy and coaching for parents about ways to support the growth in their child in a healthy, productive manner.

Family-based interventions include the effort to improve communication, set boundaries where appropriate, and enable independence. Parents learn how to step back and allow their young adult to take ownership of their decisions while continuing to provide encouragement and support.

  1. Focus on Independence and Transition

The ultimate objective of our Failure to Launch program is transitioning the young adult into an independent stage. That would involve not only addressing emotional and mental health challenges but also facilitating rather practical steps toward adulthood. Whether employment, college enrollment, or an independent home, ongoing guidance and support will be provided so that young adults are prepared to meet the challenges ahead.

Why Choose SunCloud Health for Your Failure to Launch Program (Chicago Area)?

SunCloud Health offers a unique platform of care for Failure to Launch programs – therapeutic interventions well-blended with life-skills training in a very caring and compassionate environment. Here is why families and individuals choose SunCloud Health to meet their failure to launch treatment needs:

  • Multi-Disciplinary Team with Experience: Our clinicians, therapists, and life skills coaches have extensive experience working with young adults struggling with “Failure to Launch.” Because of that, we are able to offer a broad and holistic approach to dealing with both mental health and practical life challenges.
  • Personalized Care: Because each treatment plan should be unique to that individual, we will make sure to address specific needs, goals, and strengths.
  • Family-Focused: Our program recognizes the significance of family involvement and offers support to parents and caregivers for fostering independence in their young adult children.
  • Comprehensive Support: From therapy and life skills training to career development and financial coaching, we aim at a wide array of services that will help young adults achieve independence.

Failure to Launch Program Chicago: Find Help at SunCloud Health

If you or a loved one struggles with “Failure to Launch,” SunCloud Health is here to help. The Chicago Failure to Launch program provides highly focused support through the transition into adulthood. Through our therapeutic interventions, life skills training, and family support, we provide the young adult with what he or she may need to rise above the challenge and achieve full potential.

To hear more about our Failure to Launch programs for young adults or to schedule a consultation, contact SunCloud Health today. We can help you or your loved one build the skills and confidence they need to thrive in life.

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SunCloud Health provides comprehensive and personalized Failure to Launch programs in Chicago while offering therapeutic and practical support to help young adults make the transition into independent adulthood.

-Our Research Team-
Timothy D. Brewerton, MD, DLFAPA, FAED, DFAACAP, CEDS-S
Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dr. Christopher Womack
Medical Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Dr. Christopher Womack joins SunCloud as our Medical Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Womack is board certified in Adult as well as Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, attending the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Adult psychiatry residency and child fellowship training were completed at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Dr. Womack’s treatment  philosophy hinges on strength based, evidence informed care, where collaboration is central to guiding individualized treatment.  He has experience caring for children and teens from varied backgrounds, appreciating the importance of how identity can inform treatment.

Favorite pastimes are cooking new recipes and exploring Chicago’s rich cultural diversity through its neighborhood and fine dining experiences.

Elizabeth E. Sita, MD
Medical Director of Adult Services

Dr. Elizabeth E. Sita, MD, is a Board Certified psychiatrist specializing in the care of patients with eating disorders. She completed her undergraduate training at the University of Chicago and graduated with Highest Honors. She then earned her medical degree at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and was recognized with the Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Psychiatry. She subsequently completed residency with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, where she was elected Chief Resident and received the Resident Psychiatrist Leadership & Service Award.

Upon completing her training, Dr. Sita joined the staff atAscension Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital Hospital, where she served as Assistant Medical Director of the Center for Eating Disorders and Director of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Services before transitioning to lead the new inpatient eating disorder unit as Medical Director of Eating Disorder Services at Ascension Saint Joseph Hospital – Chicago. In these roles, she has cared for a multitude of adolescents and adults struggling with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and other eating disorders as well as severe, cooccurring mood, trauma, personality, and substance use disorders.

Dr. Sita has been recognized throughout her training and practice for a commitment to excellence in patient care and for her ability to engage patients in their most challenging moments. Her passions include the care of treatment-resistant eating and mood disorders as well as questions of medical capacity and end-of-life decision making.

She believes that, first and foremost, human connection is key to mental health and well-being and strives to share this philosophy in each and every patient encounter. She is excited to bring her expertise to SunCloud Health as the Medical Director of Adult Services!

 

VIDEO: Meet Elizabeth E. Sita, MD, Medical Director of Adult Services

 

Lacey Lemke, PsyD
Assistant Vice President of Clinical Services

Dr. Lacey Lemke (she/her) is a licensed clinical health psychologist with specialized expertise in the treatment of eating disorders and the practice of medical and health psychology. She completed her doctoral training in clinical psychology with a Primary Care emphasis at the Adler School of Professional Psychology. Dr. Lemke went on to complete both her predoctoral clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship through Ascension Health, where she gained advanced training working with individuals experiencing eating disorders and self-injurious behaviors, as well as within pediatric subspecialty settings including endocrinology, neurology, and adolescent medicine.

Dr. Lemke is deeply committed to providing evidence-based, compassionate care and collaborates closely with interdisciplinary teams to ensure comprehensive treatment. Her professional mission is to support patients in achieving their fullest potential by guiding them to the most appropriate level of care and empowering them to make meaningful, sustainable progress toward improved health and well-being.

VIDEO: 2. Meet Lacey Lemke, PsyD.