Gap year ideas and recommendations for anxious/depressed teen?

[Anonymous]

Maybe a summer work experience? Internship? Ok with something longer term, but something to help her experience some independence and grow as an adult. She needs a change of scenery.

She has worked consistently in the DC area since 16. She enjoys nature, science, and the great outdoors. She would probably enjoy working at a National Park, a farm, or a marine science center. Anything involving nature.

Any suggestions or resources to help us begin our search would be appreciated. If anyone has any personal experience to share that would be helpful too.

[Anonymous]

I’d check out the student conservation corps
https://www.thesca.org/serve/young-adult-programs

I had friends who did it post college and had a good experience. It says they have programs for 18+ as well as high school programs

[Anonymous]

Is she interested in hiking? What about the Camino de Santiago in Spain? In US, pacific crest trail or Appalachian trail.

[Anonymous]

Tourist job in Alaska. The options are limitless.

Here's one place to start: https://careers.aramarkdestinations.com/search/?type=hourly+and+seasonal%7Cinternships%2Fpost-grad&property=Denali+National+Park

[Anonymous]

College. That’s exactly what college does if you go away and chose an environment that’s a match to your personality

[Anonymous]

Virginia has a outdoor teen program where the kids make trails for several weeks during the summer. Paid. My kid wanted to sign up but Covid interfered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College. That’s exactly what college does if you go away and chose an environment that’s a match to your personality

Not every student, especially a student with disabilities, is ready for college. Some students, especially students with disabilities, need to grow their independence skills separately from academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College. That’s exactly what college does if you go away and chose an environment that’s a match to your personality

Not every student, especially a student with disabilities, is ready for college. Some students, especially students with disabilities, need to grow their independence skills separately from academics.

+10,000

[Anonymous]

Op, we have a teen who took a gap year due to mental health issues. I don’t have lots of “this works” ideas, but some things to really consider for the year to be successful.

We thought a job would offer enough structure to the day, and it did in the sense that DC was able to get out of bed and get to work every day, and once they were there, the employer was happy with their performance. Unfortunately, DC was not able to get up without help on non-work days, and then struggled to get up for class when they went back to school. In hindsight (and what we are trying to convince our DC to do) is to work part-time and take a class at community college so they get in the habit/build the skill to get out of bed while still in a supervised environment. Part of the issue is that DC is not fully accepting that their was a “still” a problem because they were able to get up for work and told us they were just “tired” on the weekends.

DC continued to see their therapist weekly and psychiatrist monthly during the gap year, and no one ever recommended going more often. But I wish we had pushed for more therapy/PHP program/something more intensive to try to get a better handle on the mental health issues. I am not sure (from the mental health perspective) DC made as much progress as I would have hoped during the gap year. Even though we were uncertain about sending DC back after the gap year, at their university you can only defer for one year, so DC went back and then had to take a medical leave of absence. In hindsight, since the gap year was largely due to concerns about mental health (not maturity, necessarily) I wish we had more explicitly had DC work on that.

DC was pretty socially isolated during the gap year because their high school friends were off to college and (because they have motivation problems due to depression) they didn’t motivate to join any interest groups where they might have made friends. And then the lack of friends perpetuated the cycle of not getting out of bed/socializing. We have a good community, so made lots of connections for DC, but ultimately they didn’t motivate to do anything other than work.

In hindsight (and because we have the resources), I probably would have tried to get DC into a gap-year program which has some sort of therapeutic support - not even sure if these exist, but I felt like it would have been a better use of the gap year.

Wishing you and your DC the best!

[Anonymous]

Not OP, but bumping this to see if anyone has had any experiences. Our DC also has anxiety/depression and is a junior in HS. Talking about taking a gap year. They are functioning well, attending school, getting pretty good grades, participating in school extracurricular activities and rec sport, so they are on track (at least on paper) if they want to apply to colleges during senior year and then defer/take a gap year if mental health isn't where they want it to be.

Not sure what I'm asking exactly. Just wanted to hear experiences/thoughts/plans of others similarly situated.

[Anonymous]

This is specifically to build executive function skills: https://soarnc.org/gap-year/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College. That’s exactly what college does if you go away and chose an environment that’s a match to your personality

Not every student, especially a student with disabilities, is ready for college. Some students, especially students with disabilities, need to grow their independence skills separately from academics.

Great if a person is that disabled, then they need to stay close to people who can monitor them while undergoing intensive therapy supervised by a psychiatrist and therapists. Not on the fishing boat in Alaska or walking across Spain. If they can walk across Spain or be in the remote Alaskan wilds. Then they can go to college. It’s one of the other. And frankly I think people who are too depressed to go to college or not doing well served medically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, we have a teen who took a gap year due to mental health issues. I don’t have lots of “this works” ideas, but some things to really consider for the year to be successful.

We thought a job would offer enough structure to the day, and it did in the sense that DC was able to get out of bed and get to work every day, and once they were there, the employer was happy with their performance. Unfortunately, DC was not able to get up without help on non-work days, and then struggled to get up for class when they went back to school. In hindsight (and what we are trying to convince our DC to do) is to work part-time and take a class at community college so they get in the habit/build the skill to get out of bed while still in a supervised environment. Part of the issue is that DC is not fully accepting that their was a “still” a problem because they were able to get up for work and told us they were just “tired” on the weekends.

DC continued to see their therapist weekly and psychiatrist monthly during the gap year, and no one ever recommended going more often. But I wish we had pushed for more therapy/PHP program/something more intensive to try to get a better handle on the mental health issues. I am not sure (from the mental health perspective) DC made as much progress as I would have hoped during the gap year. Even though we were uncertain about sending DC back after the gap year, at their university you can only defer for one year, so DC went back and then had to take a medical leave of absence. In hindsight, since the gap year was largely due to concerns about mental health (not maturity, necessarily) I wish we had more explicitly had DC work on that.

DC was pretty socially isolated during the gap year because their high school friends were off to college and (because they have motivation problems due to depression) they didn’t motivate to join any interest groups where they might have made friends. And then the lack of friends perpetuated the cycle of not getting out of bed/socializing. We have a good community, so made lots of connections for DC, but ultimately they didn’t motivate to do anything other than work.

In hindsight (and because we have the resources), I probably would have tried to get DC into a gap-year program which has some sort of therapeutic support - not even sure if these exist, but I felt like it would have been a better use of the gap year.

Wishing you and your DC the best!

I’m the PP who bumped. I’m wondering if this quoted PP will see this and let us know how things have turned out. I worry about the isolation and feeling left behind. Anxiety and depression doesn’t let us just send our kids off to a program. And getting executive functioning skills in a cool camp setting or elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into executive functioning skills in a college setting. Maybe part time community college and a part time job with lots of therapy time and other therapeutic supports might be the answer for us. Sigh. DC is so intelligent but only motivated when it’s something that interests them. The rest is crippling fear from boredom/lack of focus and then not meeting expectations.

[Anonymous]

I'm bumping this. I have a senior with significant social anxiety who was impacted by the pandemic. They are not ready to leave home or consider the major commitment of college, but they want to go to a 4-year college eventually.

I'm hoping some of the pps from last year might have an update ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm bumping this. I have a senior with significant social anxiety who was impacted by the pandemic. They are not ready to leave home or consider the major commitment of college, but they want to go to a 4-year college eventually.

I'm hoping some of the pps from last year might have an update ...

Community college then transfer to a 4-year as a junior?