What EMERGE is: EMERGE is a treatment designed to increase a young adult’s ability to consistently engage in educational and vocational goals related to independent living as an adult. The EMERGE program is primarily composed of group sessions, both for youth and their parents or other supports. 

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What EMERGE treats:

The EMERGE program targets difficulties in initiating, sustaining, or completing vocational or educational goals due to patterns of avoiding discomfort, engaging in mood-driven behavior (e.g., isolating when sad), and struggling with the ability to consistently motivate and encourage oneself. This pattern often results in young adults who become overly reliant on support systems for housing, finances, or emotional support, leading to the term “failure to launch.” The youth also develops difficulties with depression, anxiety, shame, and poor self-esteem. The EMERGE program teaches skills from several evidence-based treatments (E.g, CBT, DBT, mindfulness) to target thoughts, emotions, and urges of the youth and allows them to feel more mastery, self-confidence, and self-compassion. The EMERGE program also helps the environment better validate, encourage, and set clear expectations with the youth. Caregivers learn these skills in a once weekly group designed to help them feel more connected to, encouraging of, and confident in their communication with their youth.  
Though EMERGE treatment is not a treatment for mood disturbance or anxiety disorders in itself, as part of the youth program, they will learn skills and other strategies that have been shown to reduce mood and anxiety symptoms.  EMERGE is not an appropriate treatment for current, severe symptoms of emotional dysregulation, OCD, eating disorders, or substance dependence. If these concerns are present, a referral will be made to one of our other programs directly targeting these concerns 

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Components of the EMERGE Program:

 

      Young Adult Group:
The primary intervention of the EMERGE program is to provide a group-based intervention for transition aged youth (generally ages 18-25). This group equips the young adult tools needed to overcome cognitive and emotional barriers that have led to difficulty with adult transitions (e.g., school, employment, or financial independence). This involves expanded awareness of self-conscious emotions (e.g., shame), increasing skills for non-mood dependent behaviors (e.g., attending work when anxious) and improving effective communication with others.  Because this group of young adults typically struggles with avoidance and other mood-driven behaviors, this treatment is a very active, present-focused approach in which individuals set concrete educational or employment related goals that will be actively worked towards during group participation. In order to best target avoidance, the group is in-person and meets for two 90-minute sessions a week. Completion of the group (and all three modules) is approximately 12 weeks. 

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Group modules and topics
Module: Fostering a Growth Mindset
     Understanding the role of avoidance and mood-dependent behavior 
     Self-conscious emotions that contribute to avoidance
     Self-compassion 
     Self-validation 
Module: Initiating Change 
     Behaviorism 
     Understanding and managing emotions 
     Decreasing avoidance 
     Problem-solving 
Module: Finding Balance
     Advocating for yourself assertively 
     Effectively communicating needs and wants
     Forming and maintaining healthy relationships and ending problem relationships
     Balancing wants, demands and priorities
 

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      Caregiver Group: Caregiver Group
Many parents of young adults struggling with adult transitions often feel lost themselves. Common concerns we hear include difficulty with communication, setting expectations and contingencies, and how to support the youth in improving their mental health. Our EMERGE parent group is intended to provide the youth’s primary support with the tools needed to effectively assist the young adult with launching into independence. The parent group is eight weeks, composed of two modules that are four weeks each. The group runs for one hour and is virtual. 

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Group modules and topics

Module: Changing the Relationship 

     Understanding patterns of avoidance and anxiety accommodation

     Accurate and effective communication

     Effective use of validation and invalidation

     Increasing connection with the youth

 

Module: Changing Behavioral Responses

     Understanding patterns of avoidance and anxiety accommodation

     Addressing risky behaviors

     Establishing contingencies and managing financial support

     Burnout

 

      Adjunct treatments (as needed):
Though our EMERGE program does not specifically include these components, additional interventions such as behavioral parent training, individual therapy for either the young adult or a caregiver, or family therapy may enhance treatment success. 

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