With any major life transition, comes challenges. Life transitions, or life changes, can often lead to heightened mental health concerns, such as increased anxiety, depression, grief, and other psychological conditions. Adapting to new environments, roles, and relationships, while coping with the loss of our previous environments, roles, and relationships, is naturally painful. However, we are resilient creatures, meaning, we generally have the ability to recover from adversity.
Impact of the Transition to College on Mental Health
The transition from high school to college may be a particularly difficult life change. Not only are high school seniors transitioning into adulthood, which comes with its own challenges, but many seniors also leave behind all they have ever known for new experiences, routines, places, and faces at their universities.
This change of life is incredibly difficult, and it is often the first major life change a person may experience. In fact, an education company called EAB found in a 2024 survey that 1 in every 3 high school seniors consider delaying or completely bypassing college altogether due to such heavy mental health concerns. Therefore, this specific life change is quite daunting for people.
Common Concerns about College Transitioning
High school seniors have a lot on their minds. They may be experiencing concerns like:
- My childhood is over. I don’t feel ready to be an adult.
- I don’t know what I want to do with the rest of my life.
- I need to figure out how to take care of myself.
- Should I go to college?
- What should I study?
- I will miss my friends and family if I move to college.
- What if I don’t make friends when I move?
- What if I don’t succeed in college?
- Should I even try?
- Everything is changing so fast. I can’t keep up.
Addressing Concerns about College
It is normal to experience these concerns before and/or during a life change. However, we do not have to suffer from them. There are a plethora of strategies a high school senior can use to keep these mental health concerns at bay and successfully transition to college living. Here are 5 techniques to help with this life change.
Use Your Values & Strengths
We are at our best when we live a life according to our values. High school seniors transitioning to adulthood and college can use their values to guide them through difficult decisions, such as “What should I study?” Therefore, it may be helpful for high school seniors to explore their values and select their top 5 core values. In addition to values, our strengths support us through challenges, such as life changes. Along with reflecting on values, high school seniors should be encouraged to introspectively search for their personal strengths, so they can utilize them during their transition.
Perhaps the following questions can facilitate this introspection:
- What are you most proud of achieving?
- What kind of activities make you feel most fulfilled?
- Who is someone you admire and why?
- What do others say are your talents or gifts?
- What makes you unique?
Create a Plan & Vision
Oftentimes, having a plan or vision of our expectations can provide us with direction and confidence. This is a helpful tactic for those experiencing a life change. Again, it is important to involve values and strengths here. Elements of a plan or vision for college may include:
- What will be my day-to-day schedule and activities?
- What are my priorities? What is most important to me about college?
- What goals (i.e., academic, personal, social, professional, etc.) can I set based on my values and priorities?
- How can I achieve these goals?
- Who can support me along the way?
Don’t Forget Self-Care
Self-care is how we prevent burnout. It is how we keep ourselves going and functioning at our best. Here is an outline for each genre of self-care:
- Physical Self-Care: exercise, diet, sleep, breaks, hobbies, etc.
- Emotional Self-Care: boundaries, self-compassion, gratitude, mindfulness, process thoughts and emotions (e.g., journal or therapy), etc.
- Social Self-Care: boundaries (again), join clubs/organizations, stay connected to loved ones, volunteer, etc.
- Spiritual Self-Care: meditation, prayer, nature (e.g., go outside!), service, creation (e.g., art), etc.
It is important to have a self-care routine, especially during life changes. Having a consistent self-care routine will make the transition not only easier, but more successful.
Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is simply engaging in the present moment. Not thinking about tomorrow or the next moment, rather, thinking about what you can do now with what is in front of you. There are so many opportunities in college. An overwhelmed college freshman can easily miss out on a great opportunity if they are not mindful. Additionally, the lack of mindfulness can lead to excessive worry, suffering, and disconnect a person from reality.
A helpful mindfulness activity is connected to your five senses. Notice, without judgement or alteration:
- What do you see?
- What do you feel?
- What do you hear?
- What can you smell?
- What can you taste?
Welcome Social Support
We are naturally social creatures. Especially during hard times or life changes, we need social support. During the transition to college, it is crucial for incoming freshmen to stay connected to their loved ones at home. However, they should also practice mindfulness by engaging with their new community and recruiting new social supports.
New college students have a lot of social support:
- Orientation groups & leaders
- Roommates
- Classmates
- Field of study cohorts
- Co-workers
- Clubs/organizations
- Teachers
- Advisors
- University staff
- And more!
It is also beneficial for these young adults to have a relationship established with a mental health therapist. A therapist can help them develop all these strategies, so they can embark on their college journey with confidence and resilience.
College Readiness Therapy Group
High school seniors in Savannah can connect with others transitioning to college at the Waters Edge Counseling College Readiness Therapy Group. This is a six-week therapy group for up to 10 local high school seniors who want to establish confidence and resilience before moving to college. Group leaders will utilize several evidence-based therapeutic interventions to achieve the group’s purpose and goals, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, skills-based treatment, psychoeducation, supportive therapy, and interpersonal therapy, within six weekly 90-minute sessions.
The group will meet weekly on Tuesdays, starting on March 25, 2025 and ending on April 29, 2025. Sessions will last for 90 minutes, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Interested college-bound seniors and their guardians can call or text group co-leader Gabriella at (912) 549-8790 to schedule a free 15 minute phone consultation before the March 11 enrollment deadline.