Expert advice on how to gently offer help and compassion.
Katie Bradeen of Colorado Springs, Colo., began to worry about her 20-year-old son, Ryan, when he came home for Christmas break of 2020. She said he had a “gray demeanor” and “he seemed to be in slow motion.”
Though Mr. Bradeen was on campus for his sophomore year of college, the social distancing and virtual classes during the pandemic were challenging, especially for him as a theater major. The winter of 2021 “was even more difficult and excruciating than the fall 2020 semester,” he said.
His mother didn’t think he’d be open to a face-to face conversation, so she left a note on his pillow, written on pink heart stationery. She said she wouldn’t pry, but was “available to listen anytime he wants.” Mr. Bradeen said that he had been wanting to get counseling for a while but his mom’s raising the issue made him feel he had the “thumbs up.” He started therapy early in 2021, and his mother said she can already see the difference; there’s “more laughter and jokes, less grumpiness.”
Many parents like Ms. Bradeen were navigating the sticky territory of how to help young adults with mental health issues long before Covid-19. But the pandemic brought greater challenges, taxing already-vulnerable young adults even more.
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