Life Skills in Addiction Recovery
Millennial Life Skills Classes
At Laguna Shores Recovery we offer different services and programs that provide life skills to our patients. By learning these skills our patients can better integrate back into society and prevent the chance of relapse. Our Adulting 101 class in Dana Point, California will help patients learn the important skills that will lead to a healthier lifestyle.
Nowadays, the word “adult” has been commandeered as a verb, most commonly used as “adulting.” When you buy new tires for your car, you’re adulting. When you cook a meal from scratch rather than ordering takeout or tossing a frozen pizza in the toaster oven, you’re adulting. Paying your bills on time? Getting a loan? Adulting.
The problem is, many schools no longer teach domestic skills across the board as they once did. Young people today are also living at home longer, resulting in this mini celebration of adulthood success.
In 2016, the number of adults between the ages of 18 and 34 living with their parents surpassed other living arrangements for the first time in over 130 years, according to Pew Research.1 In many of these living situations, the parents take care of the bulk of the domestic and financial tasks. So, where can you find adulting classes?
Today, some young people are moving away from home or out of campus housing only to find that they lack some of the basic skills they need to “make it” on their own. These include everything from managing finances and making relationships work to hand-washing a wool sweater and pulling off a dinner party. Laguna Shores Recovery can help provide these, and other, important skills.
Adulting Classes Emerge for Life Skills
Similar programs are found across the country. The North Bend Public Library in North Bend, Oregon offers a program called “Adulting 101,” where young people between the ages of 16 and 25 gather at the library to learn things that “real” adults may take for granted, like unclogging a sink, asking for a raise and comparison shopping. Several dozen Millennials gathered in Lincoln, Nebraska in early 2018 for a five-hour adulting seminar featuring 30-minute sessions covering a variety of essential life skills.
Universities across the country are also offering adulting classes online and through in-person seminars, and platforms like YouTube offer numerous instructional “adulting” videos for Millennials.
Be Brave. Get Help.
We will give you the practical skills you need for a successful life in addiction recovery.
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Who Needs Adulting Classes?
Who were Life Skills Classes Developed for in the Past?
Life skills classes have existed for some time, however they’re not generally available to everyone. For example, people experiencing homelessness may lack essential skills to successfully find and maintain employment or a home, and social programs often provide life-skills classes for these individuals. Likewise, people who are in recovery from addiction-particularly young people- may lack the skills they need to find success in a life of sobriety, including employment, relationship, and self-care skills. Treatment programs offer a wide range of life skills classes to ensure people in recovery can emerge from treatment with the tools and skills they need for success.
What Skills Are Taught in Adulting Classes?
The curricula of adulting classes vary widely from program to program, but they generally address a range of skills areas, and you can choose which sessions to attend based on your unique needs.
Domestic Skills
Domestic skills taught in adulting classes help young adults maintain a household and care for their personal belongings. These skills include:
Financial Skills
Maintaining good financial health is an important area of life for young people. If you have a healthy financial life, you’ll have more opportunities open to you. Some of the financial skills taught in adulting classes include:
- Balancing a bank account
- Creating and sticking to a budget
- Keeping financial records organized
- Establishing and maintaining good credit
- Understanding insurance, including renter’s, health, and care insurance
- Creating a system for paying your bills on time
- Investing
- Saving money
- Making wise purchases by comparison shipping, which is a skill that can save lots of money
Relationship Skills
Millennials grew up with social media, and many feel their in-person relationship skills are lacking. A study by researchers at Hawaii Pacific University and Martin Methodist College found that while Millennials are highly proficient with technology, they’re more deficient in “soft skills,” which are those personal attributes that enable people to effectively and harmoniously communicate with others.3 Soft skills include listening, negotiating, reading body language and feeling empathy. Adulting classes often teach relationship skills, including:
- Listening and communication skills
- Knowing how and where to meet other people
- Resolving conflicts
- Putting forward your best self on social media
- Making meaningful connections with others in real life
- Increasing emotional intelligence and soft skills
Job Skills
Older generations complain about the work ethic of Millennials and research from Pew shows that Millennials are the only generation that doesn’t cite “work ethic” as one of their principal claims to distinctiveness.4 That’s not to say that Millennials are lazy or careless. They just put a greater emphasis on self-fulfillment, personal happiness and wellbeing. Still, some young people lack the skills they need to find and maintain employment. These include:
- Identifying strengths and values and finding a job that uses both
- Resume writing
- Interviewing skills
- Customer service skills
- How to negotiate a raise
- Maintaining a work-life balance
What Skills Are Taught in Adulting Classes?
Why Should I Take Adulting Classes?
Be Brave. Get Help.
We will give you the practical skills you need for a successful life in addiction recovery.
Matthew Beck B.A, M.A, LMFT 
