Creating Connections: Adulting Program

When talking about returning to work or school, a sizable group of folks gets left out of the conversation. A group that doesn’t fit neatly into either category of adolescence or adulthood.

Indeed, many young adults arrive at Shepherd Center just as they’re poised to launch into the next phase of their lives — whether that’s college, the workforce, the military, a committed relationship, or something else.

“‘Adulting’ for anyone is daunting,” says Tayla Mangus, MS, OTR/L, an occupational therapist at Shepherd Center. “Throw in a life-changing spinal cord injury, and it seems even more overwhelming.”

That’s why Shepherd Center created the Adulting Program for those who are beyond high school (so they’ve aged out of Shepherd Center’s adolescent program), but still navigating life as young adults. The program offers mixers and outings designed to get patients talking about topics ranging from financial planning and health literacy to partner intimacy and travel advice.

“I love to see the organic conversations that happen between patients when we’re on an outing,” Mangus says. “They become a little more vulnerable with each other and they are able to discuss their injuries, their plans for after discharge, their dreams for careers or living independently, and the friends and significant others they miss back home.”

Alexi Dodson agrees. The 23-year-old resident of Norcross, Georgia, is currently in Shepherd Center’s Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program — and taking advantage of the Adulting Program, as well.

“Just having an open and honest environment for talking about things like dating, sex after injury, independence, that’s what I’ve enjoyed the most,” Alexi says. “Doing this with peers makes it easier to get more personal questions answered without it feeling uncomfortable or intrusive.”

As part of the program, she’s also gone on a group outing to an Atlanta United soccer match. While there, Alexi enjoyed a meal of salmon and fried rice, spinach artichoke dip, and tiramisu. And she ate it without assistance.

Maybe that doesn’t seem like much, but for Alexi, it was momentous. 

“You want to know that you can go out and do normal things again,” she says. “Feeding myself there at the game — that was a big moment. There was a long stretch where I couldn’t have imagined doing that in a million years.”

 
Feeling prepared and feeling confident about engaging with the world around you — that’s what anyone wants as they grow into adulthood. And the goal of Shepherd Center’s Adulting Program is no different.

“Before doing this, I kind of just wanted to keep to myself,” Alexi says. “But I’m feeling comfortable opening up more, making plans, getting out. I’m more excited to live, honestly, than just exist.”

Written by Phillip Jordan