This episode of the Nonprofit Report features Dr. Douglas Styles, Executive Director of Adolescent Counseling Services, and Sherilyn Adams, Executive Director of Larkin Street Youth Services. The conversation examines the challenges facing young people in the Bay Area, including mental health concerns, homelessness, social isolation, and the transition from adolescence into adulthood. The guests discuss how counseling, housing, education, employment, behavioral health services, and meaningful relationships can help young people build stability and a stronger sense of possibility.
Interview by: Mark Oppenheim
Guests:
- Dr. Douglas Styles, Executive Director of Adolescent Counseling Services
- Sherilyn Adams, Executive Director of Larkin Street Youth Services
Key Points
- Adolescent Counseling Services provides mental health support, counseling, education, and LGBTQ+ services to young people in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
- Larkin Street Youth Services provides a continuum of services for young people who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness, including housing, education, employment, outreach, and behavioral health support.
- Young people are experiencing significant challenges involving loneliness, isolation, anxiety, depression, and uncertainty about the future.
- Housing, education, employment, and behavioral health services can work together to help young people develop stability, resilience, and hope.
- Belonging, being seen, empathy, and meaningful social connection are important parts of supporting adolescents and young adults.
Other Points on Supporting Young People
Adolescent Counseling Services and Larkin Street Youth Services address different but connected needs within the youth-services continuum. Adolescent Counseling Services focuses heavily on mental health support and counseling, while Larkin Street provides services for young people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Both organizations emphasize meeting young people where they are and connecting them with resources that can help them move forward.
The guests discussed how adolescence is a particularly important period of social and emotional development. Young people are navigating identity, relationships, academics, and their transition toward adulthood while also facing constant exposure to social media and idealized images of other people’s lives. These pressures can contribute to feelings of isolation, anxiety, and uncertainty.
For young people experiencing homelessness, immediate safety and shelter are essential, but the guests emphasized that longer-term support is also needed. Housing can serve as a bridge while young people pursue education, employment, workforce development, and behavioral health services. The goal is to help young people develop the confidence, skills, and hope needed to build independent futures.
The conversation also emphasized the importance of belonging and human connection. Creating spaces where young people can be themselves, feel understood, and safely interact with people who may have different perspectives can help counter isolation and division. Both guests stressed the value of empathy and recognizing a struggling young person as someone who needs support, understanding, and opportunity rather than judgment.