Therapy for young adult men in Atlanta
The transition to adulthood can be a tumultuous journey. At The Launch Pad ATL, we partner with young men to help them identify their strengths and develop the resilience to overcome the many challenges they may be facing. We help young men move forward on their journey toward independent adulthood.
At The Launch Pad ATL, we specialize in working with young men to help them identify and address obstacles to launching. Lack of motivation is often a symptom of deeper, underlying issues such as anxiety, depression, learning challenges or low self-esteem. By helping young men harness their own innate desire for autonomy and by equipping them with the tools they need to get "unstuck," they can move forward on their journey and launch successfully.
Contact us today to see how we may be a fit for your needs.
Failure to launch, in plain language
“Failure to launch” is the phrase most families arrive with, and it is worth saying plainly what it does and does not mean. It is not a diagnosis. It does not appear in the DSM, no clinician can bill for it, and nobody is going to hand your son a label with that name on it. It is a description of a situation: a young man somewhere between 18 and 26 who has stalled on the way to an independent adult life, and a family that has run out of ideas for how to help.
In practice it tends to look like some combination of the same handful of things. A degree that has been paused, switched, or quietly abandoned. A move back into a childhood bedroom that was supposed to be temporary. A schedule that has inverted, so that he is awake from midnight to nine and asleep through the part of the day when anything can actually be arranged. Job applications that get started and never sent. A driver’s license he has not taken. Friendships that have thinned down to whoever is online. Conversations at home that have narrowed to one subject and now end the same way every time.
None of that is a character problem. Treating it as one has usually been tried already, at length, by the time anyone calls us.
What is usually underneath it
Lack of motivation is a symptom, not an explanation. It is the part that is visible from outside, and it is almost never the part that is actually in the way.
What we find underneath is usually one or more of these:
Anxiety, and social anxiety in particular, which turns every step toward independence into a step toward being evaluated.
Depression, which takes the fuel long before it takes the intent.
ADHD or an undiagnosed executive-function difficulty, where the wanting is completely intact and the starting is not.
A learning difference nobody identified, which has quietly taught him over years that effort does not reliably pay.
Low self-esteem, built out of falling short of a plan enough times to stop making plans.
Gaming or internet use that began as relief and became the most dependable good part of the day.
Alcohol or substance use.
An autism spectrum profile that went unnoticed because he did well enough in school.
Working out which of those is actually operating is most of the job, because they call for opposite responses. Pushing harder on a young man whose real problem is anxiety reliably produces more anxiety.
Who this is for — ages 18 to 26
We work with young adult men roughly 18 to 26. For anyone younger, the right page is adolescent boys therapy — different work, with a different relationship to the family.
This is weekly therapy in Atlanta, an hour at a time, while he goes on living his life. It is not residential treatment, a wilderness program, or a transitional living facility, and it is not the right level of care for someone in acute crisis, actively suicidal, or withdrawing from a substance. If that is where things are, say so on the phone and we will help you find the right place rather than the nearest one. If someone is in immediate danger, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, call the Georgia Crisis and Access Line at 1-800-715-4225, or call 911.
What a session actually looks like
Individual sessions are 50 minutes, usually weekly, at our office at 1411 Dutch Valley Place NE in Piedmont Heights.
They do not all have to happen there. Sessions can be held outdoors — walking, at a park — at the standard rate, with no surcharge for the setting. For a young man who has already decided that therapy means sitting in a room being asked how he feels, that difference is often the whole difference between someone who comes back and someone who does not. There is more about the format on the outdoor and adventure therapy page.
Video sessions are available through SimplePractice for the weeks when getting across town is itself the obstacle. Family sessions run 90 minutes, and we use them when the thing that needs to change is a pattern rather than a person.
When the sticking point is executive function
Sometimes the obstacle is not mood at all — it is the machinery. Starting, sequencing, estimating how long something will take, keeping track of what is due. That is coaching rather than therapy: a different service with a different goal, and it can run alongside therapy or instead of it. See executive function coaching and ADHD coaching.
For the parents reading this
If you are weighing this against sending him away, the living at home or going away comparison lays out how to tell which one a family actually needs.
Most of the calls we get about young adult men come from a parent, usually after a long stretch of trying. That is a completely normal way for this to start.
Two things are worth knowing before you call. The first is that once he is 18, the therapy is his and so is the confidentiality. We can talk with you about approach, and we can involve you deliberately — family sessions exist for exactly that — but we cannot give you a report on what he said. The second is that the person who has to agree to come is him. What we can do is make the first step small, and make the format one he is more likely to say yes to. The parents page has more on the part of this that is yours.
Fees and insurance
These are Matt’s rates, effective May 1, 2025. The fee does not change with the setting — an outdoor session is a standard individual session.
Initial phone consultation — free, 15 minutes
New client intake session — $280, 60 minutes
Standard individual session — $200, 50 minutes
Family session — $350, 90 minutes
Phone or video session — $175, 30 minutes
Reduced-fee options are available; ask on the consultation call.
We do not accept any form of insurance. We do provide a Super Bill statement, which you can submit to your insurer for possible out-of-network reimbursement. If you intend to submit, tell us at the outset so the documentation is right from the first session. Full details are on the scheduling page.
Who you would be working with
Sessions are with Matt Reynolds, LMFT — a licensed marriage and family therapist in Atlanta, a Clinical Fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and Chair of the Metro Atlanta chapter of the Georgia Association of Marriage & Family Therapists. He worked with adolescents as a teacher, coach and mentor before he was a clinician, and trained at the Care & Counseling Center of Georgia and the Ridgeview Institute. More on Matt's background.
Common questions
Is failure to launch an actual diagnosis?
No. It is a description of a situation, not a clinical condition, and it is not in the DSM. What gets assessed and treated is whatever is underneath it — anxiety, depression, ADHD, a learning difference, substance use.
What ages do you work with?
Roughly 18 to 26 for the work on this page. Under 18, see adolescent boys therapy. We also run adventure therapy groups for younger boys.
He will not go to therapy. Is there any point in calling?
Yes, and it is the most common call we take. Start with the free 15-minute consultation yourself — you do not need him on the phone for it. Much of that call is about how to raise it, what to ask for, and what to do if the answer is still no. The outdoor format exists partly for this.
Do you take insurance?
No. We provide a Super Bill you can submit for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Tell us at the outset if you intend to submit, so the documentation is right from the first session.
Do sessions have to be in the office?
No. Sessions can be held outdoors at the standard rate, or by secure video through SimplePractice.
How long does this usually take?
It depends entirely on what is underneath it, and anyone who quotes you a number of sessions before meeting him is guessing. The honest answer is weekly work over months rather than a fixed course, with the goal being that he does not need us.
Starting
The first step is a free 15-minute phone consultation. Call Keri London at 404.939.7712, or send a message from the contact page and we will call you back.