Why Summer’s Lack of Structure Can Worsen Mental Health and Addiction Issues—and How INR Can Help
When Summer Isn’t a Break
It’s the end of the school year, and now your teen or young adult can take a break from studying and after school activities to recharge. While summer is marketed as relaxing, for teens and young adults with mental health struggles, it can be destabilizing.
Structure and mental health go hand in hand. With summer, the truth is the loss of routine, structure, and social connection can worsen anxiety, depression, or lead to risky behavior in teens. Even more, due to the lack of a strict schedule, substance use often begins or escalates during summer months.
This blog will explore why summer poses challenges—and how Insight Northwest Recovery (INR) offers structured support through in-person and online programs.
How Lack of Structure Impacts Mental Health
For teens, structure isn’t just helpful—they thrive with predictability. The school year provides routine, social connection, and external accountability, all of which support emotional and mental well-being, and help keep teens on track. School offers teens a framework to regulate sleep, eating, and activity levels.
The relatively simple routine of the school year—consistent, planned wake up, meal, and activity times—can help protect teen mental health. But when summer arrives, that structure is gone for a few months—meaning, there’s less predictability.
Without the school year routine, sleep schedules frequently shift, leading to poor sleep hygiene, which often leads to increased mood instability and irritability. Without set lunchtimes, eating habits may decline, with skipped meals, late-night snacking, or improper nutrition.
The absence of the social environment provided by school during the summer means many teens may experience increased isolation and withdrawal. Daily social interaction with friends or peers may be replaced by long stretches of time spent either alone or online. During the summer, screen time tends to also spike. This can worsen any nascent focus issues, further disrupt sleep, and lead to additional feelings of disconnection.
Lastly, without structure, symptoms like anxiety, depression, and OCD often intensify in teens already managing these conditions.
While summer is often seen as a break, it can also be a vulnerable time. Establishing simple routines—consistent wake times, planned meals, physical activity, and social check-ins—can help protect teens’ mental health and promote stability during the months without school.
The Summer Spike in Risky Behavior and Substance Use
The summer’s lack of structure gives teens more time to relax, but the freedom also means more time to engage in risky behavior and summer use. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “Teens are more likely to initiate substance use during summer than any other season.” Studies show June and July are peak months for first-time drug and alcohol use in teens.
During the summer, teens and young adults do not have to adhere to the school year schedule—and they’re often under less supervision, including from teachers, administrators, and parents and guardians.
More unsupervised time often means more opportunities for experimentation, peer pressure, or self-medication. For some teens, substance use may seem like a way to cope with underlying issues, such as boredom, trauma, and or emotional pain. Others may turn to drugs or alcohol simply out of boredom or to fit in with their peers, unaware of the possibility of developing reliance on substances or even an addiction.
What starts as experimentation can quickly become a deeper problem. Without early intervention, substance use can evolve into a co-occurring disorder, where mental health issues and substance abuse become an intertwined problem. This cycle can be difficult to break.
Recognizing how a lack of structure may encourage riskier behavior or substance use can often help parents or guardians keep their teens or young adults on track. It’s also important to know what to look out for if you’re a parent noticing worsening symptoms during the summer months.
Signs Your Teen or Young Adult May Be Struggling
It’s not always easy to tell when a teen or young adult is facing mental health challenges. It can be even harder to acknowledge your teen is struggling when you start to notice signs. But certain behaviors can signal that something deeper is going on, and your teen may benefit from therapy over the summer.
Early intervention is key to helping your teen get back on a better path. Paying attention to any of these changes.
One common red flag is withdrawal from family or friends. Perhaps, your teen is spending more time alone and avoiding social interaction. Or, you may also notice increased irritability or mood swings, often mistaken for “normal teenage behavior” or part of the “summer slump,” but this is often a sign of deeper distress.
With mood changes or irritability, you may also notice sudden changes in appearance or hygiene—such as not showering, dressing differently, or looking unkempt—which often reflect a decline in mental health. Or, your teens may be suffering from avoidance of previously enjoyed activities.
Another red flag is lying. Everyone tells a lie now and then, but secretive behavior or lying, especially about where they’ve been or who they’re with, can be linked to concealing risky behaviors in teens. Such behaviors may include experimenting with alcohol, marijuana, or vaping, which are often ways to cope with emotional pain, stress, or trauma.
If you notice several of these signs, it may be time to check in with your teen and explore treatment options.
How INR’s Summer Programs Provide Structure and Support
What should you do if your teen is struggling over the summer?
Insight Northwest Recovery (INR) offers structured, therapeutic environments designed for the summer months.
Our treatment philosophy invites your teen or young adult to be an active participant in their recovery plan. We honor your individual story and strive to create an environment that provides hope and supports you every step of the way on your path to recovery.
INR provides a range of services tailored to teens and young adults, including Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). These levels of care offer structured daily programming that blends individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, and medication management, creating a structured, comprehensive support system that promotes healing and growth.
Our summer programming includes beneficial structure for your child. Teens and young adults follow daily schedules that provide predictability once again. Through peer support groups, teens and young adults build community and reduce isolation, while coping skills workshops teach practical tools for emotional regulation and decision-making.
Where available, outdoor activities are included to encourage movement, engagement, and connection with nature.
Designed for teens and young adults, INR’s programs are available both virtually and in-person across Oregon, including at our facility in Eugene. Whether your teen is coping with anxiety, depression, or substance use, INR provides holistic, compassionate care in a structured environment needed to build resilience and make meaningful progress.
The Benefits of Starting Treatment Over the Summer
Summer is a good time to start treatment for mental health and substance use issues. In fact, summer’s flexibility is a window for early intervention, skill-building, and prevention that avoids crises in the fall.
Most families have never thought that summer can be the ideal time to begin mental health or substance use treatment. Without the demand and responsibilities of the school year, teens and young adults often have more time to focus on healing and growth.
To start, one major advantage is easier scheduling. Without school, there is less of a worry over missed classes or falling behind academically. Summer treatment avoids academic disruption. It’s easier for families to focus on healing without competing obligations.
Over the summer, many families don’t seek care for their teens. As such, in the summer, there is reduced demand, meaning shorter waitlists and faster access to care. Early intervention leads to better outcomes, and the summer gives space to focus on mental health, develop coping skills, and build resilience for long-term success.
Treatment during the summer also allows time to stabilize and build skills before school resumes.
In short, seeking treatment for your teen over summer provides:
✔ More flexibility
✔ Better outcomes with early care
✔ Space to reset before fall stress returns
Don’t Let Summer Worsen the Struggle
Summer’s lack of structure can deepen mental health issues or lead to risky behavior. But with the right support, this season can also be a turning point.
INR provides comprehensive care for teens and young adults with mental health and co-occurring substance use needs—offering structure, safety, and healing.
Reach out today to schedule a free consultation and help your child reset before the school year.