I just don’t want to leave…

For one neurodivergent young man, he felt as if leaving his room while away at college was too much to handle. The anxiety he felt when having to navigate his way to class or try and wash his clothes while there was a big group of people in the laundry room made him not want to leave his dorm. Instead, he would either wait until the people were gone to do his laundry or simply just not go to class, causing him to fall behind academically. However, he also struggled with his social abilities because of this.

Since the young man would rarely leave his room, he quickly realized that even after a few months of being in school, he had yet to make any friends or connections with his peers. Instead, his isolation has led him to become extremely lonely, only having interactions when he briefly passed people in the hall or had seen them in the bathroom. As time went on and his grades continued to slip, his clothes remained unwashed, and he still sat isolated in his room with no one to keep him company, he expressed wanting to drop out and come home to his parents. This then worried them and caused them to reach out to the College Life Skills program for help.

There, the young man met with a coach weekly to try and avoid having his anxiety prevent him from enjoying his new independent life. He learned different strategies such as scheduling time into his week to get out and socialize as well as practicing his social skills so he wouldn’t be isolated in his room for hours on end. With these skills and a level of accountability, the young man was able to break his isolation and enjoy college, preventing him from falling behind and being at risk for Failure to Launch.

In college, it can be easy for young adults to become isolated. According to the American College Health Association, out of 48,000 students surveyed, “64% say they have felt “very lonely” in the past year, and only 19% reported having no experience feeling alone.” (Foundation for Art and Healing, 2022). If they are unable to go out into the world and get things done, whether it be grocery shopping, going to lunch with friends, or even simply attending class, then they can quickly become isolated, and the longer they let it go on, the harder it can be to snap out it. College is supposed to be a place for new experiences. To go out, make friends, and experience things you haven’t before, but for some neurodivergent young adults, doing so can be difficult. The anxiety of being somewhere new and the change that comes with it can make them hide away in their rooms, which can then lead to isolation, depression, anxiety, Failure to Launch, their grades to decline, and so much more. This is why it is so important that they learn when they have spent too much time alone in their dorm or room, and the College Life Skills Program can help them prevent themselves from becoming isolated.

At the College Life Skills Program, our team of Doctoral and Master level professionals utilizes a series of highly individualized strategies, services, and techniques to help neurodivergent young adults who are college bound, in college, and even after college succeed in and after their transition into adult life. We help teach them life skills such as how to prevent isolation so they can be successful in the work world and in life as well as help them learn how to balance independent life on their own, and other executive functioning skills, social skills, and emotional maturity. If your young adult is struggling with life skills, such as how to prevent isolation on their own or the transition into college and adulthood, CollegeLSP has the tools to aid them in achieving and generalizing such skills.


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Dr. Eric J. Nach, Ph.D., M.Ed., A.S.D.C., is a Developmental and Behavioral Specialist who specializes in Autism, ADHD and related disorders. Dr. Nach is the founder of the College Life Skills Program where he and his team of professional’s help develop the Emotional Maturity, Executive Functioning, Life Skill and Social Abilities of college students and those high school students preparing for college. The CollegeLSP is a subsidiary program of the Support For Students Growth Center, located in Boca Raton, FL and providing services nationwide

Campus loneliness fact sheet. The Foundation for Art & Healing. (2020, January 29). Retrieved March 13, 2024, from https://www.artandhealing.org/campus-loneliness-fact-sheet/#:~:text=In%20a%202017%20survey%20of,the%20American%20College%20Health%20Association.