Finding Friendship is a social skills group designed to help children develop and enhance their social abilities in a supportive and structured environment. Many young children were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced their chances to integrate with peers and develop social skills. The primary goal of this group for 5 and 6-year-olds is to foster positive social interactions, communication, and emotional regulation. This group will focus on building foundational social skills to contribute to overall social and emotional development.

Check out “Gained skills and more about the group” below for more information on this group.

Does your teen/tween struggle with making and keeping friends? Socializing in middle school can be challenging for many reasons: social anxiety, loneliness, cliques, jealousy, gossip, social media, bullying, and peer pressure can all play a part. While friendships can sometimes be difficult to navigate, middle school students who have strong, healthy, long-term friendships will be better equipped to handle the other challenges associated with middle school.

The 12-session friendship group will cover many social skills topics appropriate for female, male and non-binary middle school students. The group will incorporate games, art projects and other activities to help your middle schooler learn and practice a range of skills: listening and reciprocal conversation skills, perspective-taking and showing empathy, self-advocacy, conflict resolution, identifying feelings, managing strong emotions, and more.

Check out “Gained skills and more about the group” below for more information on this group.

PEERS® for Adolescents is a 14-week evidence-based social skills intervention for motivated teens in middle and high school who are interested in learning new ways of making and keeping friends. This internationally acclaimed program, used in over 35 countries, was originally developed at UCLA by Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson. During each group session, teens are taught important social skills and are given the opportunity to practice these skills in session during socialization activities. Parents attend separate sessions and are taught how to assist their teens in making and keeping friends by helping to expand their teen’s social network and providing feedback through coaching during weekly socialization homework assignments. PEERS® may be appropriate for teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, or other social and behavioral disorders. Parent participation is required.