A 14-week group built on the PEERS® curriculum, where teens learn the concrete skills of friendship and practice them until they hold. Parents train alongside, in their own group.
Or call (561) 501-2884.
Teens group
5:00 to 6:30pm
Weekly sessions
Small on purpose
Covers your teen and one parent
Elementary school friendships mostly happen on their own. Then adolescence arrives, and suddenly there are group chats your teen is not in, sarcasm they cannot always read, and unwritten rules that seem to change weekly. You watch a kid who is smart, funny, and kind spend another weekend alone, and it breaks your heart a little every time.
Here is what two decades of research on adolescent social skills has shown: the skills of friendship are exactly that, skills. They can be named, broken into steps, taught, and practiced. That is not a slogan. It is the entire design of this group.
PEERS® stands for the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills. It is one of the most researched social skills programs for teens in the world, developed at UCLA and used internationally. Our clinicians deliver it following the PEERS® Treatment Manual.
What makes it different is what it teaches. Instead of vague advice like “just be yourself,” PEERS® teaches what socially successful teens actually do, step by concrete step. Skills are taught in a lesson, rehearsed in group with coaching and role play, and then practiced in the real world between sessions.
And parents are not waiting in the car. You meet in your own group at the same time, learning the same skills vocabulary, so you can coach effectively at home without hovering.
Starting conversations, and joining ones already happening.
Exiting a conversation gracefully when it is not going well.
Texting, messaging, and staying safe with online friendships.
Using humor, and reading how it lands.
Choosing friends worth pursuing, and finding where they are.
Planning get-togethers that actually happen.
Handling teasing, arguments, and rumors without losing the friendship or themselves.
1.
A concrete skill, taught in plain steps. Not a lecture about being nice. The actual mechanics of, say, joining a conversation.
2.
Teens practice the skill together with coaching and role play, in a room where getting it wrong is safe and expected.
3.
Everyone leaves with a practice assignment for the week, because the goal is friendships outside the group, not inside it.
PEERS® is a parent-assisted program, and the research is clear that this is a large part of why it works. While your teen meets with our clinicians, you meet in a parallel parent group. You learn the same skills, in the same language, one week at a time.
That means when your teen comes home working on get-togethers, you know exactly how to help without taking over. A parent or caregiver attends every session, and both of you attend the first one together.
Our PEERS® for Preschoolers group serves ages 4 to 6: the same parent-assisted approach, built for first friendships.
Groups cap at 10 teens, honestly and always. Tell us about your teen below and we will reply within one business day with details on the next cohort.
We reply within one business day.