PEERS® Programs – Evidence-Based Social Skills
Evidence-Based Programs
For over two decades, PEERS® (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) has been rigorously researched and developed at UCLA. PEERS® groups are focused on helping you build your own social life in the real world. Teens and young adults learn and practice social skills together; in a separate group, parents & caregivers learn how to support them effectively.
Make & Keep Friends
PEERS® is a 16-week interactive class for teens, young adults, and their parents and caregivers. Above all, we focus on learning how to make and keep friends. The lessons and skills we cover include:
- how to have good back-and-forth conversations
- how to start and join conversations with new people
- how to choose (and find!) friends who are a good fit for you
- how to use electronic communication safely and effectively
- how to use humor appropriately
- how to have fun, successful get-togethers
- how to navigate arguments and disagreements productively
- how to handle different forms of teasing and bullying
- dating skills (young adult program only)
These Skills Work in the Real World
The skills we teach are "ecologically valid," which is a research term meaning the skills we teach come from the real world and have been proven to work in the real world. In order to figure out what skills to teach, researchers observed real interactions between real people. Then, researchers tested these skills in the real world again to make sure they work. These skills are "tried and true," and they remain useful throughout adulthood.
Social Skills Are NOT Mysterious
Social skills are just like any other skill - cooking, juggling, playing a sport, a video game or a musical instrument - the more you learn and practice, the better you will get. Every week when we meet, we will learn new skills and practice them together. We will also give brief assignments each week to review or practice skills at home and to use them in the real world. Practice includes role plays, games, and other structured activities that give group members an opportunity to
try the skills for themselves with the support of our facilitators.
Support for Parents & Caregivers
Parents and caregivers will meet in their own group at the same
time their teens and young adults are meeting. Every teen or young adult who joins our program will have a parent or caregiver join this group. To start, we will teach you the same lesson the teens and young adults are learning each week, so you will know exactly what they're working on and what to help them with. From there, we will support you with being an effective "social coach" for your teen or young adult. As a social coach, we will ask you to practice skills at home together, help them understand what they're doing well and what to work on, and support them with planning and strategizing about how to apply these skills successfully in their everyday lives, so they can build a social life they would find fun and fulfilling.
Passionate, Qualified Facilitators
Our typical student-teacher ratio is 1:3 or 1:4, so group members will also receive extensive guidance, support, and feedback from our passionate, qualified team of group leaders and co-facilitators. All group leaders are fully trained and certified in the facilitation of PEERS® programs through the Semel Institute at UCLA.
For more information about our group leaders, click here:
Upcoming Programs
Adolescent Programs
We plan to offer one Fall adolescent program
beginning in August:
Our Fall Teen Program is scheduled to begin August 27th and will be held virtually on Wednesdays at 5:30pm MST. This program will conclude in December.
Young Adult Programs
We plan to offer one Fall young adult program
beginning in August:
Our Fall Young Adult Program is scheduled to begin August 26th and will be held virtually on Tuesdays at 5:30pm MST. This program will conclude in December.