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PEERS Social Skills

For Teens & Young Adults

PEERS® Social Skills Group
Program For Teens & Young Adults

PEERS® stands for Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills.

 

The PEERS® program is a renowned evidence-based social skills intervention for motivated teens aged 13-17 who are interested in making and keeping friends.

 

Originally developed by Dr Elizabeth Laugeson at the University of California (UCLA), the programme has a strong evidence-base which means it has been researched as being an effective intervention for adolescents on the Autism Spectrum and other diagnosis including social anxiety, ADHD, depression, language impairment, and learning difficulties.

 

Healthy relationships are crucial and the developmental drive to ‘fit in’ and belong is strong in the adolescent years. Developing healthy relationships and having friendships leads to developing a positive self-identity and is a protective factor against mental health challenges like anxiety and depression. However, there is a certain level of social skill proficiency required to make and keep friends, and these skills can be challenging for a range of young people.

 

The PEERS® program aims to explicitly teach key social skills required to sustain friendships such as how to;

  • Improve conversational skills (starting conversations, knowing when to join in with a conversation, knowing how to end a conversation, etc)

  • Learning how to 'read' the social environment 

  • Choose appropriate friends & find common interests

  • Appropriately use electronic forms of communication 

  • Appropriately use humour & assess humour feedback

  • Organise successful get-togethers with friends

  • Develop & maintain friendships 

  • Be a good sport when playing games and/or sports with friends

  • Handle arguments & disagreements with friends

  • Handle rejection, teasing, bullying, rumours/gossip & cyber bullying

  • Help to change an unwanted reputation

 

PEERS® is a fun and engaging program where teens can have the opportunity to build social skills and make connections with others.

 

For more information or to enrol please click here or contact admin@peterhabittherapyco.com.au

 

A range of funding options are available. 

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