What is the PEERS Social Skills Group?
Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) is:
- An evidence-based social skills intervention
- For teens in middle school or high school
- A curriculum that focuses on making and keeping friends, developing romantic relationships, and managing conflict and rejection.
- Includes role play demonstrations, didactic lessons, behavioral rehearsal exercises, and homework assignments.
What prerequisite skills does my teen need to benefit from this group?
- Be 13-18 years old
- Have the desire to acquire and maintain friendships
- Have the availability to attend all meetings
- Be dedicated to practice newly learned skills outside of the weekly meetings
- Have the ability to have multiple conversation exchanges with peers
- Have a caregiver that is able to participate as a social coach
- Have access to two devices with a camera (one for teen, one for caregiver)
How often does the PEERS group meet?
The PEERS group meets once per week for 16 weeks on Thursday evenings from 6pm to 7:30pm. The next group will begin in Winter 2024. Registration for Winter 2024 will close when we meet the maximum amount of participants.
What supports are offered during the sessions?
- Group leaders with experience in Applied Behavior Analysis
- Instruction, modeling, coaching, and ongoing feedback
- Incorporates role playing and homework assignments to practice skills with same-aged peers
Curriculum by Week:
| Week | Lesson |
| 1 | Trading Information and Starting Conversations |
| 2 | Trading Information and Maintaining Conversations |
| 3 | Finding a Source of Friends |
| 4 | Electronic Communication |
| 5 | Appropriate Use of Humor |
| 6 | Entering Group Conversations |
| 7 | Exiting Conversations |
| 8 | Get-Togethers |
| 9 | Dating Etiquette: Letting Someone Know You Like Them |
| 10 | Dating Etiquette: Asking Someone On A Date |
| 11 | Dating Etiquette: Going on Dates |
| 12 | Dating Etiquette: Dating Do’s and Don’ts |
| 13 | Handling Disagreements |
| 14 | Handling Direct Bullying |
| 15 | Handling Indirect Bullying |
| 16 | Moving Forward and Graduation |
Group Session Structure:
- Review Homework Assignment: Each session begins with the review of the previous homework assignment (30 minutes).
- Didactic Lesson: An introduction to the targeted skill through role playing demonstrations or Socratic method to allow young adults to feel engaged (30 minutes).
- Behavioral Rehearsal: Group members are given an opportunity to practice the newly learned skill and receive performance feedback (20 minutes).
- Review with Social Coach: Group members will provide a summary of the lesson to their social coach and receive their social coaching handouts. Homework assignment will be provided with homework assignment to be completed by the group member by the next session (10 minutes).
Social Coaching Group [optional]:
- Young adult’s caregiver attends a concurrent social coaching group to learn how to become social coaches
- Social Coaching sessions with caregivers include: a review of the homework assignment, didactic lesson material, perspective taking questions, and social coaching tips.
- Social Coaching sessions teach caregivers how to assist in natural social settings, assist with weekly socialization homework assignments, and assist with finding social activities where young adult may find a source of friends.
- Caregivers as social coaches will help skills generalize to other settings.
- Social coaching sessions will be recorded and offered asynchronous for caregivers who are unavailable for the concurrent session.
Packages:
- Package 1: Weeks 1-8 (Conversations, Friends)
- Package 2: Weeks 9-12 (Dating Etiquette)
- Package 3: Weeks 13-16 (Handling Disagreements, Bullying)
- Package 4: Weeks 1-16 (All)
References:
There is a list of publications in pivotal journals of the evidence supporting the PEERS® for Adolescents and PEERS® for Young Adults interventions. You may review them here.
PEERS Social Group Sign-Up Form