What Teens & Young Adults Like to Know
It's about your own life and your own goals
Like any class, you will get out of it what you put into it. If you would like to make and keep friends, improve your social life, and feel more aware and confident in social situations, PEERS® can help.
It's about active participation
We don't expect you to just listen to us lecture. PEERS® is an engaging, interactive program that combines individualized attention, group activities, and lively discussions about what skills work, why they work, and how to use them in the real world. We teach new skills using the "Socratic method," which involves lots of questions and keeping everyone engaged.
It's not like "therapy"
We won't ever put you on the spot in front of the group to talk about difficult feelings or events in your life. Instead, it will feel more like an activities-based class, where we will focus on learning, practicing, and using the social skills.
It's about meeting you wherever you're at
We know you already have social skills. We will help you (1) understand what you're already doing that's working, (2) fill in the gaps with whatever might help you get better at friendships and relationships, and (3) take your social life to the next level by learning to maintain and deepen your friendships and relationships.
It's about improving your own social life
We are not trying to set you up with other friends in the group. We are focused on trying to help you improve your own social life outside the group.
It's about being yourself
We don't want you to "mask" or change your personality to "fit in." We don't expect you or even want you to suddenly become really popular or outgoing, if that's not your personality. We want to help you have authentic friendships that work for you as a unique individual.
It's about the rest of your life
If you engage with this program, participate, and do the work, you will see real changes and improvements in just 16 weeks. But you won't be perfect. None of us will ever be "perfect" socially, so hopefully that means we are all working on ourselves and our relationships throughout our lives. At the end of 16 weeks, when you complete our program, we want you to feel like we've helped you prepare to continue developing and working on these skills however you may need or want moving forward.