UCLA PEERS® Clinic

To go to the UCLA PEERS® Clinic website, click here. 

Clinic Overview

PEERS® for Adolescents Social Skills Groups

PEERS® for Adolescents is an evidence-based social skills intervention for motivated teens in middle and high school who are interested in making and keeping friends and/or handling conflict and rejection. Teens and parents attend 16-weekly group sessions for 90 minutes per week. Teens are taught social skills through didactic lessons and role-play demonstrations, and practice these skills during group socialization activities. Parents attend separate sessions simultaneously and are taught how to assist their teens in making and keeping friends. Parent participation is required. Teens will learn about: developing and maintaining friendships, conversational skills, entering and exiting conversations, electronic communication, using humor appropriately, organizing get-togethers, being a good sport, handling disagreements, changing a bad reputation, and handling teasing and bullying.

For more information about our PEERS® for Adolescents Social Skills Groups, click here. 

PEERS® for Young Adults Social Skills Groups

PEERS® for Young Adults is an evidence-based social skills intervention for motivated adults who are interested in making and keeping friends and/or handling conflict and rejection. Young adults and social coaches (including parents or other caregivers) attend 16-weekly group sessions for 90 minutes per week. Young adults are taught social skills through didactic lessons and role-play demonstrations, and practice these skills during group socialization activities. Social coaches attend separate sessions simultaneously and are taught how to assist their teens in making and keeping friends and/or dating. Young adults will learn about: developing and maintaining friendships, conversational skills, entering and exiting conversations, electronic communication, using humor appropriately, organizing get-togethers, dating skills, handling dating pressure, handling disagreements, changing a bad reputation, and handling direct and indirect bullying.

PEERS® for Young Adults Social Skills Groups alternate between in-person and Telehealth groups via Zoom.

For more information about our PEERS® for Young Adults Social Skills Groups, click here.

PEERS® for Preschoolers Social Skills Groups

PEERS® for Preschoolers is a 16-week evidence-based parent-assisted social skills intervention to teach children, between the ages of 4 to 6 years, how to make and keep friends. Originally developed at UCLA by Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson, PEERS® for Preschoolers may be appropriate for preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression or other social and behavioral disorders. Children must speak consistently in phrases and sentences of four or more words. Parent Participation is required. Your child will learn how to: listen and follow directions, ask and use names, greet friends, share and give turns, ask friends to play, join ongoing games, keep cool during play, be a good sport, transition to new play activities, ask for and give help, use good volume control, and maintain good body boundaries.

PEERS® for Preschoolers Social Skills Groups alternate between in-person and Telehealth groups via Zoom. Telehealth groups are parent-only.

For more information about our PEERS® for Preschoolers Social Skills Groups, click here.

PEERS® Online Social Skills Classes

PEERS® Online Social Skills Classes is a 16-week evidence-based program for motivated teens and young adults who are interested in making and keeping friends and/or handling conflict and rejection. Teens and/or young adults attend 16 weekly classes over Zoom for 90-minutes each week, plus an optional 5 weeks of dating skills. Participants are taught social skills through didactic lessons and role-play demonstrations and practice these skills during online socialization activities. Social coaches attend separate classes simultaneously and are taught how to assist their teens in making and keeping friends. Teens and/or young adults will learn about: developing and maintaining friendships, conversational skills, entering and exiting conversations, appropriate use of humor, handling disagreements, electronic communication, being a good sport, organizing get-togethers, handling teasing and bullying, and changing a reputation. 

For more information about our PEERS® Online Social Skills Classes, click here. 

PEERS® for Preschoolers Educational Groups

PEERS® for Preschoolers is an evidence-based social skills program to teach children between 4 to 6 years of age how to make and keep friends. Parents attend 16 weekly group sessions for 90 minutes per week over Zoom. Parents will be taught how to coach their child on targeted social skills related to friendship development through didactic lessons, role-play videos and puppet shows for children. Parents are provided resources to practice these skills during weekly homework assignments and are given feedback on their social coaching. Parents will learn how to provide coaching on: having successful play dates, listening and following directions, meeting and greeting friends, sharing and giving turns, asking friends to play, joining ongoing play, keeping cool during play, being a good sport, transitioning to new play activities, asking and giving help, using volume control, and maintaining body boundaries. 

For more information about our PEERS® for Preschoolers Educational Groups, click here. 

PEERS® Boot Camps

PEERS® Boot Camps are designed to teach evidence-based social skills to anyone interested in learning more, including teens, adults, families, practitioners, and educators. Attendees are presented with targeted skills through didactic instruction, role-play demonstrations, and have the opportunity to practice the newly-learned skills through behavioral rehearsal exercises. During these behavioral rehearsals, attendees are divided into small breakout groups to practice with direct coaching from our treatment team. Topics of these Boot Camps include dating etiquette, conversation skills, friendship skills, and handling bullying.

The PEERS® Virtual Boot Camp includes 35 pre-recorded episodes covering all of the skills that we teach in our teen and young adult evidence-based social skill programs. The topics covered include friendship skills, conversation skills, conflict resolution, handling bullying, and dating etiquette. Participants can watch episodes at their own pace over the 60 day viewing period while receiving additional resources and suggestions for how to practice the skills in the real world.

Please click on the Boot Camp topics to learn more:

• PEERS® Conversation Boot Camps 
• PEERS® Dating Boot Camps
• PEERS® Friendship Boot Camps
• PEERS® Bully Proofing Boot Camps
• PEERS® Virtual Boot Camp 

PEERS® Research

For information about PEERS® research studies and publications, including PEERS® for Careers, click here.