Welcome to PEERS® Denver
A 16-Week Evidenced-Based Social Skills Program for Teens and Young Adults
List of Program Content
What You Will Learn
- How to use appropriate conversational skills
- How to find common interests by trading information
- How to appropriately use humor
- How to enter and exit conversations between peers
- How to handle rejection, teasing, and bullying
- How to handle rumors and gossip
- How to be a good host during get togethers
- How to make phone calls and navigating other electronic communication with friends
- How to choose appropriate friends
- How to be a good sport
- How to handle arguments and disagreements
- How to change a bad reputation
- Dating etiquette and do's and don'ts (Young Adult Group curriculum)
A Comprehensive Social Skills Curriculum Based on Science
PEERS® (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) was developed at the University of California Los Angeles. The group was created to be a parent assisted social skills training for youth and young adults challenged with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, anxiety, and the twice exceptional with social impairments.
The group is tailored for teens and young adults who are motivated to learn the ecologically valid skills (or what people who are socially accepted naturally do) that are proven to improve their abilities to make and keep friends.
Parental participation is a key component of our PEERS® program. Research shows that parental support, instruction, and supervision significantly benefit the development of friendships. Parent groups run concurrent with teen/young adult groups at the same time and location.
Testimonials
“I used to think people didn’t like me. Nobody wanted to talk to me at my old school. I tried to make friends at first… but I didn’t know I was doing it wrong. I didn’t know what to say. I’d kind of stand there and they wouldn’t say anything, …and they’d look at me like I was weird. Then I just stopped trying. I used to cry about it, too. But now I know how to talk to people. I just find stuff that we like and talk about that. Like when they were talking about Twilight that day, I was like, ‘I can talk about that.’ So I did…and then they starting asking me questions. Now I know that’s how it works…that’s how you make friends.” -From the book The Science of Making Friends. A socially anxious 14 year-old who completed PEERS®
"David is doing really well. I think the PEERS work really did a lot for him. He is more confident and makes plans with others. He even went to Homecoming at another school with 4 friends this fall. He had a great time. It was so awesome because at a dance in 8th grade, he had a panic attack" -A parent of a teen who graduated from PEERS® Denver
"Also big WIN for Gerald, yesterday he rode his bike for hours in the neighborhoods around where we are living in Denver. A boy says hi as he was riding by and.... drumroll.... Gerald STOPPED AND HAD A CONVERSATION WITH HIM! He told me the boys name was Jack, he’ll be going to Gerald's school next year in the same grade and also likes Rubik's cubes. I asked him what he would have done last summer if a boy said hi as he was riding by and Gerald said he would have kept looking straight ahead and rode faster to get away. This demonstrates how much he gained from peers!!! THANK YOU! I was thrilled when he told me, especially because it seemed normal to him now and wasn’t a big deal!!!" -A parent of a teen who graduated from PEERS® Denver
Expanding the social knowledge that opens the door for more interests explored between peers.
Now Enrolling for the Spring!
Teen Groups are held on Thursdays or Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:30pm
Young Adult Groups are held on Mondays from 6:30 to 8:00pm
WE ARE CURRENTLY FILLING UP OUR GROUPS STARTING THIS JANAUARY 2020!
Call our office at 303-335-0841 to complete a free 15-minute phone screen with a member of our staff.
New and Updated Young Adult Program
Starting the 2018 year, a 16-week young adult program is now being offered with an updated curriculum recently published by the PEERS clinic at UCLA. It will now include four sessions on dating etiquette:
- Letting someone know you like them
- Asking someone on a date
- Going on dates
- Dating do's and don'ts
A Social Skills Group for teens and young adults that work!
Scientific evidence (including long term follow up studies) for the PEERS Model include: -Decreased social anxiety -Decreased loneliness -Improved social skills related to cooperation, responsibility, and assertion -Decreased autistic symptoms -Improved empathy -Improved friendship quality
Among the few social skills programs that exist, the vast majority do not provide evidence to support their claims of improving social skills, nor do they provide parent assistance. To date, the only known research-supported social skills program available for teens and young adults with ASD and other social challenges is PEERS®.
"If you follow the guidelines, I guarantee you will see greater social success". -John Elder Robinson, author and member of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee
Specificially Designed for Youth Who:
Want to make friends more easily
Want to interact with the real world and not just electronics
Are intelligent, creative, but seem to miss connecting with peers
May be easily led to negative behaviors to get attention or feel accepted
Are well meaning, but sometimes awkward
**Parental participation is a key component of our PEERS® program**
Recently Published Workbook for Mental Health Professionals and Educators Addressing Social Trauma
Craig McCullough, Denver PEERS® Director, brings many years of trauma informed practice often impacting our families in the program after experiencing social ostracization. Craig, in collaboration with his colleagues, published this workbook to improve care from frontline providers in school settings.
Program Delivered As It Was Designed at UCLA
Our mission is to embrace each family with compassion and professionalism that will create a social vessel for 16 weeks allowing there to be a stronger foundation that can have a life long impact.