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.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, PEERS® for Adolescents Telehealth groups via Zoom are available now!

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.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, PEERS® for Young Adults Telehealth groups via Zoom are available now!

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.

For more information about our PEERS® for Preschoolers Social Skills 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.