Friendship Building Groups

Friendship Building Group is a 10-week social skills program.

Our program incorporates principles from the Think Social social skills curriculum as well as the Children’s Friendship Training Program, which is an evidence-based social skills group program out of UCLA. In addition, groups follow a cognitive behavioral therapy teaching model.

During each group session, children/adolescents are taught important social skills and are given the opportunity to practice these skills during socialization activities.

Examples of social skills taught:

Greetings
Reciprocal conversation (social chit-chat)
Being a good sport
Play dates/hangouts and appropriate social behavior
How to maintain friendships
Giving and receiving compliments
Following directions
Asking for help
Personal space
Being a social detective
Flexibility/Growth Mindset
Problem solving
Sharing/turn-taking
Being part of a group
Slipping in to a group or conversation
Emotion regulation

Simultaneously, while your child is in group, parents attend an every other week parent training and support group led by a licensed psychologist where they are taught how to assist their children in making and keeping friends. The facilitator of the parent group is a co-leader of the children's group on alternate weeks.

Examples of topics discussed:

Behavior management
Parent support
Practicing and generalizing learned skills from child/adolescent sessions

Who

The program is for children and adolescents who may have:

Social, or emotional, or behavioral differences
Social and/or pragmatic skill differences
Difficulties either initiating or maintaining friendships

Parent participation in the parent education/support group is required every other week.

What

Learn to engage appropriately with peers
Decrease social anxiety
Learn to find common interests and have reciprocal conversations with peers and adults
Learn to handle teasing and resolve disagreements
Learn to build confidence and increase self-esteem
Learn and implement emotion regulation and coping strategies

When

Groups occur on either Tuesdays or Wednesdays and begin at either 5:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. Groups are also available on Saturday morning at either 9:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. Assignment to group will be determined following the screening process (see below).

Additional Information

A complimentary screening for group readiness will occur before admission into the group is confirmed. Goodness of fit for the group needs to occur to make sure your child/adolescent will benefit from the group based on their individual characteristics, including strengths, weaknesses and goals. Our friendship building groups are not designed for children who have severe aggressive behavior, severe medical issues, or significant cognitive or language delays.

We unfortunately do not accept insurance at this time; however, we do provide insurance friendly invoices at the completion of participation, upon request. These invoices can be submitted to your insurance company if you so choose to. Please contact us for a fee schedule.