PEERS Social Skills Lessons for Teens and Young Adults

  • PEERS® is an evidence-based social skills curriculum for motivated individuals who are interested in making and keeping friends and/ or developing romantic relationships.

  • PEERS is effective for ALL socially motivated individuals including autistic, ADHD, and other neurodivergent folks.

  • The individual and their social coach (parent or other caregiver) attend a total of 14-16 sessions with a PEERS Certified Trainer for 90-minutes per week each.

  • Social skills are taught through didactic lessons and role-play demonstrations, and practice these skills with the PEERS Certified Trainer and their social coach (parent or other caregiver).

  • Social coaches (parents or caregivers) have their own meeting and group to learn how to assist the individuals in making and keeping friends and/ or dating.

  • Individuals are taught concrete rules that socially savvy people use (ecologically-valid skills) and are empowered to determine what works (or doesn’t) for them based on their personal goals and values.

  • Topics covered in all PEERS options include: Conversational Skills, Starting and Joining Conversations, Exiting Conversations, Electronic Communication, Finding a Source of Friends, Appropriate Use of Humor, Get-Togethers, Conflict Resolution, Handling Bullying.

  • Individual PEERS and Young Adult PEERS Groups also cover Dating.

Sign Up For PEERS Social Skills Lessons

Group PEERS Options

  • Current Groups:

    • PEERS for Teens Enrolling for Winter 2025/2026

    • Once weekly online via Zoom

    • Simultaneous:

      90-minute Young Adult group meeting

      90-minute Social Coach group meeting

    • 16 weeks

    • Group format allows for practice with other teens or young adults during the session

    • Group format allows for more examples and input from other social coaches

    • Separation of teen or young adult and social coach instruction can facilitate more openness for some families/dyads

  • Pricing is offered on a sliding scale.

    • Speak to NCBC to sign up and discuss your needs and insurance benefits.

  • Upcoming Groups - Open Enrollment!

    • Winter 2025/2026

Individual PEERS Option

    • Once weekly online via Zoom (flexible scheduling)

    • 90-minute meeting with the individual and the social coach together (depending on comfort)

    • 14-16+ weeks (depending on topics covered)

    • Personal session format offers intervention to those who aren’t ready for a group format

    • Session pace is slower, allows for more individual practice with the PEERS Certified Trainer

    • Ongoing, Open Enrollment (Can start anytime!)

  • Pricing is offered on a sliding scale.

    • Speak to NCBC to sign up and discuss your needs and insurance benefits.

  • Ongoing, Open Enrollment

More Info

  • Eligible candidates are…

    • Socially motivated individuals who have a social coach (parent, caregiver, sometimes someone else)

    • Available for all the scheduled group (individual and social coach) sessions (with limited exceptions)

    • Able to learn through didactic instruction and through the selected format

    • Not severely anxious or depressed

    • Able to practice outside of sessions (do homework)

  • Eligible candidates for individual sessions are…

    • Socially motivated

    • Able to learn through the format

    • May or may not need additional practice, examples, or instruction

    • Able to participate with a social coach (parent, caregiver, or other person), synchronously (with some exceptions) for prescheduled sessions

    • May or may not be enrolled in one of the groups

    • Able to practice outside of session (do homework)

    • PEERS was developed in UCLA and continues to be researched there and worldwide.

    • The most up-to-date list of publications is available on the PEERS clinic site.

    • A Meta-Analysis of PEERS for Adolescents (Zheng et al., 2021) showed medium to large effect sizes (practical change) in Overall Social Skills (5 studies), Social Skills Knowledge (9 studies), and Social Engagement (4 studies).

    • Long-Term Follow-up Research (e.g., Mandelberg et al., 2013) has shown that skills maintained and in many cases improved ~2.5 years after participating in PEERS for Adolescents intervention.

  • The PEERS program is not a friendship matching service. Instead, individuals learn the skills to find sources of friends, make, and keep friendships going. Social coaches help facilitate the process of locating sources of friends.

Contact NCBC About PEERS