PEERS® Social and Relationship Skills for Young Adults

Segue Center’s PEERS® for Young Adults is a 16-week evidence-based social skills intervention for motivated young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression or other social and behavioral disorders.

  • 18-29 years old

  • socially motivated in developing friendships

  • may be interested in developing romantic relationships (not required)

  • attend each session with a social coach

PEERS® Young Adults is a 16-week program with two 90-minute weekly virtual sessions: one attended by a socially-motivated young adult, and the other attended by the young adult’s designated social coach. During each group session, young adults are taught important social skills and are given the opportunity to practice these skills.

PEERS® is one of the only evidence-based programs for young adults, developed over two decades at UCLA by PEERS® Clinic Founding Director, Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson. It has been found to equally efficacious when presented online as when in-person. If you’re interested in reading research results, review the evidence here at UCLA.

Methodology

Didactic Lessons

  • Ecologically valid skills with concrete steps of etiquette used by socially successful individuals.

  • Support with recognizing context and nuances involved in social behaviors and communicaiton.

  • Socratic method to allow participants to discover their own answers.

Socialization Rehearsal

Safe opportunity to practice skills with coaching and in-group peers.

Role-Play Demonstrations

  • Model social behavior

  • Appropriate and inappropriate demonstrations

  • Perspective taking questions

At-home Practice

  • Practice in natural settings

  • Helps generalize skills

  • Supported by Social Coaches

Social Coaching

Integral to the PEERS Young Adult program is the participation of designated social coaches who learn how to appropriately support young adults practice these skills out in the real world and after graduation. A parent, family member, life coach, or peer are common social coaches. If you would like to participate, but do not have a designated social coach, reach out to Segue Center, and we can help find a comfortable solution for you to participate in the program.

  • Practice newly learning skills

  • Provide feedback on emerging social skills during practice

  • Provide social coaching in the real world

  • Help to generalize skills to other social settings

  • Assist with finding potential sources of friends or romantic partners

  • Support efforts at arranging get-togethers and dates

  • Ensure that the program never ends and skills continue to be used

Friendship and Romantic Relationship Skills

  • Finding and choosing good friends and romantic partners

  • Conversational skills

  • Electronic communication

  • Appropriate use of humor

  • Get-togethers

  • Dating etiquette

Conflict Resolution Skills

  • Perspective-Taking and Empathy

  • Accepting Rejection (Platonic & Romantic)

  • Handling Arguments

  • Handling Bullying (Direct & Indirect)

  • Handling Pressure from Partners

Strengths-Based and Affirming

Although strategies and methods are presented in the PEERS Young Adults program, participation throughout the program is entirely voluntary. We remind young adults each session that these are tools they can choose to use rather than rules forced upon them. We distinguish between the choice to utilize communication or relational strategies and masking one’s personality in efforts to conform. Learning and using these skills should be about enhancing social interactions so others canappreciate who we already are. We recognize that monotropism and specific interests are not always limiting to one’s social experiences; in fact they can provide a valuable source of appropriate friends and peers with whom natural bonds are more easily and comfortably developed.