Groups

Social Skills Workshops

CABH is offering Social Skills Workshops. These structured social skills groups are 6 week Social Skills workshops for children ages 8-18.

What are social skills?

Hill Walker in his article on social competencies in children, defines social skills as "a set of competencies that a) allow an individual to initiate and maintain positive social relationships, b) contribute to peer acceptance and to a satisfactory school adjustment, and c) allow an individual to cope effectively with the larger social environment."

How will these workshops help your child?

Children are taught to swim and ride a bike, in the same way it is important to teach them social skills. A goal of the social skills workshops is to teach students about the verbal as well as nonverbal behaviors involved in social interactions. Many students have never learned certain interpersonal skills like making "small talk" in social settings or the importance of good eye contact during a conversation. Additionally, many students are unaware of the many subtle cues contained in social interactions, such as how to tell when someone wants to change the topic of conversation or shift to another activity.

Social skills groups help students learn to interpret these and other social signals, so that they can determine how to act appropriately in social settings. Research has shown that students who improve their social skills or change selected behaviors, will experience improvements in their self-esteem and increase the likelihood that others will respond favorably to them. Reasearch has also shown a link between social skills and academic achievement.

Who are these workshops for?

Social skills workshops have been successful for students displaying a number of issues at school or home: lack of friends, trouble making or keeping friends, aggression, immaturity, acting shy or withdrawn, loneliness, developmental delays, antisocial behavior, etc.

The curriculum:

The Workshop will be based on the Skillstreaming model created by Arnold P. Goldstein and Ellen McGinnis (www.skillstreaming.com). The curriculum breaks a specific skill into small, incremental steps, and walks students through those steps to encourage reflection, discussion, understanding, and competency. Each week a new skill is covered. All participants will be responsible to complete regular homework worksheets as well as practice the new learned skill with parents.

What parents are saying:

The greatest benefit that the group provided was...

"...encouraging my son to step out of his comfort zone and make contact with other people. He introduced himself to two new people and called a friend to set up a playdate."

~Mother of an 11 year old boy

"Encouragement through the role plays to 'work out' social problems. My daughter was not always comfortable trying this before."

~Mother of an 8 year old girl

"How to start and end a conversation. How to understand when someone is losing interest in the topic discussed and learning to control his impulses."

~Father of a 9 year old boy

Workshops:

Workshops will be divided by the sex and age group, with a maximum of 8 students per group. The group will meet once a week, for 1.5 hour sessions over 6 weeks. The workshops will be facilitated by two mental health professionals, Masters level or higher. Each group will focus on topics relevant to the individual age group as well as male or female students.

Cost:

The Cost of the workshop is $360 per student. A family discount is offered at a cost of $280 for each additional child.

Workshop topics:

Each group will focus on skill building and active use of the skills learned within the group. Participants are asked to practice skills both in and out of the group.

Boys High school focus on issues such as peer relationships, teasing, cyber bullying, family stress, safe behavior, social skills, and adjustment issues.

Girls High school focus on topics similar to the boys but are adapted to better meet the needs and pressures of being a teenage girl such as "mean girls" and body image.

Boys entering 6-8 grade focus on issues such as peer relationships, teasing, cyber bullying, family stress, safe behavior, social skills, and adjustment issues.

Girls entering 6-8 grade focus on topics similar to the boys but are adapted to better meet the needs and pressures of being a teenage girl such as "mean girls" and body image.

Boys entering 3-5 grade focus on issues such as being successful in the classroom, making friends, alternatives to aggression, and dealing with stress.

Girls entering 3-5 grade focus on issues similar to the boys.

Sessions:

The workshop will have 6 sessions. Each session will focus on different set of social skills. The sessions are broken down in the following way:

•Session 1: Beginning Social Skills; starting a conversation, saying thank you, introducing yourself, giving a compliment, etc...

•Session 2: Advanced Social Skills; asking for help, joining in, following instructions, apologizing, convincing others, etc...

•Session 3: Tools for Dealing with Feelings; identifying and expressing feelings, dealing with fear, expresing affection, etc...

•Session 4: Alternatives to Aggression; asking permission, using self-control, responding to teasing, keeping out of fights, etc...

•Session 5: Dealing with Stress; dealing with embarrassment, being a good sport, responding to failure, group pressure, etc...

•Session 6: Planning Skills; setting a goal, gathering information, prioritizing problems, making a decision, follow through, etc...

Click here to download the registration form

For Your Information

• • Therapy services are available for children, adolescents, and adults.
• • A wide variety of issues can be evaluated and treated, including inattention, hyperactivity, learning, giftedness, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and interpersonal difficulties.