PEERS Training Seminar for Mental Health Professional and Educators (CA UCEDD)

June 27, 2013

Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson, Director of the UCLA PEERS Clinic and The Help Group-UCLA Autism Research Alliance, hosted a PEERS® Training Seminar in London, England from June 12 to June 14, 2013. The seminar was designed to train mental health professionals and educators on the administration and implementation of the PEERS intervention, which is an evidence-based, parent-assisted social skills program focusing on skills related to making and keeping friends. During this three-day training, attendees of the National Autistic Society's PEERS® Training Seminar received intensive instruction from Dr. Laugeson regarding the PEERS research and intervention. Upon completion, attendees were recognized as PEERS Certified Providers and are currently able to independently provide the intervention for middle school and high school students within their various mental health and community settings.

PEERS® is the only evidence-based, parent-assisted social skills intervention of its kind for teens and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The program focuses on skills related to making and keeping friends.

The PEERS® Training Seminar series is designed to train mental health professionals and educators who are interested in learning and/or implementing the PEERS® intervention into their clinical or educational practices. The UCLA PEERS Clinic is dedicated to filling the national and international need for social skills training for adolescents with friendship difficulties in areas where the PEERS® intervention is currently unavailable.

Those attending this 24 hour training, held at UCLA over four days, will be given the unique opportunity to observe both teens and their families as they participate in an actual PEERS® group. Seminars are limited to 20 attendees to allow for treatment observation and small group discussion. Attendees are required to attend all four days of the training seminar. All attendees receive a copy of the published PEERS® treatment manual, Social Skills for Teenagers with Developmental and Autism Spectrum Disorders: The PEERS Treatment Manual (Laugeson & Frankel, 2010). The next training will be held July 9-12. 2013. For more information, please visit our website http://www.semel.ucla.edu/peers/training, or call us at (310) 26-PEERS.