Where Friendships Grow
Friendship, Laughter, and Joyful Connections
At Friendship Builders children learn, laugh, collaborate, and discover what makes friendships flourish through playful experiences, shared interests, and authentic peer connections.
A safe space to be yourself and find your people.
Social Skills Groups for Children and Teens in Newport Beach, CA
Building Friendships, Confidence, and Social Communication Skills
At Friendship Builders, we offer social skills groups for school-aged children and teens in Newport Beach, California, helping them develop the skills they need to build meaningful friendships, navigate peer relationships, and feel more confident in social situations.
Founded by Molly Stuckey, M.A., CCC-SLP, Friendship Builders provides child-centered social skills therapy that combines natural peer interactions, engaging activities, and individualized speech-language support. Our approach emphasizes connection, trust, and learning through real experiences with other children.
Skills That Help Friendships Grow
Friendships are built through everyday moments: sharing ideas, navigating disagreements, adjusting to unexpected changes, and learning to understand one another. At Friendship Builders, children have opportunities to explore these experiences with peers while developing skills that support success in social situations.
Our groups emphasize five interconnected areas of growth:
Emotional Regulation: Identifying feelings and discovering strategies for responding to emotions in helpful ways.
Frustration Tolerance: Working through disappointment, disagreements, and unexpected outcomes without giving up or becoming overwhelmed.
Impulse Control and Self-Regulation: Thinking before acting, taking conversational turns, managing interruptions, and recognizing when to pause or adjust a response.
Cognitive Flexibility: Shifting perspectives, adapting when plans change, and exploring different ways to approach a situation.
Social Thinking and Problem-Solving: Interpreting social cues, considering others’ viewpoints, and navigating the everyday complexities of peer interactions.
Together, these skills give children practical tools to navigate challenges, make thoughtful choices, and participate more comfortably in the social world around them.
A Personalized Approach to Social Growth
Every child brings unique strengths, interests, and ways of connecting with others. At Friendship Builders, we use these individual qualities as the starting point for meaningful social learning.
Sessions unfold through shared activities, peer conversations, creative exploration, and real-life social challenges. With thoughtful guidance from the clinician, children have space to experiment, reflect, and discover what works for them.
Instead of teaching a rigid set of social rules, we encourage children to read social situations, consider different viewpoints, and make choices that reflect both their own needs and the perspectives of others.
By building on experiences that happen naturally throughout each session, children can develop a deeper understanding of social interactions and apply what they learn to everyday experiences with peers, family, and others.
Real-World Skills for Everyday Social Situations
From joining a conversation to handling a disagreement, children encounter countless opportunities to learn about relationships. Our social skills groups address the practical situations children face with peers, helping them build a toolkit for navigating social experiences with greater independence.
Conversation and Pragmatic Language: Initiating interactions, asking relevant questions, maintaining topics, and exchanging ideas naturally.
Making and Maintaining Friendships: Connecting over common interests, entering group activities, and developing mutual relationships.
Reading Social Cues and Perspectives: Interpreting facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice while recognizing that others may think or feel differently.
Cooperation and Conflict Resolution: Compromising, sharing responsibilities, working through differences, and finding solutions together.
Impulse Management and Social Awareness: Pausing before reacting, taking turns, interrupting respectfully, and considering the impact of words and actions.
Sportsmanship and Bouncing Back: Responding to wins and losses, coping with rejection, and recovering from difficult peer experiences.
Self-Advocacy and Assertive Communication: Expressing preferences, communicating concerns, establishing boundaries, and asking for help when needed.
These abilities are explored within shared activities and genuine peer interactions, allowing children to try different approaches, learn from experience, and discover strategies that work for them.
Find Your Child's Place to Connect
Every child deserves opportunities to feel included, understood, and comfortable being themselves around peers. At Friendship Builders, we take the time to understand your child and identify a group where their interests, strengths, and social goals can flourish.
Reach out to learn more about our social skills groups for children and teens in Orange County and discover how we can support your child's journey toward more rewarding peer relationships.
“We chose Friendship Builders because we wanted to give him the skills to make friends more comfortably.”
“Improving speech also improves confidence.”
Social Skills Groups for Teens
Helping Teens Build Confidence, Navigate Friendships, and Strengthen Social Communication
Teen Social Skills Groups That Reflect Real Life
Adolescence brings new layers of complexity to friendships, from navigating shifting peer groups to understanding unspoken expectations in middle school and high school. Our teen groups provide opportunities to explore these experiences, practice navigating social dynamics, and develop strategies for situations that can feel uncertain or overwhelming.
Dungeons & Dragons: Teamwork Through Adventure
Collaborative Dungeons & Dragons activities give teens a shared mission, encouraging them to exchange ideas, make group decisions, adapt their plans, and work through unexpected challenges. Along the way, participants practice collaboration, executive functioning, flexible thinking, and sportsmanship through an engaging shared interest.
Specialized Expertise in Adolescent Social Communication
Led by Molly Stuckey, M.A., CCC-SLP, Friendship Builders combines speech-language pathology expertise with individualized, peer-based experiences. Activities are shaped around adolescents' developmental needs, interests, and goals, with opportunities to explore social challenges as they arise.
Social Skills Group Therapy
Where shared interests spark laughter, teamwork, and the little moments that bring kids together.
Helping children and teens read social cues, think flexibly, and navigate everyday interactions with greater confidence and ease
A place to navigate social curveballs, handle big reactions, and discover new ways to approach challenging moments with peers.
Every child deserves to feel they belong. We help turn social challenges into new possibilities, one friendship at a time.
Real connection starts with feeling understood.
A place where kids feel at ease, discover their strengths, and turn shared moments into lasting friendships.
How Our Groups Work: Learning Through Connection
At Friendship Builders, children and teens develop practical social skills through a balance of guided instruction, engaging activities, and meaningful peer interactions. Our small, therapist-led groups in Newport Beach provide opportunities to practice new skills, receive in-the-moment coaching, and build confidence that carries into everyday life.
Each session includes:
Learn: Introduce and explore an important social skill.
Practice: Apply new skills through play, shared interests, and collaborative activities.
Connect: Receive gentle coaching during real-time peer interactions.
Grow: Build confidence and develop authentic friendships through shared experiences.
