Student Connect Social Skills

Student Accessibility Services successfully completed a 12-week social skills pilot project in Fall 2022 called ‘Student Connect.’ Each week, a social skills lesson was taught, applied and practiced in an engaging environment, lunch was served, and time was spent creating meaningful connections with peers.  The lessons taught were primarily based on the PEERS (The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) curriculum as the Strategists facilitating the group are PEERS certified instructors.

Throughout the 12 weeks, a safe space was created and nurtured with these students and strategists. The overall feedback was very positive with one student sharing that ‘Student Connect’ helped with the anxiety, and others made the connection around bringing learning, positive action, and application together with increasing overall mental health and wellness.

As a culminating activity, the students developed a ‘random acts of kindness’ project, labelling chocolate bars with encouraging messages and handing them out to students during the final week of classes. This was well received by the recipients of the bars, but also solidified the skills built during the 12 weeks while creating lasting memories of confidence building and paying it forward.

Student Accessibility Services looks forward to continuing this group into the winter semester.