LIEBER RECOVERY CLINIC

In taking a recovery-oriented approach to treatment, we seek to teach skills which will translate into real world goal achievement. One key area integral to overall functioning is the ability to create and maintain relationships. Underlying that ability are pragmatic social skills and social cognition.

 

What Are Social Skills?

Social skills are the everyday skills we use to communicate, connect with others, and build relationships. They help us start conversations, keep them going, express interest, share information about ourselves, listen to others, and respond in ways that support connection.

Social skills also help us navigate more complicated situations—joining a group conversation, expressing a different opinion, setting boundaries, handling misunderstandings, resolving conflict, and deciding when and how to end an interaction.

At the Lieber Recovery Clinic, social skills training is not about teaching one “right” way to socialize. People have different personalities, communication styles, cultures, preferences, and goals. The aim is to help each person develop a broader range of skills and strategies that they can use flexibly to pursue the relationships and social experiences that matter to them.

 

Skills may include:

• Starting, joining, maintaining, and ending conversations

• Listening and showing interest

• Asking questions and sharing information about yourself

• Moving from small talk toward more meaningful conversation

• Reading verbal and nonverbal cues

• Expressing needs, preferences, and boundaries

• Being assertive while respecting others

• Navigating disagreements and misunderstandings

• Developing and maintaining friendships

• Recognizing and communicating romantic or platonic interest

• Building greater confidence in unfamiliar social situations

 

What Is Social Cognition?

Social cognition refers to the mental processes we use to understand other people and make sense of social situations.

Everyday interactions require us to interpret a great deal of information. We consider what someone says, their facial expression and tone of voice, what is happening around us, what we already know about the person, and what they may be thinking or feeling.

Social situations can also be ambiguous. A brief response to a text, for example, could mean that someone is busy, distracted, upset, tired, or simply prefers short messages. Social cognition helps us consider different possibilities rather than automatically assuming one explanation.

 

Treatment may focus on skills such as:

• Recognizing emotions and social cues

• Understanding tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language

• Considering another person’s perspective

• Interpreting intentions

• Distinguishing facts from assumptions

• Generating multiple explanations for ambiguous situations

• Understanding how context changes the meaning of an interaction

• Checking interpretations rather than relying on first impressions

 

Strengthening these skills can make social situations feel more understandable and help people respond with greater flexibility and confidence.

 

Who Can Benefit?

Social skills and social cognition treatment can benefit adults who would like to feel more comfortable, effective, or connected in their interactions with other people.

 

Some people find it difficult to initiate conversations or know what to say next. Others can carry on conversations but struggle to move beyond acquaintanceship and develop closer relationships. Some have difficulty interpreting other people’s intentions or recognizing when a social situation is ambiguous. Others may understand social situations well but find it difficult to express themselves assertively or put their skills into practice.

 

At Lieber, social skills and social cognition services are available to adults with a range of mental health and neurodevelopmental needs. Participants may include people experiencing psychosis or other serious mental health conditions, as well as autistic and neurodivergent adults and individuals who simply need additional support developing particular interpersonal skills.

 

Treatment is individualized. The goal is not to change someone’s personality or make everyone interact in the same way. Instead, we help participants identify the social and relationship goals that are meaningful to them and develop skills that can help them pursue those goals.

 

How Social Skills Training Works

Knowing what to do in a social situation is different from being able to do it comfortably in everyday life. For that reason, social skills training at Lieber is active and experiential rather than simply educational, and is offered in both group and individual formats.

 

Participants learn specific skills and have opportunities to see them demonstrated, discuss different approaches, practice them, receive supportive feedback, and try them again.

 

A typical learning process includes:

Learning the skill. The group explores a particular social situation and identifies strategies that may be useful.

 

Modeling. Clinicians demonstrate different ways an interaction might unfold, including approaches that may make connection easier or more difficult.

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Practice. Participants experiment with the skill through brief conversations, exercises, and role plays.

 

Feedback and problem-solving. Participants and clinicians discuss what worked, what felt difficult, and what alternative approaches might be worth trying.

 

Personalization. Participants consider how the skill applies to their own communication style, relationships, and real-world goals.

There is rarely a single correct response to a social situation. Treatment emphasizes developing options, increasing flexibility, and helping participants discover approaches that feel authentic and effective for them.

 

Taking Skills Into the Real World

The ultimate goal of social skills training is not to become better at role plays—it is to make it easier to create satisfying relationships and participate more fully in everyday life.

 

For that reason, Lieber places particular emphasis on helping participants translate skills learned in treatment into real-world experiences.

Participants may identify a small, personally meaningful opportunity to experiment with a skill between sessions. For one person, that might mean saying hello to someone they regularly see at work or school. For another, it might mean initiating a conversation with an acquaintance, inviting someone to do something together, expressing an opinion, setting a boundary, or allowing a casual conversation to become a little more personal.

 

As skills develop, participants can work toward increasingly meaningful goals—developing friendships, strengthening existing relationships, dating, participating more comfortably in school or work, becoming involved in activities or communities, and building a social life that feels satisfying to them.

 

Real-world experiences also provide valuable information. An interaction does not have to go perfectly to be useful. Participants can bring their experiences back to treatment, consider what happened, identify what worked, and decide what they might try differently the next time.

 

Lieber Clinic's Experiential Groups are offered on site, and allow peers to connect around a shared interest or activity. These groups are facilitated by a coach, and provide a relaxed and fun atmosphere where participants at Lieber can develop a sense of community and connection, and have a safe and supportive place to practice social skills.

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The larger goal is not simply improved “social performance.” It is connection—helping people develop the skills, confidence, and flexibility to create the kinds of relationships and social experiences they want in their lives.

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