Making Friends and Staying Safe

Making Friends and Staying Safe (MFSS) is a group therapy intervention for children and youth with DD and their caregivers that is designed to reduce the risk of victimization.  MFSS teaches children and caregivers friendship skills, body rights and privacy, and personal safety skills.  It’s a great opportunity for kids to connect with a group of other children and feel like they belong, which can  be a rare experience for some of our clients.

The program consists of a 16 week psychoeducational group for youth, with a concurrent collateral group for their caregivers.  MFSS targets specific risk factors associated with DD through both the content of the 5 modules, and the socioemotional experience within the group for both youth and caregivers.  This program is available to children who are already receiving mental health services at the USC UCEDD.