Ready for Middle School
A Summer Program for Building Confidence, Friendships, and Skills For the Year Ahead
The move into middle school is an exciting milestone—and it can also bring new social, emotional, and academic challenges. Our Ready for Middle School group helps tweens ages 10 – 13 build the confidence, independence, and practical skills they need for a strong start.
Our small, supportive group is led by Natalie Nicholls-Kuhn, LMFT—a therapist with deep expertise supporting children and teens with school-based, social, and emotional challenges—and Julie Monroe, OTR/L, an occupational therapist with specialized training in helping children and adolescents with sensory processing and self-regulation. Together, our experts will help your tween build the skills to feel confident and prepared for middle school.
What Kids Will Work On
Changing Friendships and Expanding Peer Circles
Organization and Planning
Time Management and Follow-Through
Emotional Regulation
Tweens will engage in games and activities that help identify and express feelings, enhancing self-awareness. Hands-on occupational therapy activities will introduce sensory tools and techniques for emotional and interoceptive awareness. They will use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy basics to learn the relationship between thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Tweens will learn and practice coping strategies for self-regulation and leave with a personalized emotional regulation toolkit to use at home and school.
Managing Anxiety
Learning practical strategies for approaching new challenges with greater confidence.
Self-Advocacy
Tweens will build confidence in communicating their needs through role play and guided exercises. They will practice asking for help, identifying trusted adults, and developing skills to seek support when needed. Activities will focus on real-life scenarios to empower tweens to advocate for themselves in academic and social settings.
Weekly Topics
- Week 1: Introductions & Peer Group Dynamics
- Week 2: Friendship
- Week 3: Emotional Regulation
- Week 4: Understanding & Managing Anxiety
- Week 5: Executive Function for Middle School Success
- Week 6: Balancing Responsibilities & Self-Advocacy
Group Structure
- Dates: Mondays, July 20 – August 24
- Duration: 6 weekly sessions
- Session length: 5:30 – 7:00pm (90 minutes)
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Location: JFCS, 200 Channing Avenue, Palo Alto
- Group size: 8 – 10 tweens
- Facilitators: Licensed Occupational Therapist and Licensed Child & Adolescent Therapist
- Cost: $150/session ($900 total)
- Dinner Included
Ready to get started?
To help ensure the group is a good fit, each participant will complete age and grade eligibility verification, along with a brief Ready for Middle School Screener.
Wondering if this program is right for your child?
Contact us to learn more about upcoming Ready for Middle School cohorts and we’ll be happy to discuss whether this group may be a good fit for your child.
