Group Sessions (3- 12 years old)

1 Hour Sessions, 8-12 Week Blocks

Building confidence, friendships and everyday social skills through carefully matched, child-led groups.

Emerge's group sessions are designed for neurodivergent and autistic children who would benefit from additional support developing friendships, emotional regulation and the skills to navigate social situations with confidence. Through play, shared interests and carefully matched peers, children have the opportunity to build meaningful relationships in a safe, supportive and neuroaffirming environment.

Who are our groups for?

Our groups may be a good fit for children who:

• Find it difficult to make friends or know how to join in with other children

• Make friends easily but find it harder to maintain friendships or navigate little disagreements

• Need support with playing as part of a group, sharing ideas, taking turns or letting someone else lead

• Become upset or frustrated when they lose a game, things don’t go as expected or another child has a different idea

• Find change or transitions a little difficult and benefit from support becoming more flexible

• Need help building confidence in social situations or speaking up within a group

• Find it difficult to understand what happened when a friendship or social interaction goes wrong.

• Benefit from practising problem-solving, compromise and seeing things from another child’s point of view

• Simply need a safe, supportive place to build friendships, confidence and social-emotional skills

A diagnosis is not required. If you feel your child needs support in any of these areas, you’re welcome to get in touch. Our initial meeting gives us a chance to get to know your child, understand what you’re noticing at home or preschool/school, and decide together what support may be most helpful.

Why Group Sessions?

Many of the skills children need most - friendship, turn-taking, negotiation, coping with someone else’s idea of fun - only really develop between peers, not in a one-to-one room. Research into group-based approaches for autistic children points to real gains in social confidence and connection, though it’s clear no single approach suits every child. That’s why Emerge groups are kept small, carefully matched, led by experienced clinicians, and built around each child’s own goals.

What makes Emerge different?

• Small, carefully matched groups

• Child-led and neuroaffirming approach

• Interest-based learning

• Experienced clinicians

• Weekly parent feedback/collaborative parent partnership

• Warm, welcoming environment

Our Approach

At Emerge, our approach is evidence-informed, child-led, neuroaffirming and strengths-based. We recognise that every child is different, with their own interests, communication style, strengths and support needs. Our sessions are shaped around the children in each group, meaning no two groups, or sessions, look exactly the same. Rather than placing children into groups based on age alone, we carefully consider each child's interests, communication style, developmental stage, personality and support needs. This allows children to feel comfortable from the very beginning while encouraging genuine friendships to develop

Through play, shared activities and children’s own interests, we create natural opportunities to develop the skills that are meaningful for each child. For some, this may begin with becoming comfortable alongside other children, joining in, sharing space and taking turns. For others, it may involve navigating friendships, managing emotions, coping when things don’t go as expected or understanding more complex social situations.

We work with parents to understand what their child may be finding difficult in everyday life and, where appropriate, naturally incorporate these areas into sessions. Our aim is to help children build confidence, connection and skills that can extend beyond Emerge into school, home, friendships and everyday life.

Above all, we want Emerge to be a place where children feel understood, accepted and comfortable being themselves.

Keeping Parents Involved

We believe parents are an essential part of every child's journey. Following each session, you'll receive weekly feedback, including photos from the session (where appropriate) to look through and discuss with your child at home, along with a personalised voice note highlighting what your child enjoyed, how they engaged with peers, and any meaningful moments or progress from the session. This helps you stay connected to your child's experience while giving you practical ideas to continue supporting them between sessions.