Connected & Confident
Middle school is hard. The social landscape shifts constantly, and for some kids, walking into a room full of peers can feel overwhelming…even when they desperately want to connect.
Connected & Confident is a 5-day therapeutic group designed to give middle schoolers real tools for exactly that.
In a small, supportive setting, your child will practice starting conversations, build confidence in social situations, and develop the kind of self-awareness that helps them navigate friendships…and awkward moments…with a little more ease. They'll leave with skills they can actually use, not just talk about.
This isn't a lecture. It's hands-on, engaging, and designed to feel safe so kids who struggle socially can practice in a space where there's no pressure to be perfect.
The purpose of the group is to provide a supportive therapeutic space where clients can practice social skills, build confidence, learn conversation tools, strengthen self-awareness, and leave with skills they can continue using outside of group.
Group Goals:
Build confidence in social situations
Practice starting and maintaining conversations
Strengthen self-esteem and self-awareness
Practice active listening, teamwork, and respectful communication
Learn coping skills for nervousness, awkward moments, or fear of rejection
Meet Your Group Facilitator
Nicole Nottke, LSW
Your child won't just be working with a therapist — they'll be working with someone who has spent her career in the rooms where middle schoolers actually live.
Nicole is a Licensed Social Worker and full-time school social worker who specializes in supporting children, teens, and young adults through the moments that feel too big to handle alone. She brings warmth, creativity, and a deeply nonjudgmental presence to every session, using art, music, play, and evidence-based tools to meet young people exactly where they are.
Nicole's work is rooted in one core belief: every young person has strength inside them. Her job (and her gift!) is helping them find it.
She's not here to lecture your child. She's here to walk alongside them.
"Belonging is a basic human need. When young people feel seen and connected, everything else becomes more possible."
~ Nicole Nottke, LSW
Check out the group details below:
Dates/Times: August 3–7, 12:00–1:30 PM
Location: In-Person at our office in NORMAL - 405 N Kays Dr Ste C Normal IL 61761
Cost: $300 for the full 5-day group or $60 per day
Included: Snacks, materials, and a printed workbook
Daily Breakdown:
Day 1: This Is Me: Clients will focus on feelings, self-awareness, strengths, and group connection through activities such as an All About Me page and Strengths Shield
Day 2: Conversation Skills: Clients will practice starting, continuing, and ending conversations using conversation starters, Ask + Add practice, conversation maps, and role-play.
Day 3: Social Skills Through Games: Clients will use games and interactive activities to practice teamwork, listening, turn-taking, frustration tolerance, and reading social cues.
Day 4: Confidence + Self-Talk: Clients will focus on identifying negative self-talk, creating helpful self-statements, building confidence cards, and practicing calming strategies.
Day 5: Reflection + Takeaway Skills: Clients will review skills learned throughout the week and identify skills to continue practicing after the group ends.
This group is designed to be engaging, structured, and supportive while giving middle school clients practical tools for confidence, communication, and connection.
Middle schoolers don't learn social skills by being told about them.
They learn by doing.
Connected & Confident is built around that reality.
Every day is structured, engaging, and hands-on…because the goal isn't for your child to “know” what confidence looks like.
It's for them to feel it, practice it, and leave with it.
Through games, role-play, group activities, and guided reflection, your child will practice the exact skills that feel hardest in real life…starting conversations, recovering from awkward moments, speaking up, and showing up as themselves…in a safe space where there's no pressure to be perfect.
By the time they walk out on Day 5, those skills aren't theory.
They're lived experience.
Before Connected & Confident, your child might:
Go quiet in group situations, even when they want to speak up
Replay awkward moments long after they're over
Struggle to start or keep a conversation going
Feel like everyone else knows something they don't
After five days, they leave with:
Real tools for starting and navigating conversations
A stronger sense of who they are and what they bring to a room
Strategies for handling nerves, rejection, and the moments that don't go perfectly
The experience of having connected…actually connected…with peers in a supported space
A printed workbook full of skills they can keep using long after group ends
This isn't a program about fixing your child. It's about giving the foundation that every middle schooler deserves to have.
The Foundation They Need
Middle school can be scary. Your child is already in a transition phase from kid to young adult. Their minds and bodies are changing and Connected & Confident is meant to give them that sense of self that carries them through this scary period and beyond.
It’s a great way to start building skills that will absolutely last a lifetime.
But more than that?
This program will make one of the hardest things they have to do just a little bit easier, a little more fun, and a lot safer.
To give your child the tools they need to feel Connected & Confident, please click the button below to email our Client Care Coordinator to get more information or to reserve your child’s spot in the group.