Friday Night Out at The Tree House: Where Fun, Friendship, and Therapy Come Together

For many children, tweens and teens, making friends and feeling comfortable in a group does not always come easily. Traditional social situations can feel overwhelming, unpredictable, or stressful—especially for children who experience anxiety, attention, peer struggles, emotional-regulation challenges, or difficulty understanding social cues. Friday Night Out at The Tree House Center for Growth and Learning was created to give children a place where they feel like they belong, have fun, and build meaningful connections while receiving support psychologists and therapists who specialize in working with children, tweens and teens.

What Happens at Friday Night Out?

Friday Night Out is much more than a typical one hour social group, we keep children growing socially and emotionally for three hours during the school year on Friday evenings. Participants enjoy an evening filled with engaging activities such as art therapy, music therapy, games, shared meals, conversations, and opportunities to work together. Each activity is thoughtfully planned to encourage personal and group goals while still allowing children to participate in ways that feel comfortable, fun and natural to them.

Our many therapists that make the group possible remain actively involved throughout the whole evening, helping participants initiate conversations, join activities, navigate disagreements, express their needs, and recognize how their words and actions may affect others. We always have extra therapists available for individual assistance as needed.  Instead of simply talking about social skills sitting at a table in an office, children are able to practice those skills in real time—with guidance available when they need it.  We limit the groups to no more than 6 participants and we often have a therapist to child ratio 1:1.

Most importantly, Friday Night Out gives children the opportunity to experience something every child deserves and needs to develop a healthy self esteem: a sense of belonging.

Why Does the Program Work?

Children often learn best when they are engaged, comfortable, and having fun. In a traditional therapy session, a child may be able to describe what they should do during a difficult social interaction. However, using that skill with peers in the moment can be much more challenging.

Friday Night Out provides a safe and supportive environment where children can practice skills as real situations naturally occur. They may need to ask to join a game, take turns choosing an activity, cope when something does not go as planned, compromise with another participant, or communicate when they feel left out. These everyday moments become valuable therapeutic opportunities.

Participants are also surrounded by peers who may understand many of the same challenges. Realizing that they are not alone can reduce feelings of isolation and help children become more comfortable being themselves.

Building Confidence Through Connection

One of the most encouraging findings from our own research on the Friday Night Out program was the effect it had on participants’ self-esteem. Our program research showed a clinically significant rise in self-reported self-esteem after three sessions. (Friday Night Out is run in scheduled sessions during the Fall, Winter/Spring and the Summer). Growth in self-esteem was seen after every session and was maintained until the next session.

Although every child’s experience is different, this finding reflects what our therapists frequently observe: children begin to feel more confident when they experience success with peers, discover that others enjoy spending time with them, and recognize that they have something meaningful to contribute to a group.

Confidence grows through experience—trying something new, recovering from an uncomfortable moment, making someone laugh, helping another child, completing a project, or realizing, “I handled that.” Friday Night Out gives children repeated opportunities to have those experiences.

The Role of Art Therapy

Art therapy is an important part of many Friday Night Out activities because art gives children a concrete and engaging way to communicate, explore ideas, and work alongside others. Guided by a licensed art therapist, the art-making process can help children explore emotions, build coping skills, increase frustration tolerance, make choices, and develop confidence.

Art activities also create natural opportunities for social interaction. Children may share supplies, compliment one another’s work, ask for help, collaborate on a project, or learn that there is more than one “right” way to approach the same task.

Research involving children and adolescents on the autism spectrum, those with ADHD and/or anxiety suggests that art-based interventions supports social communication, emotional responsiveness, self-expression, motor skills, and participation.  

The hands-on and active nature of art can provide structure while still allowing for creativity, movement, sensory engagement, and choice. Art projects can also encourage children to slow down, plan, persist through challenges, and experience the satisfaction of completing something that is uniquely their own.  The creative process can help children feel more comfortable approaching difficult feelings while building confidence, flexibility, and a greater sense of control.

The Role of Music Therapy

Music therapy brings energy, connection, and creativity to Friday Night Out. Through rhythm, singing, movement, instruments, songwriting, and musical games, children can practice listening, taking turns, following group cues, expressing emotions, and working together.

Music can be especially valuable because it creates a shared experience without requiring constant conversation. A child who feels uncomfortable beginning a discussion may find it easier to connect with another participant while playing instruments, moving to a beat, or helping create a song.

Research has found that music therapy supports social interaction, communication, emotional development, and behavioral functioning for children.  Some studies also suggest that music-based interventions benefit attention, emotional regulation, executive functioning, and quality of life among children.

The Role of Social Skills Groups

Social skills groups give children the opportunity to practice building friendships, communicating with others, and navigating everyday social situations in a supportive environment. At Friday Night Out, these skills are not taught through worksheets or lectures—they are developed naturally while children play games, share meals, create together, and participate in group activities. With guidance from our therapists, participants learn how to start and maintain conversations, read social cues, take turns, compromise, manage frustration, and work through disagreements. Practicing these skills with peers helps children gain confidence and learn how to use them more independently at school, at home, and in the community.

Therapy That Feels Like a Night Out With Friends

Children do not come to Friday Night Out simply to be taught how to socialize. They come to spend time with other children, enjoy activities, laugh, create, and be part of a community.

The therapeutic growth happens within those experiences.

A game becomes an opportunity to practice flexibility. An art project becomes a chance to tolerate frustration. A song becomes a way to express an emotion. Dinner becomes an opportunity to participate in conversation. A disagreement becomes a chance to problem-solve and repair a relationship.

Friday Night Out works because it allows children to develop skills in the same kind of setting where they will eventually need to use them. At The Tree House, our goal is not simply to help children learn social and emotional skills—it is to help them experience friendship, confidence, acceptance, and the joy of knowing they belong.