Chris Steer, B.S., MPH.

When we first looked into the social learning program, we had many questions about what our child would gain from a program such as this. Was the financial commitment one we could afford and what would our son take away from this if we made the sacrifices necessary to participate? I can say with total confidence now, this was worth any monetary price it could have cost. We were caught in a cycle of trying to understand inner feelings while also communicating to him necessary, ever-changing social standards he is expected to adhere to in a multitude of settings. The nuance rules of social engagement have sometimes stared back at us as an insurmountable peak. Steer began the journey with us, equipping us with relatable terms to use with our son, scenarios, conversations. And one week at a time, this daunting task became not just do-able, but enjoyable for us as a family! We have broken a lot of our cycles of “you can’t do that/say that” to discussing it together and witnessing the fruits of the discussions in social settings. This program gave us tools we will use from here forward and I cannot thank this team enough—Chris Steer was an answered prayer for us.

Our 19-year old worked with Steer to develop more connections and richer social life in college. He is an introvert and was socially isolated his Freshman year. Sophomore year was starting out the same way. I didn't know how to help him and found Frankenberger Associates with a Google Search. I offered him the opportunity and allowed him to evaluate if a program like this was of interest. After speaking with someone at Frankenberger, he agreed to commit himself to completing the 14-week program on top of his schoolwork, and was assigned to work with Steer. The initial session mentioned, helped him to process feelings of shame around not flourishing socially on his own. The session helped him to see it as an issue of needing to build more social skills versus being flawed as a human being. The program involved weekly 1-hour sessions. In sessions they discussed strategies, experiences from the previous week (both positive and negative), role played, and perhaps most importantly, explored the way in which he thought about acquaintances and interactions that occurred throughout his day. This caused him to see potential friends, and gave him skills to develop potential friendships, where he wasn't seeing them before. At the end of the weekly sessions he was given a challenge or goal and a week to look for opportunities to accomplish that goal. It made a remarkable change in his social life. Several weeks after completing the program, he was invited to join a fraternity by someone he met (and liked) his freshman year during orientation. He was already in one intramural sport and has joined a second one. Between sports and pledging a fraternity his social life has become busy and full. He would not have considered joining a fraternity if he hadn't worked with Steer. This isn't like "Animal House." The young men in this fraternity are like-minded in that they are serious about their schoolwork in addition to wanting to be able to unwind and have fun with friends. As a mom, the Frankenberger Associates was worth the investment.