Bristow Center

The Bristow Center, located in Lake Hopatcong, NJ, provides social skills training for all children 3 - 18. We work with general education and neurodivergent students to help them develop their abilities of observation, interpretation, and perspective-taking. We work closely with professional partners in the medical, mental health, and educational communities. We provide them with supplemental strategies to help the young people they work with thrive in the classroom and community, boost their self-esteem and confidence, and improve their mental and physical health. Our founder, Bari Bristow, has over three decades’ experience in public and private schools, and as a school psychologist, she helped hundreds of young people find their way in the world. She works closely with families and students to provide real-world training and practice to develop social skills. The Bristow Center’s program is for any child 3-18 who stumbles over communicating, connecting, or relating to others regardless of reason: anxiety, learning disabilities, ADHD, or low self-confidence. We build skill sets within each child’s internal awareness of self and the external awareness of others. We then practice social skill integration – the actual application and practice of these skill sets. We offer in-person small group mentoring for each of our members. Each group – of up to 5 people led by an experienced mentor – is composed of children of similar ages and social development status. All mentoring takes place at our new facility in Lake Hopatcong, NJ. Groups begin at the foundational level, and move on to stages which build better observational skills, problem solving techniques, and ultimately independent self-monitoring of their actions and reactions – as well as effective communication. Our professional partners are important participants in the Bristow Center’s program. We welcome partners to provide the best support we can for the young people they work with.