Connection is a skill — and it can be taught.

The SIEL Project exists to give young people the practical social skills that shape friendships, confidence, and mental health for life.

Why this work matters

We are living through a loneliness epidemic. Rates of social anxiety, isolation, and depression among young people have reached historic highs — and most schools aren't equipped to address the root cause: a lot of young people simply were never taught how to connect with each other.

Here's the hopeful part. Social skills are not a fixed personality trait you're either born with or not. They are learned behaviors — and anything learned can be taught. The young people who seem "naturally social" mostly just got more practice earlier. The SIEL Project exists to give that practice to the teens and young adults who haven't had it yet.

A Proven Method

This isn't theory. It's been taught in real classrooms.

Our founder has taught social skills to high-school students in real classrooms, presented to students and educators, and spent years refining an approach that works with young people — not just adults who can pay for private coaching.

The SIEL Project takes that same proven method and makes it accessible to the young people who need it most and could never otherwise reach it.

John Bush presenting to a classroom of students

John speaking to a room of students.

Meet the Founder

John Bush

John knows what it's like to struggle socially — he lived it. Then he spent over a decade, and more than 10,000 hours of one-on-one coaching, figuring out how to change it. As a professional social skills coach, he has helped hundreds of people transform their confidence, their relationships, and their lives.

But private coaching isn't accessible to most young people. The SIEL Project exists to change that — bringing the same methods that work for John's clients to teenagers and young adults who need them most. John holds a degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and co-hosts The Social Connection Chronicles podcast.

Our Story

Where we've been, and where we're going

The SIEL Project was founded in 2022. In the years since, we've been out in the community — presenting to educators and setting up at all-ages school and neighborhood events, putting practical social-emotional tools directly into the hands of young people and the families who care about them. SIEL stands for Social Intelligence and Emotional Literacy, and that outreach is how we've built relationships and learned what people actually need.

Today our hands-on programs focus on middle school through young adulthood — the ages where our founder's coaching and teaching experience runs deepest. As we grow our team and our funding, we plan to expand that programming back toward younger children, led by someone with the right expertise. Our mission has always been the same: help young people build the skills to connect.

The SIEL Project at a community outreach event.

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