Better Friendships
True or False: A good friend should always agree with you.
❌ False.
What does GIVE stand for and what is it used for?
G – Gentle
I – Interested
V – Validate
E – Easy Manner
Build and maintaining healthy relationships
What is a boundary?
A limit that helps protect your safety, comfort, privacy, or respect.
Question:
Complete this DBT statement:
"I'm angry ______ I can still be respectful."
AND
Question:
Why can texting sometimes cause more misunderstandings than talking face-to-face?
You can't see facial expressions or body language, and you can't always hear the person's tone.
Name one thing that makes someone a good friend.
Being respectful, honest, supportive, trustworthy, listening, including others, etc.
What does FAST stand for?
What does FAST help you protect?
F- Fair
A - Avoid over apologizing
S- Stick to your values
T - Truthful
Your self-respect.
Someone asks before borrowing your hoodie.
Is that a healthy or unhealthy boundary?
Healthy.
True or False:
If two people disagree, one person has to be completely right and the other has to be completely wrong.
❌ False.
Question:
Someone texts:
"Okay."
You think they're angry.
What should you remember?
Answer:
Social cues are clues, not facts.
There could be many explanations.
Your friend is talking about something important. You keep looking at your phone and interrupting them.
What friendship skill are you missing?
Active Listening/Validation
Your friend says:
"I'm having a really bad day."
You respond:
"That sounds really hard."
Which GIVE skill are you using?
V – Validate.
Someone keeps asking you for your snack after you've already said no.
What should they do?
Respect your no and stop asking.
What does Middle Path mean?
Being able to see that more than one thing can be true.
Someone doesn't invite you to hang out.
What is one healthy way to respond?
Don't immediately assume they hate you. Ask, check the facts, make another plan, or accept the answer respectfully.
Your friend makes a mistake. You could either make fun of them or help them move forward.
Which choice builds a healthier friendship and why?
Help them move forward because good friends are supportive and respectful.
Your friend wants you to skip group, but you don't want to.
You say:
"No thanks. I'm trying to finish my treatment."
Which FAST skill are you using?
S – Stick to your values.
Someone says:
"If you're really my friend, you'll do this."
What is happening?
Peer pressure/manipulation.
A healthy friend doesn't make you prove your friendship by doing something you don't want to do.
You and your friend both want the same basketball.
You say:
"I was using it first!"
Your friend says:
"But I want it!"
Give two Middle Path solutions.
Examples
You're angry and type a really mean message to someone.
Before sending it, what three-step strategy could you use?
Answer:
PAUSE → THINK → SEND
Pause before reacting.
Think about your goal and whether the message matches your values.
Then decide what to send.
You really want someone to like you, so you start pretending to like everything they like and agree with everything they say.
Is this a healthy way to build a friendship? Explain.
No. Healthy friendships allow you to be yourself and have different opinions. You don't have to change who you are to be liked.
Someone tells you a joke you don't think is funny. You don't insult them, but you also don't pretend it's hilarious just because you want them to like you.
Which FAST skills could you be using?
F – Fair and T – Truthful.
You can be honest without being rude.
Your friend wants you to lie to staff for them.
They say:
"Come on, bro. If you don't do it, you're not my friend."
Give a response that uses FAST and explain which FAST skills you're using.
Example:
"No. I'm not going to lie for you. That's not something I want to do."
S – Stick to your values
T – Truthful
Potentially F – Fair
Your friend says something that hurts your feelings.
You think:
"He hurt my feelings, so I'm done with him forever."
Give a Middle Path way to think about the situation.
Answer:
"He hurt my feelings AND he might still be someone I care about."
OR
"I'm angry AND I can talk to him respectfully."
The goal is to avoid all-or-nothing thinking.
You send your friend:
"Want to hang out?"
They respond:
"Nah, not today."
You immediately think:
"Nobody likes me. I have no friends."
Using skills from at least two different weeks, explain how you could handle the situation differently.
Answer:
Possible answer:
Example:
"Okay, maybe another time."
Then make another plan.