SKILLS
Name a grounding skill that involves identifying 5 things you see, 4 you feel, 3 you hear, 2 you smell, and 1 you taste.
What is 5-4-3-2-1 grounding?
Paying attention to the present moment without judging it.
What is mindfulness?
This three-digit number can be called or texted in the U.S. for mental-health or suicide crisis support.
What is 988?
Finish the phrase: “I feel ___ when ___ because ___.”
What is an “I feel” statement?
You notice you are getting overwhelmed in group. Name one healthy thing you could do.
Examples: take paced breaths, ask for a break, ground yourself, use a fidget, tell staff.
This DBT skill tells you to Stop, Take a step back, Observe, and Proceed mindfully.
What is STOP?
A limit you set to protect your needs, safety, time, or well-being.
What is a boundary?
Name one trusted person you could reach out to when you are struggling emotionally.
What is a parent, therapist, counselor, teacher, trusted adult, friend, etc.?
A therapist might say this phrase when asking you to look for evidence instead of automatically believing a thought.
What is “Check the facts”?
Your friend sends you an angry text and you immediately want to send one back. What skill could help before responding?
What is STOP, pause, Wise Mind, Check the Facts, etc.?
This distress-tolerance skill may include changing your Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, and Paired muscle relaxation.
What is TIPP?
Thoughts that inaccurately or negatively distort how we see a situation, such as catastrophizing or all-or-nothing thinking.
What are cognitive distortions?
If someone is in immediate danger or experiencing a life-threatening emergency, this number can be called.
What is 911?
This means recognizing that another person's feelings make sense from their perspective, even if you disagree with them.
What is validation?
You are extremely anxious about going somewhere, but you know avoiding it will make your anxiety stronger. What skill might help?
What is Opposite Action?
This emotion-regulation skill involves doing the opposite of what an unhelpful emotion is urging you to do.
What is Opposite Action?
The ability to get through a difficult emotional situation without making it worse.
What is distress tolerance?
This document identifies warning signs, coping strategies, supportive people, professional resources, and ways to make the environment safer.
What is a safety plan?
Instead of saying “I’m a failure,” changing it to “I’m having the thought that I’m a failure” is an example of this.
What is thought defusion?
You are having an urge to engage in an unsafe behavior. Name two things you could do before acting on the urge.
Examples: tell an adult, use TIPP, remove access, distract, urge surf, use safety plan, contact support.
This skill asks you to determine whether your emotional reaction matches the actual facts of the situation.
What is Check the Facts?
Accepting reality as it currently is, even when you dislike or disagree with it.
What is radical acceptance?
True or false: You have to be actively suicidal to contact 988.
What is false?
This term describes holding two seemingly opposite truths at once, such as “I am doing my best AND I need to make changes.”
What is dialectical thinking?
Someone sets a boundary that you don't like. What are two healthy ways you could respond?
Examples: respect it, regulate emotions, ask questions calmly, communicate feelings, take space, use acceptance.