Clients receiving Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) are taught interpersonal effectiveness skills to help them communicate better and build healthy relationships. These skills focus on being kind, honest, and assertive. With practice, clients can handle their relationships more confidently.
The DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills handout introduces skills based on DBT principles that help clients get along better with others. It teaches how to ask for something assertively, say no nicely, and deal with problems in a calm way. Clients learn specific skills, such as DEAR MAN, GIVE, FAST, THINK, and RAVEN.
By practicing these skills, kids and teens feel more confident and in control during social situations. Once they learn how to balance their own needs with the needs of others, they can try simple activities like writing about how they handled a problem with a friend.
Caring adults can help by modeling how to stay calm and speak kindly, even during tough conversations. They can also encourage simple habits, like pausing to think before speaking or repeating back what someone said, to help them become better listeners and more thoughtful communicators.
Our What Is Interpersonal Effectiveness handout provides an additional overview of this topic.
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Want more resources like this? Check out our full catalog of DBT worksheets and handout.
References:
- Day, C. M., Smith, A., Short, E. J., & Bater, L. (2021). Dialectical behavior therapy skills groups for youth in schools: A systematic review. Adolescent Research Review, 7(2), 267-284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-021-00155-4
- Egolf, A., & Gold, A. L. (2023). Interpersonal effectiveness in action: The therapeutic milieu for DBT assertiveness skills practice. The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 39(3), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbl.30693
- Lenz, A. S., Del Conte, G., Hollenbaugh, K. M., & Callendar, K. (2016). Emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness as mechanisms of change for treatment outcomes within a DBT program for adolescents. Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation, 7(2), 73-85. https://doi.org/10.1177/2150137816642439
- Singh, S. (2013). The role of dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) in enhancing the distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness amongst adolescents. Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(4), 551.
