What is the Decider Skills Group? 
The clinician who assessed your young person thought that they might benefit from attending the decider group. This group is based upon Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) informed skills. The decider group is for individuals of secondary school age, who are having difficulty managing their emotions. If a young person feels their emotions fluctuate or are overwhelming, despite useful coping strategies being used at home and school, then they may benefit from this group.  The group aims to teach your young person skills in:

  • Distress tolerance

  • Emotion regulation

  • Interpersonal effectiveness

  • Mindfulness

What does the group involve?  
Your young person will be part of a group with other young people with two to three facilitators. The programme consists of up to eight sessions for young people.

  • They will be encouraged to participate as much as they can.  We won’t ask them to share anything that they’re not comfortable sharing. We know it can be hard but we would encourage them to think of the group as a safe environment to challenge themselves. 
  • We recommend for your young person to keep to their routine as much as possible; for them to continue to do the things they enjoy and don’t let attending the group be used as an excuse to avoid things. 
  • Although they will only be in the group for up to two hours a week, they should practice the techniques and strategies as much as you can; practice makes perfect.  

What be expected after attending the group?  
Once the group has been completed, your young person will have a review with one of the group facilitators to discuss group feedback and what they’ve learnt. Following the review, a decision about the next steps of their care plan will be made. 

Where will the group be held? 
The group will be held face to face and virtually in some circumstances. 

Group Attendance: 
We would expect your young person to be able to attend most of the groups, however we appreciate people can be unwell and have circumstances that make it difficult to attend.