Interpersonal Effectiveness
module
Interpersonal Effectiveness focuses on improving communication skills, setting boundaries, and maintaining healthy relationships. By learning these skills, individuals can enhance their relationships, build self-confidence, and effectively navigate challenging social situations.
In the Interpersonal Effectiveness module, individuals are taught valuable skills such as DEAR MAN, FAST, and GIVE. DEAR MAN is an acronym that helps individuals effectively communicate their needs and set boundaries. FAST is a tool used to help individuals maintain self-respect in communication by being Fair, not Apologizing excessively, Sticking to values, and being Truthful. GIVE focuses on maintaining healthy relationships by being Gentle, Interested, Validating, and using an Easy manner when interacting with others. These skills are crucial for individuals to assert their needs, build healthy relationships, and navigate conflicts effectively.
By practicing the skills taught in the Interpersonal Effectiveness module of DBT, individuals can improve their relationships and overall quality of life. Whether it's learning to say no to unreasonable requests, expressing emotions effectively, or setting boundaries with others, these skills empower individuals to navigate social situations with confidence and assertiveness. Through patience, practice, and dedication to mastering these skills, individuals can see significant improvements in their relationships and emotional well-being.
Curriculum
Our Facilitators
Our facilitators are experienced mental health clinicians and have received comprehensive training in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), bringing a wealth of practical knowledge and a deep dedication to empowering individuals with the skills needed to navigate emotional crises. Our clinicians passion for DBT and its potential to transform lives is evident in their dynamic teaching style, which emphasises the synthesis of theoretical knowledge with real-world applications.
Our commitment to this evidence-based modality stems from our own professional and personal journeys witnessing the profound impact that mastering distress tolerance skills can have on clients' resilience and overall mental well-being.
What is Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)?
- An evidence-based approach in which clinicians work collaboratively with emotionally sensitive clients to develop strategies that reduce their unwanted behaviours.
- An approach that helps replace unwanted behaviours with skilful behaviours.
- A skills-based approach that helps navigate relationships.
- An approach that focuses on creating a life worth living.
What Does Dialectical Mean?
- Dialectical means that two opposite ideas can be true at the same time, and when considered together, can create new truths and ways of viewing the situation.
- In short, there is always more than one way to think about a situation, someone's position, or thought processes.
- Dialectics is the opposite to black and white thinking.
What is Behaviour Therapy?
A combination of our genetics and environment can generally explain our behaviours. An example of the genetic component is that most people completing a DBT program are predisposed to a higher sensitivity to their emotions. The behavioural aspect of DBT focuses on helping clients identify and modify unhelpful behaviours by understanding the triggers, consequences, and underlying emotional functions of those behaviours. Through behavioural chain analysis, skills training, and reinforcement strategies, individuals learn to replace impulsive or self-destructive actions with more effective, value-aligned behaviours. This component is grounded in behaviourist principles and aims to increase behavioural flexibility, promote skill generalisation across contexts, and support long-term behaviour change.
Program Schedule
- The program includes mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness modules.
- The program is 30 weeks in total, running over three 10-week semesters.