About The Decider

Michelle Ayres and Carol Vivyan are Guernsey-based Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapists. In 2010, they developed The Decider out of their own clinical practice. Both mental health nurses and Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapists, they were tasked in 2010 with introducing a CBT/DBT skills group in response to service need in Guernsey. The Decider developed as a result of that initial pilot group.

We asked those very experienced service users for their feedback: what they wanted from the skills group, what helped and what didn't, what they wanted and what they didn't want. The client and clinician feedback from that and subsequent groups have been overwhelmingly positive.

Eventually, we put each memorable and effective skill down on paper and produced The Decider: A Skills Manual.

The Decider Skills are based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for which there is a wealth of evidence to support their efficacy at treating mental health problems.

In order to make the skills more memorable and therefore more effective, we have simplified each skill, added a visual prompt, and teach the skill in a fun and engaging style, including demonstrations and music.

The emphasis is on helping clients to deal with impulsive behaviours such as self harm, avoidance, withdrawal and isolation, aggression, substance misuse and binge eating. These behaviours are often associated with anxiety, depression, anger, addictions, eating disorders and personality disorders and can have devastating consequences.

The Decider summarises thirty-two cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) informed skills under four core skill sets; the acceptance skills of distress tolerance and mindfulness and the change skills of emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. The manual provides a client handout and a detailed explanation for the clinician for each skill. The Decider has the potential to be adapted for a range of service settings; adult mental health, child and adolescent, learning disability, substance misuse, prisons.

In February 2018, The Decider was incorporated as The Decider Limited in the Guernsey Registry, company number 64654

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NEWS ARTICLES

Mental Health Practice 2017

Guernsey Press 2016 (ICCI Award)

BABCP Conference 2016

Guernsey Press 2016 (Ladies College)