Winning Strategies for Mental Wellness
The Decider Skills turn complex psychological theory into simple, memorable strategies that help children, young people and adults understand emotions, manage distress and make more skilful choices.
Grounded in CBT and DBT, the skills provide a shared language for emotional regulation across education, health, social care and community settings.
Evidence‑Based Skills for Real‑Life Emotional Regulation
Developed by experienced clinicians, The Decider Skills distil proven CBT and DBT techniques into accessible tools that support wellbeing, resilience and positive behaviour change.
The skills help people to:
- Understand and name emotions
- Manage distress and reduce impulsive behaviour
- Improve communication and relationships
- Build confidence and resilience
Welcome to The Decider (video)
Decider skills used by:
For Clinicians
32 Therapeutic Skills
Intervention and treatment strategies for use with clients with mental health problems.
Learn MoreFor Proactive Mental Health
12 Life Skills
Proactive mental health strategies for children, young people and adults to promote mental health.
Learn MoreFor Primary Schools
Good2Go Programme
A complete, ready‑to‑use mental health and wellbeing package for primary schools, teaching the 12 Life Skills through short, engaging videos, creative activities and whole‑school resources.
Learn moreFor Individuals
Self-Help Courses
Everyday strategies for improving your own mental wellbeing.
Learn MoreThe Decider Skills framework:
Distress Tolerance
Skills to tolerate and accept emotional emergencies.
Mindfulness
Skills to experience the present moment more fully, enabling us to choose our focus of attention.
Emotion Regulation
Skills to recognise and name, monitor and manage our emotions, and make wise choices.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Skills to improve communication and interpersonal relationships.
Proactive, preventative and treatment
A positive approach to mental health and wellbeing for children, young people and adults.
Increased coping and confidence
Living a more skilful, less impulsive life.
About Us
We are Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapists who have worked in mental health for over 35 years. We developed The Decider Skills in response to an identified service need.
Client feedback was included to develop this structured, evidence-based skills programme. The aim was to reduce impulsivity whilst increasing resilience and confidence. The Decider Skills are delivered in an original, fun and creative style, making them easy to learn and easy to teach.
“I have had great feedback from my service users about the positive impact that The Decider Skills training have and continue to have on their life”
SO, Social Worker, States of Guernsey Mental Health
“There is a great appetite for this training. We have incorporated The Decider Skills into our whole service with excellent feedback. I think more and more people are realising that we need to up-skill people to manage their own health and lives, otherwise the situation for health care is hopeless.”
Dr Tim Agnew, Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, NHS Highland
“As a learning tool it’s one that prisoners find credible and are comfortable using. The Decider Skills are a highly effective and essential set of core skills that could be of value to many prisoners.”
Dr David Briggs, Forensic Clinical Psychologist
“The Decider Skills are a very useful addition to the tools that we have. We use them with individuals as a stand-alone technique, and also alongside other interventions. The skills can be delivered by a range of clinicians.”
Dr James Murray, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, CAMHS
“The Decider Skills is our universal language throughout the school. It has been life changing for some of our families. For me, they're fundamental; I can only advocate how important they’ve been in our school and for me personally."
Tracey Moore, Head Teacher, Amherst Primary School
“This course has genuinely changed my life and I use the principles every single day. 2 decades of mental health issues and this course was the turning point for me. I was given the tools to identify why I acted and felt the way I did. I now plan to continually improve my skills and use them with my two young children. Thank you so much for developing this amazing and genuinely life saving set of skills."
Kim, Service User, NHS Lothian
