Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches dozens of skills designed to help people reduce painful emotions, stop impulsive behaviors, and build meaningful lives. In my work as a DBT therapist, one of the most common struggles my clients faced was actually remembering to use all of the coping skills they'd been learning.

Luckily, DBT offers skills for that problem, too! Making a “distress tolerance kit” is one skill I most often recommend to my struggling clients.

A distress tolerance kit is a place where you keep the things you use for coping. The kit can be a physical space—like a bedroom drawer, a basket in your living room or closet, or a specific pocket in your backpack. Or, it can be a digital space—like a note on your phone, or a Google doc you can access from anywhere.

In this kit, you keep whatever coping reminders, materials, and tools you want to use during times when you’re stressed or having urges to act impulsively in ways that could hurt you.

Everyone’s kit is different because everyone has different needs and preferences. But, there are five things I most commonly recommend to people just starting out in DBT.

Cope Ahead is a DBT skill designed to help you prepare ahead of time for getting........

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