ABSTRACT
In Lesson 1, we begin talking about skills. We focus on skills that are very important for mental health, the ability to handle or cope with strong emotions. We attend to a large array of behaviors that human beings engage in to help themselves cope and function, with the goal of understanding that all these behaviors are skills. We attend especially to skills that are developmentally simpler; that is, skills that people normally learn and use as children. Our intent is to help the people we serve recognize and name the skills they already have. This is a first step to engaging them in the work of strengthening these skills and learning new skills.
