DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills: FAST Worksheet
Worksheet updated on October 13th, 2023
One common cause of stress for clients in therapy is understanding how to handle confrontation and interactions with others. Sometimes people struggle with being assertive, controlling their temper, or simply expressing how they are feeling or what they are thinking in a given situation. When clients struggle with such challenges, it helps to assist them in developing social skills like interpersonal effectiveness skills.
Interpersonal effectiveness is a skillset utilized by dialectical behavioral therapy. Interpersonal effectiveness aids in articulating needs, asserting opinions and points of view and building lines of communication between people.
One of the more popular tools utilized in therapeutic practices is called FAST. FAST teaches clients how to deal with confrontation by being assertive and working toward resolution, rather than accommodating others or feeling the need to be right.
About This Worksheet
This is the DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills Worksheet: FAST. This worksheet utilizes the acronym FAST to illustrate the tools needed to find a resolution without submitting to the will of others or becoming aggressive.
FAST uses the following skills: Fair, Apologies, Sticking to values, and Truthful. This worksheet teaches the client how to use these four useful tools when dealing with conflict or interpersonal issues.
By using this worksheet, the client can reflect on a situation and learn how to incorporate the four skills to work toward resolution with others. It is designed to be used by adults in therapy. It can be used in individual sessions and may be used in group and couples counseling at the therapist’s discretion.
Instructions
It is important to practice the exercise on this worksheet with the client as they learn how to work and utilize the process on their own. The worksheet follows the acronym, explaining each of the core skills taught in FAST.
The goal of this worksheet is to teach the client how to work through the process on their own when confronted with real-life situations that cause conflict.
This exercise can be challenging and requires practice, so be sure to carefully practice the process with your client and answer their questions.
Download DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills: FAST Worksheet