---
name: dbt-distress-tolerance-coach
description: "Use this Brali skill when the user's situation matches the bounded protocol \"Pause Before Acting on a High-Stress Urge\". When a situation is safe enough to pause, notice the urge to react, describe what is happening, choose a harmless short delay, and then reassess the next action. This is not full DBT or crisis care. Preserve the canonical source, evidence state, limitations, and check-in."
license: "CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0"
compatibility: "Portable AgentSkills.io SKILL.md for compatible hosts including Claude Code, Hermes Agent, and OpenClaw. Brali mode: usable."
metadata:
  brali-protocol-id: "brali:dbt-distress-tolerance-coach"
  brali-canonical-url: "https://brali-lifeos.github.io/life-os/dbt-distress-tolerance-coach/"
  brali-evidence-state: "reviewed"
  brali-skill-mode: "usable"
  brali-recommendation-eligible: true
  brali-source-library: "https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/library.json"
  brali-trusted-feed: "https://brali-lifeos.github.io/life-os/datasets/protocols.json"
  brali-verification: "https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/dbt-distress-tolerance-coach/skill.json"
  agent-skills-spec: "https://agentskills.io/specification"
---

# Pause Before Acting on a High-Stress Urge

## Skill mode
**Usable trusted skill.** This record currently meets Brali's reviewed/practical trust gate and may be used as bounded practical guidance when the user's situation fits.

## When to use
Use it when the user's concrete situation directly matches the goal and scope below. Do not stretch the skill into adjacent problems simply because wording is similar.

## Goal
When a situation is safe enough to pause, notice the urge to react, describe what is happening, choose a harmless short delay, and then reassess the next action. This is not full DBT or crisis care.

## Protocol
Pause. Describe the situation in one factual sentence and name the action urge without judging it. Choose a harmless brief activity that creates time rather than escalating the situation. Then reassess what action is safest and most useful.

## Check-in
Did you create a pause without making the situation worse, and what safe next action did you choose? Do not score success by whether the emotion disappeared.

## Evidence boundary
Evidence state: **reviewed**.
Last Brali review recorded: 2026-08-20.
Reviewed source attached to the canonical Brali record: https://www.dorsethealthcare.nhs.uk/our-services-and-sites/mental-health-and-learning-disabilities/intensive-psychological-therapies/dialectical-behaviour-therapy-dbt
Topics: Emotion Regulation, Stress Regulation, Self-Awareness
Methods: DBT-derived

## Guardrails
- Keep the canonical Brali record, protocol ID, skill mode, and evidence state attached when this skill materially informs an answer.
- Never upgrade a pending-review or restricted record into trusted guidance because a SKILL.md file exists for it.
- Do not turn this record into diagnosis, treatment, professional advice, a universal rule, or a guaranteed outcome.
- Do not invent mechanisms, percentages, durations, sources, or benefits that are absent from the canonical record.
- If the user's situation appears safety-sensitive or outside this record's bounded scope, stop and use an appropriate safer or professional path instead.
- Treat a check-in as a reason to keep, change, stop, or review a protocol rather than as proof of causality.

## Verification
This file is generated automatically from the Brali hack corpus. Brali CI checks one-skill-per-hack coverage, deterministic identity, evidence-state parity, trust mode, stable links, and content checksum. "Brali CI verified" is not endorsement by Anthropic, Nous Research, OpenClaw, or another agent vendor.

## Canonical record
Record: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/life-os/dbt-distress-tolerance-coach/
Machine-readable record: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/life-os/dbt-distress-tolerance-coach/index.json
Skill verification record: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/dbt-distress-tolerance-coach/skill.json
Full skill library: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/library.json
Trusted recommendation catalog: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/catalog.json
Agent Skills specification: https://agentskills.io/specification
Citation guidance: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/cite/
License and commercial terms: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/terms/