Complex emotional need pathway self-help

The complex emotional need pathway offers self-help resources to support people in understanding and managing their emotions, relationships, and mental wellbeing.

Understanding personality disorders

Personality disorders affect the way people think, feel, and relate to others. If you want to learn more, these websites provide useful information:

• learn about different types of personality disorders with NHS personality disorder, their symptoms, and treatment options
• Mind helps you to understand the different types of personality disorders and how they can affect daily life
• find out more with Rethink about diagnosis, treatments, and support available for people living with personality disorders

Self-help resources

If you are looking for ways to support your mental health, these self-help resources may be useful.

General self-help

• Self-help leaflets that cover topics such as sleep, panic, self-harm, stress, alcohol, and anxiety.
• Self-help toons provide animated videos explaining mental health topics in a simple and engaging way.
• Resources to help build confidence and improve self-worth.
• Learn how thoughts and emotions impact relationships and ways to manage them with a free course on thoughts, feelings and relationships.

Dialectical behaviour therapy resources

The complex emotional pathway uses dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) as an individual therapy to treat complex emotional needs or dysregulation. These tools can be used to help you in your therapy:

• worksheets and skills
• therapy tools
• self-help and therapy resources

Videos

These videos provide guidance on managing emotions and improving wellbeing:

• Problem-solving on YouTube: Learn a step-by-step approach to solving problems effectively.
• Mindfulness and radical acceptance on YouTube: Techniques to help stay present and accept difficult emotions.
• Urge surfing on YouTube: A strategy to manage cravings, impulses, or emotional urges without acting on them.
• 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 grounding exercise on YouTube: A technique to calm anxiety using your senses.
• Heartbeat exercise on YouTube: Simple exercises to help you connect with emotions and regulate stress (requires movement, seated or standing).
• Self-soothe on YouTube: Learn ways to comfort and calm yourself in distressing situations.
• Wise mind on YouTube: Understand how to balance logic and emotions for better decision-making.
• Opposite action on YouTube: A dialectic behaviour therapy skill that teaches how to change emotions by acting opposite to how you feel.

YouTube channels

These channels offer guidance on mental health, self-help strategies, and dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) skills:

• Mind matters minutes channel on YouTube: Short videos covering mental health topics and self-help strategies.
• Dialectic behaviour therapy skills from experts channel on YouTube: Expert-led guidance on dialectic behaviour therapy skills for emotional regulation and distress tolerance.

Applications

You may find these applications useful for relaxation, mindfulness, mood management, and recovery support:

• Calm is a mindfulness app to encourage relaxation, alleviate tension and relieve stress
• WRAP, wellness recovery action plan is a simple and powerful process for creating the life and wellness you want
• Headspace is a meditation app designed to help you live more mindfully
• Bright Sky is an app providing support and information for anyone who may be in an abusive relationship or those concerned about someone they know
• Moodkit offers over 200 activities designed to boost your mood and help change negative thinking
• Happify uses games to boost your mood, the activities were developed with positive psychology techniques and CBT interventions
• Recovery Record is a tool for anyone recovering from an eating disorder, includes affirmations, coping tactics, goal settings and trackers for food, thoughts and feelings
• Sanvello is described as feel-better toolkit, including therapy, coaching, coping techniques, meditations, and goal and mood tracking, to help you feel better
• Worry Watch helps you manage anxiety and mood using guided anxiety journaling, coping techniques, mood check ins and positive reinforcements

Plan your journey

If you use public transport, the Traveline journey planner provides information about what services and times are available.

Page last reviewed: May 23, 2025
Next review due: May 23, 2026