Purpose

Divided into two sections — Mental Health and Athletic Performance — the DSS Manual presents a systematic model for care and training. Individualized plans map each personal athletic voyage, charted through a patchwork of skills, with the manual serving as a shared atlas for clients, providers, and programs.

With expansive chapters, the DSS manual applies across multiple roles. It serves athletes as a structured mental/behavioral skills workbook; guides clinicians in psycho-education and treatment; equips coaches with psychological strategies and tactics; loads the consulting skills toolbox; and orients sports medicine professionals to applied psychology.

Designed for busy people, the DSS Manual is concise with a modular structure that allows for flexible customization. Each chapter covers a key clinical or performance topic, and each page presents a specific skill accompanied by an informational worksheet.

Contents

Mental Health

(a) Theoretical Orientation — Dialectics, Mindful Focus

(b) Commitment — Ambivalence, Self-Monitor

(c) Treatment — Diathesis–Stress, Radical Acceptance, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Awareness, Alternative Thinking, Alternative Action, Cope Ahead

(d) Specialty Treatment — Harm Reduction, Exposure Therapy

Athletic Performance

(e) Basic Training — Motivation, Confidence, Physiological Intensity, Performance Anxiety, Routines, Imagery

(f) Interpersonal & Team — Communication, Conflict, Team Dynamics, Diversity

(g) Well-being — Athletic Wellness, Injury, Sleep, Travel, Eating, Retirement