Day 1: Introduction to ACT -- Bar Harbor, Maine with Joel Guarna
Introduction to Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Presented by Joel Guarna
August 14, 2009
8 am - 4:30 pm
College of the Atlantic
McCormick Hall
105 Eden Street
Bar Harbor, ME 04609
Learn more or register for this event
About ACT
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a contemporary form of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that has shown much promise in helping clients with a wide range of emotional and behavioral difficulties. ACT introduces a comprehensive model of therapy including a creative set of metaphors and experiential exercises to help clients (a) move away from unworkable change strategies, (b) make healthy contact with thoughts, feelings, and other private reactions they have feared and avoided, (c) re-connect with their deepest values to set a direction for change and to motivate change, and (d) experience their struggles differently and in a manner that permits them to move forward with their lives now.
This Workshop
This one-day training will introduce participants to this exciting form of therapy. The instructor will describe the ACT model and explain how it compares to and differs from traditional CBT. The instructor will give an overview of the rapidly-growing body of research on ACT and its processes. Attendees will learn to conceptualize client problems from an ACT perspective and how to apply basic ACT interventions. Attendees will be invited to participate in a variety of exercises to help experience ACT processes and to better understand their clients’ perspectives and struggles. Lastly, attendees will leave this training with many resources should they wish to further develop their proficiency with ACT.
Learning Objectives
1. Attendees will be able to describe the ACT model of human suffering including the roles of experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion.
2. Attendees will be able to list and give examples of the six ACT core processes
3. Attendees will be able to list two ways in which ACT and traditional CBT are different.
4. Attendees will be able to discuss a familiar clinical case using the ACT model and its terms.
5. Attendees will be able to describe a values intervention they could use with one of their clinical cases.
6. Attendees will be able to demonstrate the use of a specific cognitive defusion technique and a specific acceptance technique.
