Participants will learn how ACT can be applied to help people learn to live well, richly, and meaningfully, without first having to defeat anxiety and other sources of emotional and psychological pain. The workshop will be filled with didactic teachings, live and video demonstrations, and practical experiential exercises conducted individually, in dyads, and in small groups. The exercises will highlight the integration of mindfulness and acceptance strategies (along with kindness and compassion exercises) to disarm anxious suffering and also focus on strategies to promote greater clarity of values and action in the service of living well.
Learning Objectives
Participants will learn how to:
- conceptualize anxiety and related clinical concerns in an ACT framework;
- identify and weaken excessive struggle and emotional avoidance while promoting more defused and mindful actions in the service of valued living;
- develop and apply experiential exercises, metaphors, and mindfulness to foster compassion, kindness, and greater psychological flexibility;
- integrate experiential exercises seamlessly into their clinical work
help anxious clients balance acceptance and change by disarming their anxieties with mindful acceptance and kindness while keeping frame and conduct exposure-based strategies in an ACT-consistent fashion (i.e. in a context of mindful acceptance and valued living);
- apply ACT flexibly and appropriately while also gaining insight into the ACT therapeutic stance and how not to do ACT.
The Presenter
Georg H. Eifert, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the department of psychology at Chapman University in Orange County, California. He has authored over 100 publications on how we can get caught up in struggles with anxiety and other emotions and how learning mindful acceptance and compassion can help us. He regularly gives workshops around the world teaching people how to end unnecessary suffering and lead a more fulfilling life using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)––a mindfulness-based approach to increasing psychological health and wellness that balances acceptance and change.
Dr. Eifert was ranked as one of the top thirty Researchers in Behavior Analysis and Therapy, is a clinical fellow of the Behavior Therapy and Research Society, and serves on several editorial boards of leading clinical psychology journals. He also is a licensed clinical psychologist. He is coauthor of the two best-selling and highly praised treatment guides Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety DisordersThe Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety (for the general public). The workshop draws heavily on these two books which will also be available for purchase at a substantial discount at the workshop venue. Dr. Eifert is also coauthor of ACT on Life, Not on Anger and The Anorexia Workbook.
Instructional Level:
All levels (introductory, intermediate, advanced)
This workshop has been approved for 11.75 Continuing Education Credits. If you require CEU credit, please add $10 to your registration payment. All attendees will receive a certificate of completion.
Who Should Attend:
Psychologists, social workers, nurses, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals, including graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. The workshop may also be of interest to therapists interested in expanding their clinical repertoires when they find other treatment strategies are not working as intended. Familiarity with ACT is not required as long as participants are willing to get inside the ACT approach, if only for the duration of the workshop. This workshop is not designed to provide personal treatment. Please do not register for the workshop in order to seek treatment.
Workshop Fees:
Professionals — 250 USD
Graduate Students — 200 USD
Note: If you require CEU credit, please add $10 to your registration payment.
You can register by sending a check (made out to Georg Eifert) for the registration fee along with your mailing address, email address, and discipline (e.g., PhD, LCSW, MFT etc.) to:
San White, Dept. of Psychology
Chapman University
1 University Drive, Orange, CA 92866
You will receive an email confirmation of your registration. We are able to take credit cards, but only via PayPal. Please contact San White (sawhite@chapman.edu) if you want to use PayPal. A full refund will be made for cancellations received up to 3 weeks before the workshop date. Cancellations after that date will incur a 20% processing fee.
Your Workshop Fees Include:
- Handouts and assessments
- Tea & coffee and lunch on Saturday, February 20, 2010
- 25% discount on any of Dr. Eifert’s books published by New Harbinger Publications purchased at the workshop venue.
Workshop Location:
The workshop will be held in a comfortable new conference room at New Harbinger Publications, 5674 Shattuck Ave., Oakland, CA 94694.
Workshop Schedule:
Friday, February 19, 2010, 6:00pm–9:00pm
Introduction to ACT Model and Core Intervention Targets
Challenging the Struggle and Control Agenda and Letting Go
Saturday, February 20, 2010
9:00am–12:15pm Values Clarification – Acceptance, Mindfulness & Defusion
1:45pm–5:00pm Value-Guided Action & Exposure-Based Strategies
Sunday, February 21, 2010
9:00am–12:15pm Nurturing Compassion, Kindness, Flexibility & Committed Action
Lodging Info:
The following hotels have been suggested as the two closest business-grade accommodations. We have no connection with these hotels and cannot guarantee the quality.
Woodfin Suites Hotel
http://www.woodfinhotelemeryville.com/
5800 Shellmound Street, Emeryville, CA
ph: (510) 601-5880
Courtyard by Marriott
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/oakmv-courtyard-oakland-emeryville/
5555 Shellmound Street, Emeryville, CA
ph: (800) 321-2211
If you have any questions regarding the workshop or registration, please send an email to geifert@chapman.edu.