Site member for: 3 years 4 weeks
Contact Information
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- ACT Background and Training
I have known, respected and closely followed the work of Steve Hayes ever since I discovered his writing while I was a graduate student at SUNY in Binghamton in the mid-80's. Although I was a devotee (and to a degree still am) of implosive therapy with trauma survivors (in the spirit of Stampfl & Levis), Hayes' elaborating constructs of experiential avoidance, stimulus equivalence, relational frame theory and radical acceptance ideas have profoundly influenced my clinical work. I have consistently been pleased and grateful how my own development-- integrating spiritual and existential beliefs into a stance toward the behavior change process--has resonated so strongly with the development of ACT ideas. I am grateful to have enjoyed the embodiment of Steve Hayes' teachings in one of his students Robyn Walser. I remember Robyn sharing Steve's emerging ideas at the most informal symposium (we were hatching ideas for a book) at Steve Hayes' Lake Tahoe home early in the 90's. I should also give due credit to the hilarity and persuasive theoretical and empirical writing of another of Steve's students, Kelly Wilson. I guess one measure of the powerful influence of the ACT model is in the wonderful people who have gone on to teach, train and further promulgate all it has to offer.
- ACT Experience
Technically following ACT for 6 years but probably using much in parallel to its development for many years
- Specialties
Acute Stress Disorder, PTSD including rather severe trauma survivors (complex PTSD), Addictions
- Types of Clients
I use many aspects of ACT with most clients I see in my private practice.
- Licensure/Certification
Licensed Psychologist (California State); Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress; Diplomate, American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress (AAETS)
- Additional Information
Clients respond quickly to practitioners who have a deep and personal appreciation for the role of these ideas in a person's life. I happen to have that and love to share it. Emotional suffering is no longer about a struggle, a problem to be fixed, a disease to be cured of. The idea of accepting the suffering while nurturing powerful thoughts (such as I can choose how I will experience this moment) is truly liberating. Just a single session of ACT can be so releasing to even the darkest despair of traumatic grieving. I can say first-hand that has happened with so many of my clients that I look forward to every single newcomer to the process.