This is an e-learning program by Julian McNally hosted by RMIT University. The program comprises six sessions of between 15 and 50 minutes duration. Each session includes a conversational mini-lecture and several practical exercises. The website course can be accessed by clicking here.

The ACT Carolinas affiliate hosts monthly "e-groups," virtual peer groups where counselors, therapists and coaches gather to discuss ACT texts, share intervention ideas and collaborate on case conceptualization from an ACT perspective. The groups are open to members outside the Carolinas state lines. Please contact Anna Leisa via email at anna@moodtreatmentcenter.com if you are interested in joining a group, starting a group or otherwise would like information about how e-groups work! 

With Matthew Boone, LCSW

Earn 8 CE Credit Hours from you home or office, at your own pace!

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a mindfulness- and acceptance-based model of behavior change. ACT assumes that pain—both physical and emotional—is a normal part of living. What gets us stuck is how we respond to that pain. Do we embrace it as a welcome part of our experience or do we struggle with it, expending needless effort to make it go away when doing so only makes it persist? Instead of trying to make pain go away, ACT helps both clients and practitioners increase their psychological flexibility, or the ability to mindfully encounter thoughts and feelings without needless struggle (i.e., acceptance) and act effectively in the service of what matters (i.e. commitment). This online course provides an intellectual and experiential introduction to ACT for mental health professionals using ACT.

This course is perfect for those who need a refresher on the main principles of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) or want to start from the ground up.

Schedule
Unit 1: The Ubiquity of Human Suffering and the Limits of Control
Unit 2: Psychological Flexibility
Unit 3: Contact with the Present Moment and Acceptance
Unit 4: Defusion and Values
Unit 5: Self as Context and Committed Action
Unit 6: The Therapeutic Relationship
Unit 7: Assessing Psychological Flexibility
Unit 8: ACT in Action: Bringing It All Together
Unit 9: ACT as a Brief Intervention

REGISTER NOW!

Praxis is excited to present: ACT Immersion

Learn ACT from Dr. Steven C. Hayes over 10 Modules, including 16 hours of videos, written materials, real-plays, clinical tapes, and audio exercises.

Dr. Hayes originated ACT in 1981 and views himself as the co-developer of what has become a communitarian effort to create a new scientific approach to behavioral science and its role in the life sciences generally. Dr Hayes offered this as a description of why you might want to train with him:

There are many voices in ACT and CBS. I encourage serious students of ACT and CBS more generally to take advantage of that, and most especially to join ACBS. But there is a benefit that may come from training with me so as to form a gut level understanding of the arc of this work. Literally everyone in the ACT universe was trained or heavily influenced by someone, who was trained or heavily influenced by someone (etc), who was trained by one of my nearly 60 Ph.D. students, who was trained by me. Either that, or more direct versions of that same weird sentence. Mind you there are people in the ACT universe now who know far more than me in many areas of the work. There are better ACT therapists, better ACT trainers, better ACT scientists, and better ACT writers. That is true of RFT, Functional Contextualism, and CBS as well. And of course all of that began long ago in strands of work that came together. But there may be a value in studying with the guy who lit the match on this new phase of a tradition, even if he is hardly responsible for the bonfire that is now burning 40 years later. The two course sequence at Praxis is my personal best effort to walk you through the arc of that work in the ACT area specifically, and give you the tools you may need to understand what ACT is, where it came from, where it is going, and how to do it. Almost always recommend ACT Immersion as the place to start. It's the online version of how I trained my own students. It's not a "beginners" course. Even very experienced ACT people tell me is one of the best courses in ACT they've taken because now they more fully understand what those many voices in the ACT community are really talking about. I call it a "foundational course." It was filmed over 4 days with a staff of about 15 people and 30 people in the audience. It was shot in Hollywood with several union videographers and sound technicians using multiple retinal cameras, camera slides, and things you only see in Hollywood. You've likely never seen client videos at this same level of quality just technologially speaking. I am proud of this course and I stand behind it.

I am thrilled to announce that my new on-demand course titled "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Tools & Techniques for Building Psychological Flexibility" launched at Elevate Continuing Education! This course was designed to be a practical introduction (or refresher) to the psychological flexibility model with several tools that clinicians can use right away in their clinical work. Currently, the course is approved for 3.0 ASWB & 3.0 NBCC CE Hours.

To find out more about the course and to register, please visit: https://www.elevatece.com/on-demand-courses/act-tools-techniques

Andy Santanello
March 29, 2024

ACT for Binge Eating and Anxiety: A Clinical Case

Dr. Diana Hill presents the case of CT, a 28-year-old man who seeks help with procrastination and study skills. However, he meets the criteria for binge eating disorder. Dr. Hill uses the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) framework with self-compassion skills to conceptualize and formulate the treatment plan for this client. She focuses on breaking the cycle of avoidance and increasing psychological flexibility in response to anxiety and stress.

<> ACT for BED: Being Present and Mindful Eating

Dr. Diana Hill applies the mindful eating technique with a client with binge eating disorder. She introduces the process of being present and other skills.

1. The first ACT process that the clinician used was being present.
2. Practice mindful eating with the client and set the stage for appetite awareness.
3. ACT mindfulness focuses on being present where it matters most to the client, not all of the time but in meaningful activities aligned with their values.

<> ACT for Binge Eating: Values and Pain Exercises

Learn how to work with values in session. Dr. Diana Hill uses the exercise of the notecard to demonstrate that values and pain are two sides of the same coin.

1. Living in line with our values makes us more vulnerable and doesn’t protect us from pain.
2. Choice points are moments throughout the day when a person decides to turn toward or away from their values.
3. Values are not domains. They become actions that fall under such domains as health, family, and education.

<> ACT for Binge Eating: Committed Action and Appetite Awareness

Learn techniques like the monitoring form, behavioral tracking, and the 90% rule for encouraging values-based habits in clients using self-compassion.

1. Committed action refers to the daily habits people have, which are connected to their values and repeated over time to build meaningful lives.
2. Appetite awareness training involves self-monitoring hunger and fullness cues to guide eating instead of responding to emotions or cravings.
3. It’s essential to work with self-compassion in committed action so that clients can respond with love and kindness to binge episodes instead of self-punishments.

Ready to enhance your clinical skills in mental health? Join Therapy Pro: Plus now and earn 1.25 CE credit for the activity ACT for Binge Eating and Anxiety: A Clinical Case while gaining invaluable insights and practical tools. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your career and make even more positive impacts on the mental health world!

ACTing Against Burnout: The Case of Jack

In this clinical case, Jessica Borushok, Ph.D., provides a comprehensive overview of burnout from a practical perspective. She talks about the features and symptoms of burnout through a case study conceptualized from an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) perspective. She also explores treatment strategies to address work-related and lifestyle factors contributing to the burnout in this case. Specific ACT components such as experiential avoidance, creative hopelessness, values, defusion, and committed action are addressed, to provide you with effective tools to help your clients alleviate burnout.

<> ACT for Burnout: Unfolding the True Values

Uncovering our true values can be challenging. Learn to ask the right questions to differentiate between personally-significant values and those from outside of us.

1. We can draw values from family, culture, faith, and society, which may at times conflict with what is personally important to us.
2. The 80th birthday exercise provides information about values, as well as creative hopelessness, by exploring what the client would want to be said of them on that day, and what that tells them about how they live their life now.
3. If a client has difficulty with visualization exercises, you can suggest such alternatives as listening to an imaginary voicemail or reading an imaginary card received on their 80th birthday.

<> ACT for Burnout: Present Moment Exercises

Learn present moment exercises that can help clients to face struggles in work and in life generally, examining their emotions and behaviors.

1. Understanding patterns of behavior through present moment awareness exercises is a useful way to identify the experiences that lead to burnout.
2. Present moment awareness exercises, such as counting while breathing, brushing teeth with the non-dominant hand, and exercises around identifying moments, can slow down the wandering mind and promote presence.
3. Recording such moments and understanding what thoughts, feelings, memories, and sensations come with them provides targets for defusion.

<> ACTing Against Burnout: Final Steps

Learn how to help clients engage with their values, and use awareness and defusion exercises and practices to break the cycle of burnout.

1. Using ACT helps clients to create space from their burnout and bring attention to meaningful behaviors, rather than focusing rigidly on overwhelming thoughts, emotions, and sensations.
2. Making progress requires small, incremental steps of engagement and being present in moment-to-moment experience.
3. Utilizing metaphors, such as names, characters, and animals, helps to make abstract concepts like burnout or the mind more tangible yet usefully distanced for both client and therapist.

Ready to enhance your clinical skills in mental health? Join Therapy Pro: Plus now and earn 1.25 CE credit for the activity ACTing Against Burnout: The Case of Jack while gaining invaluable insights and practical tools. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your career and make even more positive impacts on the mental health world!

ACT for Depression: The Story of Hannah

In this clinical case, Dr. Miranda Morris explores the story of Hannah, a 20-year-old female client struggling with severe symptoms of anxiety and depression related to procrastination and problematic interpersonal experiences. Dr. Morris conducts the diagnostic, clinical, and treatment formulation for this case using an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) framework.

<> ACT Treatment Interventions for Depression: Use of Language

Watch how to use language since the intake session to promote behavioral change in therapy, clarify values, and work on emotions. 

1. Interactions in session with clients are opportunities to create desirable behavior and hold meaningful interpersonal conversations.
2. Use therapeutic conversations to reflect back and help to clarify the client’s values.
3. It’s essential to reinforce small moves toward values-based goals, as it’s hard for clients with depression to make any behavioral change.

<> ACT Treatment Interventions for Depression: Experiential Work

Learn how to approach experiential work in session, which includes breathing exercises, noticing thoughts and feelings, exploring self-stories, and defusion.

1. Experiential work is a core component of ACT for depression.
2. The therapist aims to create practical learning opportunities instead of theoretical explanations.
3. Activities might include breathing exercises, noticing thoughts and feelings, defusion work, and exploring self-stories.

<> How to Set Homework in ACT for Depression

Learn how to use ACT-based homework, such as mindful awareness and journaling, to treat depression outside of the therapy session.

1. Mindful awareness, journaling, and seeking support and connection are practical activities for reinforcing treatment outside of session.
2. Encouraging clients to take action and make small changes in their daily lives is crucial for treatment progress.
3. Writing exercises, such as journaling, help clients to connect with their values and gain a different perspective on their thoughts and emotions.

Ready to enhance your clinical skills in mental health? Join Therapy Pro: Plus now and earn 1 CE credit for the activity ACT for Depression: The Story of Hannah while gaining invaluable insights and practical tools. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your career and make even more positive impacts on the mental health world!

ACT for Anxiety Disorders: Focus on Generalized Anxiety Disorder

In this clinical case, Dr. Michelle Woidneck provides a process-focused ACT perspective for understanding and treating generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). She employs the hexaflex model in addition to useful metaphors and tools, while developing an ACT-guided diagnosis and treatment structure.

<> ACT for GAD: The Million Dollars and Loaded Die Exercises

Learn how to introduce the concept of control as the problem experientially in ACT for generalized anxiety disorder through effective exercises.

1. It is essential to employ control as the problem exercises in therapy, to help clients experience the concepts
2. The million dollars exercise exemplifies how, the more we try to control internal experiences, the stronger they become.
3. The loaded die metaphor emphasizes the importance of stepping away from all attempts at controlling internal experiences, and being open to a new approach.

<> ACT for GAD: How to Target Acceptance Experientially in Session

Dr. Michelle Woidneck explains acceptance exercises for anxiety. Noticing emotions and saying yes or no to them are powerful techniques to apply in session.

1. When doing acceptance exercises, it is important to connect them with the client’s values so they have more power and impact.
2. Turning the attention to an emotion or sensation that happens in the moment is a great acceptance exercise, as it cultivates willingness to feel anxiety, and is a form of exposure.
3. The exercise of saying yes or no to a sensation builds awareness of moments when the client is unwilling to feel anxiety, and helps them become more mindful of inner experiences.

<> ACT for GAD: Introducing Defusion Exercises

Cognitive fusion is an obstacle to willingness or acceptance. Watch now to learn practical exercises for applying defusion to anxiety in session.

1. What gets in the way of willingness is fusion with a thought, feeling, or sensation.
2. “Give your mind a name” and “I’m having the thought that” are practical exercises for introducing the concept of defusion experientially in session.
3. It is important to be mindful of the timing of defusion exercises, as they can be experienced as invalidating if not introduced carefully.

Ready to enhance your clinical skills in mental health? Join Therapy Pro: Plus now and earn 1.25 CE credits for the activity ACT for Anxiet Disorders: Focus on Generalized Anxiety Disorder while gaining invaluable insights and practical tools. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your career and make even more positive impacts on the mental health world!

ACT for Trauma: Witnessing Death

In this clinical case, Dr. Matthew Tull guides you through a comprehensive exploration of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Gain insights into assessing PTSD from an ACT perspective and discover the fusion of ACT principles with established trauma techniques, such as acceptance-based exposure. Learn strategies for navigating the emotional impacts of trauma and explore values-driven actions, embracing the effectiveness of mindfulness, defusion, and acceptance. Foster resilience and purpose in clients by merging proven trauma methods with ACT’s transformative power.

<> ACT-Based Exposure and Cognitive Defusion for PTSD (link to video)

ACT exposure includes cognitive defusion and emotional willingness techniques. Learn practical strategies for applying acceptance-based exposure for PTSD.

1. During exposure exercises, connecting Mark with his emotions nonjudgmentally was prioritized to prevent secondary emotional responses, especially shame.
2. Prior to prolonged exposure exercises, he was trained in cognitive defusion and emotional willingness, using mindfulness and acceptance-based emotion regulation strategies.
3. Skills employed during therapy included redefining judgments as thoughts, practicing mindfulness, and using repetition to defuse the emotional impact of judgmental thoughts.

<> From Avoidance to Action: Promoting Willingness in ACT for PTSD (link to video)

Shifting from avoidance to willingness in ACT for PTSD: learn how metaphors, willingness, and emotional management foster recovery effectively.

1. The paradoxical consequences of avoidance behavior show that, while providing short-term relief, it ultimately intensifies emotional distress and aggravates symptoms.
2. The metaphor of a tug-of-war with unwanted internal experiences illustrates the futility of emotional avoidance and the value of focusing energy on effective living.
3. Emotions serve as valuable communication channels between the environment and the brain, and recognizing this can help in managing emotional intensity and developing self-efficacy.

<> ACT for PTSD: Identifying Values (link to video)

Explore ACT-based values work in PTSD therapy through exercises, committed action, and emotions. Values play an essential role in overcoming avoidance.

1. Values clarification exercises played a crucial role in helping the client to identify what truly mattered to him, influencing his choices and serving as a guide for his behavior.
2. Emotional responses such as shame and guilt were used as tools to further clarify the client’s values, revealing what was important to him and guiding the selection of valued actions.
3. In vivo exposure exercises based on valued actions were used to simultaneously expose the client to his fears and increase his engagement in meaningful activities.

Ready to enhance your clinical skills in mental health? Join Therapy Pro: Plus now and earn 1 CE credit for the activity ACT for Trauma: Witnessing Death while gaining invaluable insights and practical tools. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your career and make even more positive impacts on the mental health world!

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Panic Disorder: The Case of Sarah

Dr. Jessica Borushok presents the clinical case of Sarah, a 25-year-old woman with panic disorder and agoraphobia. Adopting an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) conceptualization, the therapist guided Sarah to develop self-confidence and flexible action guided by values. The treatment plan included psychoeducation, acceptance, and cognitive defusion techniques, as well as interoceptive and in vivo exposure exercises.

<> Values and Defusion Exercises in ACT for Panic Disorder

Exposure work in panic disorder is guided by client values, while defusion promotes psychological distance to develop curiosity and understanding.

1. Values are the North Star guiding a client’s motivation to follow the therapeutic process. Sarah focused on four key values: independence, growth, connection, and adventure.
2. Defusion allows the creation of space between symptoms and the client, to obtain perspective and develop an observational psychological stance without symptoms. Its goal is to promote curiosity about experiences rather than fear. Curiosity is a precursor to interoceptive exposure work.
3. A useful narrative structure for presenting defusion is the fish metaphor. The client learns to identify their hooks, as the first stage in a functional panic attack pattern analysis.

<> Defusion and Mindfulness Exercises for Panic Disorder: Playfulness, Giving an Avatar to the Mind, and Grounding

ACT defusion and mindfulness exercises help clients to be curious and playful when discussing panic symptoms, enabling adoption of different perspectives.

1. One defusion technique is to use playfulness when talking about symptoms; for example, using cartoon characters to represent panic sensations. This helps clients to take a pause and consider their experience from a more distant perspective without labeling it.
2. Another defusion exercise is to give the mind an avatar, by naming it and/or representing it with an animal. It allows the client to express themselves in a way which isn’t overwhelming, and creates a common narrative for talking about difficult things playfully.
3. Mindfulness can be taught through grounding exercises such as contacting the five senses. As the extremities aren’t usually primary sites of panic symptoms, we can refocus client attention onto them and those milder sensations, to increase presence and a sense of control. 

<> ACT for Panic Disorder: Interoceptive Exposure and Acceptance

Interoceptive exposure is carried out through physical exercises, to modify the client’s relationship with anxiety and to promote more value-based behaviors.

1. Acceptance or willingness is essential for engaging in interoceptive exposure work. This can be framed as an experiment for clients to explore values-based behaviors and create better outcomes in their lives.
2. Interoceptive exposure exercises should start with the least distressing symptoms and work up to the most distressing. The goal is for the client to understand that anxiety and discomfort are manageable.
3. Exercises should always be debriefed and clients encouraged to practice on their own.

Ready to enhance your clinical skills in mental health? Join Therapy Pro: Plus now and earn 1 CE credit for the activity Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Panic Disorder: The Case of Sarah while gaining invaluable insights and practical tools. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your career and make even more positive impacts on the mental health world!

ACT for PTSD: The Case of Deborah, an Army Veteran

In this clinical case, Dr. Sonja Batten talks about a client presenting with heightened anxiety symptoms who met the criteria for PTSD and panic disorder. She applies the ACT framework to conceptualize the case and develop a treatment structure based on the hexaflex model. This model includes behavioral tracking, acceptance metaphors, values clarification, and differing levels of exposure.

<> ACT for PTSD: Grounding Skills for Seeking Safety

Learn practical exercises for the three categories of grounding skills – physical, mental, and soothing – and understand the role of purposeful distraction. Here are some highlights we've extracted from the video:

1. Grounding skills are basic coping techniques for trauma survivors and are divided into physical, mental, and soothing grounding.
2. Avoidance is problematic when the individual does it in autopilot mode rather than being mindful.
3. The immediate goal of grounding skills is that the client can get through an upsetting moment without worsening the situation.

<> ACT Work on Trauma Memories: Exposure Hierarchy

Explore the differences between traditional and ACT-based exposure, and learn how to apply the exposure hierarchy to a client with PTSD. Here are some highlights we've extracted from the video:

1. Use an exposure hierarchy to prioritize a client’s traumatic events by level of distress from lowest to highest.
2. Deborah chose to use written exposure due to her journalism background, rather than oral or via recordings.
3. Traditional exposure is based on habituation and attenuation of distress, whereas ACT-based exposure focuses on awareness and mindfulness.

<> ACT for PTSD: Nightmare Rehearsal Treatment

Dr. Sonja Batten applies nightmare rehearsal treatment to Deborah, a client with PTSD. This exposure helps create a healthy distance from the traumatic event. Here are some highlights we've extracted from the video:

1. Nightmare rehearsal treatment is a type of exposure that helps reduce the severity and frequency of nightmares.
2. It involves writing and rewriting a nightmare’s content in detail and changing one thing that can make the client aware that it’s not real.
3. This technique can be adapted to fit the client’s needs; for example, when nightmares are about actual traumatic events and the outcome cannot be changed without invalidating the client.

Ready to enhance your clinical skills in mental health? Join Therapy Pro: Plus now and earn 1.25 CE credits for the activity ACT for PTSD: The Case of Deborah, an Army Veteran while gaining invaluable insights and practical tools. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your career and make even more positive impacts on the mental health world!

I am super excited to announce that my ACT for ASD workshop is finally available as online training. I know many of you have asked for in-person workshops, but in light of cost and environmental impact of overseas travel (I live in Australia), I have invested my energy into making it available for people in all countries, via online training.

If you are from a disdvantaged background, or experiencing financial hardship, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do my best to find a a way to assist you.

Online training:

5 modules, including in-session demonstrations. Access any time. $179.

https://www.bigmarker.com/series/ACT-for-the-Autism-Spectrum/series_details

Be well everybody,
Jodie Wassner
March 7, 2020

This is the second in a two course sequences that begins with ACT Immersion. It teaches ACT as a form of process-based therapy. In ten modules it provides 25 hours of training, with multiple "real plays" in which Dr. Hayes does actual work volunteers wanting help. You can see a "sneak peak" of the course here. 

Dr. Hayes originated ACT in 1981 and views himself as the co-developer of what has become a communitarian effort to create a new scientific approach to behavioral science and its role in the life sciences generally. Dr Hayes offered this as a description of why you might want to train with him:

There are many voices in ACT and CBS. I encourage serious students of ACT and CBS more generally to take advantage of that, and most especially to join ACBS. But there is a benefit that may come from training with me so as to form a gut level understanding of the arc of this work. Literally everyone in the ACT universe was trained or heavily influenced by someone, who was trained or heavily influenced by someone (etc), who was trained by one of my nearly 60 Ph.D. students, who was trained by me. Either that, or more direct versions of that same weird sentence. Mind you there are people in the ACT universe now who know far more than me in many areas of the work. There are better ACT therapists, better ACT trainers, better ACT scientists, and better ACT writers. That is true of RFT, Functional Contextualism, and CBS as well. And of course all of that began long ago in strands of work that came together. But there may be a value in studying with the guy who lit the match on this new phase of a tradition, even if he is hardly responsible for the bonfire that is now burning 40 years later. This two course sequence is my personal best effort to walk you through the arc of that work, and give you the tools you may need to understand what ACT is, where it came from, where it is going, and how to do it. Almost always ACT Immersion is the place to start, in my opinion. It's the online version of how I trained my own students. It's not a "beginners" course. Even very experienced ACT people tell me is one of the best courses in ACT they've taken because now they more fully understand what those many voices in the ACT community are really talking about. I call it a "foundational course." But then if you are ready to be stretched, and you've applied ACT to many clients, and you've done a BootCamp or come to ACBS WorldCons and you are ready to look at the future of ACT as form of process-based therapy, you will be uplifted by ACT in Practice. These two courses took everything I've got in order to produce them. I spent several months and many hundreds of hours on each of them and they've since been tweaked in a careful roll out with smaller cohorts of student over nearly a year. Now, finally, both of them are available continuously. I stand behind them.

It's a no-risk proposition to try either one of them out because you can get your money back if you change your mind within the first two weeks. If you are from the developing world or just cannot afford what they cost (about a Starbuck's a day in the extended payment option) there is a scholarship program -- you can email team@act.courses to ask about it.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Occupational Therapy Practitioners

Publisher: American Occupational Therapy Association Continuing Education

Published: 2020
 

https://myaota.aota.org/shop_aota/product/OL5166

Presenters:

Brandon Gaudiano, Ph.D, Brown University, Butler Hospital, Providence, RI

Anathele Zamor, B.Sc., M.Sc, OT Reg. (Ont.), Occupational Therapist, Canada

Barbara Ostrove, MA, OTR/L, FAOTA, Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy, Bethesda, MD

James Hill, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist, USA

Earn: .2 AOTA CEUs (2.5 NBCOT PDUs/2 Contact hours)

Course description:

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an approach for OT practitioners to use today. With the COVID-19 virus upon us, the anxiety levels of those we serve as well as in ourselves, could potentially impact our emotional state and ability to engage in needed meaningful occupations.

ACT is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy that uses mindfulness and acceptance strategies to help people make valued changes in their personal lives. ACT has been tested in hundreds of randomized controlled trials and is shown to be effective for a wide range of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, and psychosis. The ACT model is built upon the understanding that avoidance of problems and disturbing thoughts is the problem--not the solution.

This introductory course provides the basics of understanding how to deal with unwelcome situations and also provides resources and examples of activities that have been proven effective.

Learning Objectives:

Following this course, the learner will be able to:

1. Identify the basic tenets of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

2. Describe the relationship of ACT to the occupational therapy practice framework and theoretical models of practice.

3. Discuss the principles of ACT as they apply to occupational therapy case studies.

4. Identify the applicability of ACT for short-term interventions.

5. Recognize the flexibility of an ACT approach to be individualized to a client.

6. Recognize the broad applicability of ACT across different diagnoses and functional abilities.

This is a 12 week course on ACT. You can get it online.  A bit pricey but you get CEUs. You can access the site to purchase the course by clicking here.

There are also digital seminars available. 

With Louise Hayes, PhD

Earn 16 CE Credit Hours from your home or office, at your own pace!

This online, self-paced course will introduce you to DNA-v — the youth model of acceptance and commitment therapy. The course is designed to give therapists, teachers, counsellors and coaches practical skills to helping young people to thrive and have greater psychological flexibility and strength. DNA-v's 8 modules of video, written material, and quizzes are accessed through your web browser - there's no attendance to take, and the course remembers your progress so you can pick up where you left off whenever it's convenient.

Schedule
Unit 1: Noticer as the Foundation for All Humans
Unit 2: Values Connect Us to Meaning and Vitality
Unit 3: The Advisor Helps Us Find Our Way
Unit 4: The Discoverer Helps Us Learn and Grow
Unit 5: DNA-v in Actions
Unit 6: Developing a Flexible Self-View
Unit 7: Relationships: Friendship and Love are in our DNA
Unit 8: Building Strong Social Networks with DNA-v

REGISTER NOW!

Madrid Institute of Contextual Psychology (MICPSY) ofrece el título de Especialista en Terapias Contextuales (ACT, FAP y técnicas Mindfulness), dirigido a profesionales de Latinoamérica. Este innovador formato ofrece la máxima flexibilidad a alumnos latinoamericanos que no puedan realizar ofertas formativas presenciales de larga duración. El curso será dirigido por la Catedrática de Psicología Dr Carmen Luciano y contará con profesores expertos en Terapias Contextuales.

Uno de los objetivos principales de MICPSY es abrir el conocimiento de las Terapias Contextuales al habla hispana, ya que gran parte de las publicaciones, libros de referencia y workshops de entrenamiento sólo están disponibles en inglés. Debido a la creciente demanda de formación en Terapias Contextuales por parte de profesionales latinoamericanos, ofrecemos el nuevo curso de Especialista en Terapias Contextuales. Este curso proporciona una inmersión en las Terapias Contextuales o Terapias de Tercera Generación, y cuenta con diferentes modalidades para que cada alumno elija la que mejor se adapte a su demanda formativa:

(I) Modalidad básica que, a través de diferentes formatos online (tutorías, vídeos, etc),dotará de una visión amplia del modelo contextual, empezando por su raíz-sus fundamentos– y siguiendo por sus aplicaciones.

(II) Modalidad básica y de habilidades (presencial), que añade a la modalidad básica online un entrenamiento intensivo presencial para el moldeamiento de habilidades clínicas, que permitirá poner en práctica los conocimientos adquiridos en el módulo online y desarrollar las habilidades clínicas que necesitan un entrenamiento directo. Dicho entrenamiento es en Madrid o en otros lugares de Latinoamérica, siendo en tres días intensivos y consecutivos. El entrenamiento en Madrid se realizará en la sede de MICPSY en junio de 2017, con el objetivo de que los asistentes también puedan asistir a la ACBS World Conference en Sevilla (fecha exacta por determinar). 

(III) Modalidad básica y de habilidades con supervisión online, que, además de lo expuesto en las modalidades anteriores, incluye un módulo de supervisión online.

La inscripción está abierta durante todo el año.

Plazas limitadas.

MÁS INFORMACIÓN en http://micpsy.com/producto/especialista-terapias-contextuales-latinoamerica/

The Online ACT Peer Supervision Group Affiliate offers peer support meetings twice per month. 

https://contextualscience.org/online_act_peer_supervision_group_affiliate_of_acb

(This webpage was updated on August 19, 2019)

We regularly offer courses and workshops on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, both online and in person. 

We also offer scholarships for those with restricted means or those who serve populations from marginalized and underserved communities. 

Check out our website to see our most recent offerings: https://www.portlandpsychotherapytraining.com/

There is a 12 week course on ACT with CEUs. You can access the site to purchase the course by clicking here.

There are also digital seminars available. 

In our clinical case "Act for Depression: The Story of Hannah", Dr. Miranda Morris explores the story of Hannah, a 20-year-old female client struggling with severe symptoms of anxiety and depression related to procrastination and problematic interpersonal experiences. Dr. Morris conducts the diagnostic, clinical, and treatment formulation for this case using an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) framework.

*Learn more about our course "Act for Depression" and earn 1 CE credit by clicking HERE

THE FOLLOWING 3 TOOLS WERE CREATED BY OUR EDITORS AND ARE PART OF OUR COURSE "Act for Depression"; CLICKING ON EACH TITLE, YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THEM FOR FREE:

<> ACT Treatment Interventions for Depression: Use of Language

Watch how to use language since the intake session to promote behavioral change in therapy, clarify values, and work on emotions. 

Here are the most important highlights of the text:

1. Interactions in session with clients are opportunities to create desirable behavior and hold meaningful interpersonal conversations.
2. Use therapeutic conversations to reflect back and help to clarify the client’s values.
3. It’s essential to reinforce small moves toward values-based goals, as it’s hard for clients with depression to make any behavioral change.

*Here you can watch the video and access the full content: ACT Treatment Interventions for Depression: Use of Language

<> ACT Treatment Interventions for Depression: Experiential Work

Learn how to approach experiential work in session, which includes breathing exercises, noticing thoughts and feelings, exploring self-stories, and defusion.

Here are the most important highlights of the text:

1. Experiential work is a core component of ACT for depression.
2. The therapist aims to create practical learning opportunities instead of theoretical explanations.
3. Activities might include breathing exercises, noticing thoughts and feelings, defusion work, and exploring self-stories.

*Here you can watch the video and access the full content: ACT Treatment Interventions for Depression: Experiential Work

<> How to Set Homework in ACT for Depression

Learn how to use ACT-based homework, such as mindful awareness and journaling, to treat depression outside of the therapy session.

Here are the most important highlights of the text:

1. Mindful awareness, journaling, and seeking support and connection are practical activities for reinforcing treatment outside of session.
2. Encouraging clients to take action and make small changes in their daily lives is crucial for treatment progress.
3. Writing exercises, such as journaling, help clients to connect with their values and gain a different perspective on their thoughts and emotions.

*Here you can watch the video and access the full content: How to Set Homework in ACT for Depression

Learn more about our course "Act for Depression" and earn 1 CE credit by clicking HERE

In our clinical case "ACT for PTSD", Dr. Sonja Batten talks about a client presenting with heightened anxiety symptoms who met the criteria for PTSD and panic disorder. She applies the ACT framework to conceptualize the case and develop a treatment structure based on the hexaflex model. This model includes behavioral tracking, acceptance metaphors, values clarification, and differing levels of exposure.

*Learn more about our course "ACT for PTSD" and earn 1.25 CE credits by clicking HERE

The following 3 tools were created by our editors and are part of our course "ACT for PTSD"; you will find the files for download at the end of the page for free:

<> ACT for PTSD: Grounding Skills for Seeking Safety

Learn practical exercises for the three categories of grounding skills – physical, mental, and soothing – and understand the role of purposeful distraction.

Here are the most important highlights of the text:

1. Grounding skills are basic coping techniques for trauma survivors and are divided into physical, mental, and soothing grounding.
2. Avoidance is problematic when the individual does it in autopilot mode rather than being mindful.
3. The immediate goal of grounding skills is that the client can get through an upsetting moment without worsening the situation.

* Here you can watch the video and access the full content: ACT for PTSD: Grounding Skills for Seeking Safety

<> ACT Work on Trauma Memories: Exposure Hierarchy

Explore the differences between traditional and ACT-based exposure, and learn how to apply the exposure hierarchy to a client with PTSD.

Here are the most important highlights of the text:

1. Use an exposure hierarchy to prioritize a client’s traumatic events by level of distress from lowest to highest.
2. Deborah chose to use written exposure due to her journalism background, rather than oral or via recordings.
3. Traditional exposure is based on habituation and attenuation of distress, whereas ACT-based exposure focuses on awareness and mindfulness.

* Here you can watch the video and access the full content: ACT Work on Trauma Memories - Exposure Therapy

<> ACT for PTSD: Nightmare Rehearsal Treatment

Dr. Sonja Batten applies nightmare rehearsal treatment to Deborah, a client with PTSD. This exposure helps create a healthy distance from the traumatic event.

Here are the most important highlights of the text:

1. Nightmare rehearsal treatment is a type of exposure that helps reduce the severity and frequency of nightmares.
2. It involves writing and rewriting a nightmare’s content in detail and changing one thing that can make the client aware that it’s not real.
3. This technique can be adapted to fit the client’s needs; for example, when nightmares are about actual traumatic events and the outcome cannot be changed without invalidating the client.

* Here you can watch the video and access the full content: ACT for PTSD - Nightmare Rehearsal Treatment

Learn more about our course "ACT for PTSD" and earn 1.25 CE credits by clicking HERE

https://www.theactmatrixacademy.com

This is a free online video course from Dr. Polk, the principle creator of the ACT Matrix.

The video shows you how to use the ACT Matrix and the ProSocial Matrix. You can also sign up for some additional lessons.

Enjoy!

https://www.theactmatrixacademy.com/