Full Course Description

Module 1: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Step-by-Step

Program Information

Objectives

Use the six core processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help clients advance psychological flexibility.
Incorporate the role of psychological flexibility in ACT and list clinical techniques for increasing it.
Utilize acceptance approaches with avoidance problems to strengthen a client’s willingness to have emotions.
Implement clinical skills for helping clients to defuse from language obstacles.
Utilize exercises in therapy with clients like, contacting the present moment, to aid clients with developing flexibility to engage in the present moment and let go of their struggles.
Analyze how a client’s unclarified values can lead to clinical problems in relation to assessment and treatment planning.
Integrate ACT into different therapeutic styles and methods as an approach to managing symptoms.
Create committed action plans for clients with anxiety disorders to improve level of functioning.
Use metaphors to undermine language-based avoidance repertoires to improve client engagement.
Implement emotional and behavioral willingness techniques with clients to reduce experiential avoidance.
Integrate ACT techniques into treatment for specific disorders including depression, anxiety, trauma and the personality disorders.
Demonstrate how ACT incorporates elements of exposure therapy to reduce experiential avoidance.

Outline

The ACT Model

The nature of human suffering
“Healthy normality” is a myth
Language: The double-edged sword
Undermine unhelpful thoughts
Aiming for psychological flexibility and why
The ACT hexagon model

Acceptance

Strengthening a willingness to have emotions
The opposite of acceptance is experiential avoidance
Experiential avoidance throughout the lifespan
Why acceptance is important
Case example: Teenage shyness & hoarding

Defusion

Look at thoughts rather than from thoughts
Deal with automatic thoughts
The power of words
The problem with cognitive fusion
Address CBT-based disputation techniques with defusion
“Taking your mind for a walk” exercise
Case example: Eating disorders & social phobia

Perspective-Taking

Understand the “Self” in ACT
Self-as-content, self-as-perspective, self-as-context
Observer self-exercise
Deal with identity issues
Case examples related to PTSD & childhood sexual trauma

Mindfulness

Contacting the present moment
Why being in the here-and-now is critical for mental health
Relationship between mindlessness and psychopathology
Meditation, mindfulness and mindful action
Exercises for mindful action
Case example: Anger, personality disorders, alcoholism

Values Work

The positive side of language
Identifying core values
Differentiate values and goals
Writing values-based treatment goals
The ethics of values clarification
Establishing the life line
Case example: Heroin addiction, bipolar disorder

Committed Action

Define “commitment” objectively
Integrate evidence-based therapy with ACT
Develop ACT-based behavior therapy treatment plans
Improve behavioral activation with ACT
Accelerate exposure therapy with ACT
Case example: Depression, agoraphobia

Pulling It All Together

Hexaflex model for psychological flexibility
Ask the “ACT Question” for self-help and case conceptualization
Inflexahex model: Diagnosis from an ACT approach
Case example: Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Incorporate ACT into Your Own Approach

Social skills training
Applied Behavior Analysis
Inpatient treatment programs systems
Exposure and ritual prevention
Behavioral activation
Parent management training
Executive coaching

The Mindful Action Plan

ACT simplified
Passengers on the bus: The classic ACT group exercise
How ACT can make you a better therapist

Copyright : 07/07/2016

Session 1 | Facing the Struggle

MODULE 2: In-Session Demonstrations

Program Information

Objectives

Session 1: Facing the Struggle

Apply the core theory and principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) used in clinical practice.
Analyze how "creative hopelessness" lays the groundwork for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

Session 2: Control & Acceptance

Prepare clients to accept their thoughts and feelings, and modify their need to control or eliminate them.
Integrate ACT “eyes closed” techniques into your sessions with powerful effects.

Session 3: Cognitive Defusion

Apply cognitive defusion used within clinical practice.
Anticipate common pitfalls with cognitive defusion, and apply methods for recognizing and remedying them.

Session 4: Mindfulness, Self & Contact with the Present Moment

Formulate “eyes-closed” exercises you can integrate into clinical practice.
Generate examples of how to facilitate awareness of the “observing self” with clients.

Session 5: Values & Action

Discriminate between the ACT concepts of values and goals
Modify ACT techniques for increased effectiveness with adolescents

Session 6: Psychological Flexibility

Articulate ways to adapt ACT in brief-therapy settings and situations.
Formulate how to help clients get the most benefit from exposure therapy within the ACT Paradigm.

Outline

Overview of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Define the six core processes of ACT
Discuss treatment techniques used in ACT

Withdrawn client role play

Examine why metaphors can be helpful for clients
Focus positively on what therapy is for
How to handle the client’s lack of interest in feelings and emotions

Concluding remarks from the presenter

How to perform informed consent
Approaches to handle the process of “facing the struggle”

Copyright : 01/01/2007

Session 2 | Control and Acceptance

MODULE 2: In-Session Demonstrations

Program Information

Outline

Overview of control and acceptance

Face the struggle to create something new
Learn to embrace avoided sensations

Role play topics

Use the classic ACT metaphor to provide new possibilities
Detect when the cognitive system sets in
Learn to recognize familiar patterns with the client

Concluding remarks from the presenter

Set up acceptance goals with the client
Make sure to be patient while using ACT

Copyright : 01/01/2007

Session 3 | Cognitive Defusion

MODULE 2: In-Session Demonstrations

Program Information

Outline

Overview of cognitive defusion

Allows for flexible responses
The difference between ACT and CBT

Learning through role play

Apply defusion methods to clients
Learn how to dig through client resistance
Turn words into just sounds
Discover how to program the mind

Wrap up with the speaker

Things to keep in mind when using defusion techniques
The human mind and the human life connection

Copyright : 01/01/2007

Session 4 | Mindfulness

MODULE 2: In-Session Demonstrations

Program Information

Outline

Overview of mindfulness, self, and contact with the present moment

How to begin sessions with mindfulness exercises
Eliminate irrelevant chatter from the session

Learn through role play

Distinguish between content and context
Dealing with clients that aren’t open to talking about emotions
Trying an “eyes closed” exercise

Wrap up with the speaker

Moment-to-moment situations
Connecting acceptance and diffusion into a mindfulness approach

Session 5 | Values and Action

MODULE 2: In-Session Demonstrations

Program Information

Outline

Overview of values and action

Define the most important components of ACT
Understand the meaning of values

Learning through role play

Distinguish between choices and logical judgments so values aren’t heavily fused with judgment
Determine what the client holds as important

Concluding with the speaker

All components of ACT are interconnected
Connecting pain-values to the ACT approach

Session 6 | Psychological Flexibility

MODULE 2: In-Session Demonstrations

Program Information

Outline

Overview of psychological flexibility

Define psychological flexibility
Integrating ACT into normal back and forth therapy

Role plays with different therapists

Robin Walser works with a woman that is having a hard time letting go of her children, whom are in their thirties, for fear that serious issues will come up
Kirk Strasol’s client is worried about her disabled veteran brother
Stephen Hayes talks with Troy, an obsessive compulsive disordered client that worries about contamination

ACT wrap up

Focus on functions and processes that fit personalized models
ACT is not just a technique, but a set principles organized into a model that explain what makes being a human is so hard