Fresia Hernandez, Mexico

Thanks to the support of the Developing Nations Chapter-Committee Scholarship, for which I was one of the winners of the scholarship to attend the ACBS World Conference Montreal 2018, I had the opportunity to attend and could not explain how fortunate I felt during all the days of the conference.

First, I want to thank Courtney Zirkle, Abbie Lanning, Emily N. Rodrigues and all ACBS staff who supported me before the day of the conference, as well as Roscoe Kasujja and the Developing Nations Chapter committee, for selecting me as winner of the scholarship.

At the pre-conference I attended, I was able to learn about ACT assessment with Kelly G. Wilson, it was a great experience, and I was able to learn many things that have contributed to the improvement of my private practice and as a psychology teacher.

On the second day of pre-conference, I presented a poster with research results in ACT that I made with the help of students, in my country. It was also a great experience to be able to share my work with other colleagues from all over the world.

I also had the opportunity to meet during the conference with Steven C. Hayes, Kelly G. Wilson, Robyn D. Walser and Emily Sandoz, all of them incredible people who shared their valuable time with me and I hope later they can visit my country and share with us their knowledge. It really was a dream come true!

When I returned to my country, Mexico, I was able to apply immediately the knowledge acquired with a group of undergraduate students in clinical and health psychology, to whom I gave an introduction in ACT, so that they would know this approach and fall in love with this wonderful processes-based therapy. I have to mention that my students have been very interested in continuing to learn about ACT. With this group I also shared the videos with messages that kindly allowed me to record Steven C. Hayes and Kelly G. Wilson, so they would know how great and friendly they are and be able to bring them closer to the third-generation therapies, from the invitation of these two great leaders.

In the month of September, I gave a workshop to 150 students, in groups of 25 on the management of stress using ACT, this as part of the comprehensive training of students of all careers in an activity called "Health Challenge". In the month of October, I gave a workshop on psychological flexibility and anxiety in the week of mental health organized at my university. In the month of November, I gave the stress management workshop through ACT for high school students interested in studying psychology.

In December, I shared an ACT induction with my students in the chronic and terminal patient psychology course on how to apply this therapy in people with chronic diseases.

In addition, as a clinical supervisor I began to guide my students and provide them with tools for the implementation of ACT in the attention to clients of the Academic Center of Attention in Integral Wellbeing, in which psychological counseling is provided to people from a low-income community.

I am currently in talks with my superiors to offer ACT training to our teachers and students with national and international speakers, and to be able to host ACT training in our region.

Undoubtedly, my country needs a lot of diffusion and training in third-generation psychological therapies, and I extend my commitment and interest in continuing to train and dissemination.

I'm really grateful for this opportunity to get closer to the ACBS community, they really are a very friendly association committed to scientific psychology for the relief of human suffering. I fell in love!

Thank you very much for your support to attend the 16 ACBS World Conference Montreal, 2018, I’m see you at Dublin 2019.

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Are you wondering how you can help to disseminate CBS in the developing world through scholarship opportunities like this? Please consider donating to the Developing Nations Fund via Paypal by using the button below. Your donation will help us continue to bring attendees and presenters from developing nations to the ACBS world conference.

Every dollar/euro/yen goes to helping those in need -- not a nickel goes to administration. Money collected for this fund is distributed by an ACBS Developing Nations Fund committee. Scholarships are awarded based on need and merit.

 

Please note that this contribution does not qualify as a tax-deductible charitable contribution, according to USA tax law ... but it's a nice thing to do.

Kizito Wamala, Uganda

At the conference

I was a scholarship winner; I was fully facilitated by ACBS to participate in the WC16. I arrived at the conference venue, the Fairmont the Queen Elizabeth, on 23rd July 2018. I participated in very educative and skills-building pre-conference workshops that were conducted for two full days – 24th and 25th July. I participated also in the conference symposia and trainings on 26th to 29th during which I also presented a poster on my work in Uganda – a copy was submitted to the organizing contact. At the conference, I benefitted beyond my expectation. I learnt so many new things from experiences of great ACBS experts for example meeting with Steven Hayes, Kelley Wilson, Robyn D Walser; research findings; experiences in practice and research of many presenters and facilitators; met new people for professional and personal friends; and received a Certificate of Participation in the Continuing Education Activity of ACBS World Conference 16.

Post-Conference

On return to Uganda, I engaged myself in four main activities:
1. Promotion of ACT theory and therapy among practicing counselors. I started with compiling materials, especially for training counselors and psychologists in the North of Uganda. I was able to convince my line manager to include 8 hours of training on Introduction to ACT in my organisational clinical capacity building training program. That program was and still is a 300-hours training in counseling theoretical approaches and skills plus 45-hours of clinical supervision spread over a period of 11 months per year. Participants in the program are counselors and psychologists working with different organisations and institutions where their main job is offering counseling to organisational clients. On 2nd October 2018, I was able to conduct the first 8-hour training on Introduction to ACT with thirteen (17) trainees plus my line manager and a psychotherapist/ trainer of The center for Victims of Torture (CVT). Thereafter, the psychotherapist/trainer recommended that the staff of my organisation – CVT – also receive the same training. On 15th October 2018, I conducted the same 8-hour training with seven (7) CVT staff. The feedback given by participants of both trainings was very positive. All the participants acknowledged that ACT was a new concept, process and approach of counseling for them and that they needed more hours of theoretical input, practice and supervision in order ground their skills in using ACT for themselves and for their clients. I have already scheduled to conduct the same ACT training in October 2019 with 19 trainees who have enrolled for our clinical capacity building.
2. Consistent use of ACT in my work with my clients. CVT as an organisation doesn’t subscribe to ACT as the organisational therapeutic approach but neither does it prevent its staff from using ACT as a personally preferred approach in individual counseling. I therefore decided to use ACT consistently in my individual sessions and I am witness to the positive feedback that I frequently receive from my clients relating to their experiences in ACT. I feel very satisfied with that feedback and I am committed to continuing with ACT as my first line therapeutic approach.
3. I consistently facilitate mindfulness exercises with my organisational clinical team at both individual and group supervision sessions that I conduct every week. This has been our practice since September 2018. I feel happy and proud to report that my team enjoys the exercises because, they say, those exercises bring each one to the present moment enabling them to experience life as it is. All my six team members (my supervisees) have reported back to me that since we started the practices in mindfulness, their lives have greatly changed. They struggle less with both past and future bothers and life is more livable than before in terms of both personal private lives and life at work.
4. And at the moment, I am personally writing my PhD project aiming at carrying out a randomised controlled clinical trial using ACT for treatment of Trauma in Uganda. Having used ACT consistently for the last six or so months, I find its efficacy promising for my context in Uganda. I therefore think that engaging myself in validating it with evidence will be a great contribution to ACBS and the evidence-base of therapeutic approaches in developing nations, especially Sub-Saharan Africa. This points to a great hope for ACBS’ future here in the developing world.

Challenges

1. Working in the north of Uganda, far away from Kampala, has disabled me from participating in peer supervision sessions with my colleagues of the ACT special-interest group that was initiated by Dr. Kasujja Rosco. I am very grateful however that whenever I meet clinical challenges related to my use of ACT, Dr. Kasujja Rosco makes efforts to avail himself to me. He is very supportive and very generous with time, reading and visual materials.
2. My new contract with my organisation has barred me from lecturing for universities. I have therefore lost the opportunity of introducing ACT at Bugema University.
3. This report has no pictures because my organisation protects its clients and stakeholders’ confidentiality very strictly and I believe that it’s okay. Therefore, you cannot see any pictorials which sometimes say more about the report narratives of activities.

Conclusion

The scholarship I received from the ACBS was a great honor and opportunity for me to participate in such a high caliber professional world conference in Montréal in 2018. The benefits of my participation are and will remain innumerable for me personally and for my country and beyond. I commend ACBS for their decision and effort to facilitate some interested professionals, to such conferences, who cannot afford on their own. It is one of the many ways ACBS is supporting the promotion of quality evidence-based mental health practices in the developing world and the world-over. Thank you so much ACBS.

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Are you wondering how you can help to disseminate CBS in the developing world through scholarship opportunities like this? Please consider donating to the Developing Nations Fund via Paypal by using the button below. Your donation will help us continue to bring attendees and presenters from developing nations to the ACBS world conference.

Every dollar/euro/yen goes to helping those in need -- not a nickel goes to administration. Money collected for this fund is distributed by an ACBS Developing Nations Fund committee. Scholarships are awarded based on need and merit.

 

Please note that this contribution does not qualify as a tax-deductible charitable contribution, according to USA tax law ... but it's a nice thing to do.