Report by Krisztina G. Szabó, PhD
Psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor in Ericksonian Pyschotherapy and Client- Centered Psychotharapy (Focusing)
Cluj, Romania
The scholarship represented a unique opportunity to participate in an intensive 14 hours pre-conference workshop and in 6 other workshops during the conference. Through this experience, I got a comprehensive understanding of the core processes of ACT and learned ways of using related concepts and techniques based on the model to develop therapeutic and supervision interventions. My previous readings about ACT have already provided me with a new understanding of processes related to therapeutic change, adding more effectiveness to my work; but it has been so important to actually see how different ACT professionals work, because for me this created a “shortcut” to the deep and living sense of what ACT means.
Another tremendous gain was to meet the ACBS community live and to experience that declared values really are the compass of acting and interacting within it. I consider this kind of experience really vital, especially when coming from a community still paying tribute to authority- and hierarchy-driven relationships.
So far, my dissemination activities have consisted in:
- using ACT in clinical practice
- introducing the ACT model trough all my teaching and training activities (seminars in clinical psychology and psychotherapy, trainings in psychotherapy/CE, as well as in supervision);
- bringing with me a colleague to the conference, who actively supported me further in all of the following activities:
- organizing a summer-camp (30 hours of training) on the topic of fostering psychological flexibility, where we presented the ACT model and specific techniques and also discussed ways of using the model in clinical practice; we also offered access to all the relevant materials (books and articles) we have. The program was credited with 30 CE credits by the Romanian College of Psychologists (August, 2011);
- developing a personal development program for adolescents based on ACT (ACT flexibly!); the program is thought to be an 8-week group activity, with the aim of fostering psychological flexibility; we organized a two-day intensive training (16 hours) for counselors and therapists interested in applying the program and also continuous assistance; we offered a brochure containing the specific topic and the objectives targeted in each session, as well as samples of recommended activities and guidelines. So far we have 20 therapists involved in the program, from different towns, and are still more interested. This program is sustained on a volunteer basis (the training and the assistance is free, as well as the participation in the group); we offered access to all the materials we have (books, articles etc.) and which are relevant to the topic;
- have submitted our proposal to translate into Romanian the best-seller Get out of your mind and into your life to a prestigious publisher;
- founding the Institute for Contextual Psychological Technologies which basically aims to promote values, views and principles grounded in functional contextualism, and to contribute to the dissemination and enrichment of knowledge and technologies based on that (the process in ongoing);
- have translated into Hungarian (in addition to the Romanian version) the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II and we are working on its validation; we have translated into Romanian and Hungarian the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (for the Hungarian versions we have collaborated with a colleague from Hungary);
It is to be mentioned that we conducted our teaching and training activities being certified trainers by the Romanian College of Psychologists; we did not presented ourselves as ACT-trainers, but shared our understanding and experience with it.
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.