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The Heart of ACT: Supporting Client Change through Process and Therapeutic Relationship

The Heart of ACT: Supporting Client Change through Process and Therapeutic Relationship

 
Workshop Leader: 
Robyn Walser, Ph.D.
 
Dates & Location of this 2-Day Workshop:
Sheraton New Orleans Hotel
 
CE credits available: 13
Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 9:00 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - 9:00 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.
 
Workshop Description:

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has transformed the lives of clients and clinicians in many ways and—as part of a broader shift in the practice of psychotherapy emerging from a new theory of human language —has had a significant impact in the field of psychology. ACT has flourished in areas of application, research base, and clinical use around the world. Not only does it have a broad reach that continues to grow, it also tends to have a distinctive and personal impact. Done with intention and presence, ACT links us to the very qualities of what it means to be alive and whole, to be a conscious and experiencing being. Yet, the behavioral processes implemented in ACT may be learned and understood at many levels and may remain challenging to implement in a flexible, consistent, process-based, and effective fashion. Functional analysis remains a vital yet sometimes elusive aspect of ACT. As well, multiple levels of process are present in any therapy, including those processes beyond ACT’s 6 core. Moving beyond simple technique and into a fluid ACT intervention requires attending to intrapersonal, interpersonal, and overarching and ongoing processes in the context of the psychotherapeutic relationship. Engaging in an on-going functional analysis feeds these processes and informs the case conceptualization. Digesting the theory and research behind ACT and understanding its content, processes, techniques, and foundational goal—psychological flexibility—is about inviting clients back into the vitality found in human joy and pain in the movement toward meaning. Connecting workshops participants to on-going functional analysis and the multiple levels of process found in ACT from a more in-depth, experiential, or heartfelt place will be the focus of this workshop. Didactic presentation, video, role-play and experiential exercises will be used to convey the material.

About Robyn Walser, Ph.D.: 

Robyn D. Walser, Ph.D. is Director of TL Consultation Services, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and works at the National Center for PTSD. As a licensed psychologist, she maintains an international training, consulting and therapy practice. Dr. Walser is an expert in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and has co-authored 6 books on ACT including a book on learning ACT. She has most recently written a book entitled: The Heart of ACT,  to be released in Fall of 2019. Dr. Walser has expertise in traumatic stress, depression and substance abuse and has authored a number of articles, chapters and books on these topics. She has been doing ACT workshops since 1998; training in multiple formats and for multiple client problems. Dr. Walser has been described as a “passionate, creative, and bold ACT trainer and therapist” and she is best known for her dynamic, warm and challenging ACT trainings. She is often referred to as a clinician’s clinician. Her workshops feature a combination of lecture and experiential exercises designed to provide a unique learning opportunity in this state-of-the-art intervention. http://www.tlconsultationservices.com/

Learning Objectives:

Following this workshop participants will be able to:

  1. Explain what is meant by exploring ACT processes from the perspective of personal internal experience and how it is relevant to therapy.
  2. Describe the role and function of interpersonal process in the implementation of ACT.
  3. Describe functional analysis and its role in the overarching and ongoing process of ACT intervention and case conceptualization.
  4. Explain how intrapersonal and interpersonal behavioral patterns inform a functional approach.
  5. Explain how different levels of process participate in and inform the therapeutic relationship.
  6. Explain what is meant by ACT processes and their flexible use with respect to the six core components of ACT tucked inside of therapeutic relationship.
  7. Explain how ACT metaphors and experiential exercises can be tailored to fit the client’s experience and language practices including the social and cultural contexts.
  8. Describe barriers to fluid implementation of ACT and how to work through these barriers in an ACT consistent fashion.
  9. Describe the role of personal values in guiding the work done in ACT therapy and how to apply it across sessions.
  10. List the benefits of mindfulness as a practice as well as an ongoing process during session, including how it can be used to cultivate compassion.

Target Audience: Intermediate, Advanced

Components: Conceptual analysis, Experiential exercises, Didactic presentation, Case presentation, Role play

Package Includes: A general certificate of attendance, lunch, and twice daily coffee/tea break on site.

CEs Available: APA type, NASW type (pending approval), NBCC type (pending approval)

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