The Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Chapter of ACBS put on a conference in Melbourne, Australia on November 13-15, 2009 with record turnout.
Over 300 people attended the conference, but more could have been possible as the venue simply could not safely hold more than 300 attendees; and the conference sold out a month in advance. Conference coordinators said that this record attendance rivals that of even much older and more established organizations 'down under'.
What made this conference special? Of note were the diversity of both the attendees and the conference program as well as the sense of community engendered by the conference.
Joseph Ciarrochi, ANZ Chapter President was particularly impressed by the diversity of folks who have become interested and the new frontiers of exploration evident in the conference presentations. “People are coming into ACBS from everywhere: psychology, counseling, education, organizations.” ANZ Chapter Vice-President Russ Harris added that the list of attendees at the conference included “general medical practitioners, psychiatrists, nurses, coaches, counselors, teachers, psychologists, social workers -- and even a physiotherapist.”
Ciarrochi, among others, was amazed to hear how much was being done. “People are conducting top research in both ACT and RFT, and people are creating new materials (e.g., ACT comic book for kids, new ACT songs, websites),” Ciarrochi said. He continues, “people are stepping into some difficult populations with the attempt to reduce suffering and promote caring relationships.”
Although most of the conference workshops and talks were given by ANZ members themselves, conference organizers also welcomed members of the international ACBS community who traveled ‘down under’ to share their knowledge and experience: Patty Bach, JoAnne Dahl, Jason Luoma, Patti Robinson, Kirk Strosahl, and Rob Zettle.
Indeed, Strosahl and Robinson of Mountainview Consulting Group, USA kicked off the conference with a 2-day intensive workshop to help attendees “supercharge” their case conceptualization skills and practice them with many types of clients.
The conference program for the three following days was packed with thoughtfully crafted workshops that branched out into different areas that reflect the creativity and larger work being done.
Rather than emphasize the application of ACT to a particular circumscribed problem, the ACBS-ANZ conference focused heavily on the process of therapy (e.g., integrating the model, bringing experiential work and psychological flexibility to supervision practices, and approaching termination from an ACT perspective) across problems (e.g., conducting powerful brief psychotherapy, applying case conceptualization skills, using defusion skillfully, and engendering values clarification).
Even within workshops for ‘typical’ clinical problem areas such as OCD, substance abuse, and social anxiety, there was a focus on a particular aspect of the problem (e.g., compassion and shame in addiction, the importance of mindfulness and self-esteem in social anxiety). Also, areas that are not often typically found in training programs were evidenced at the conference such as sexual functioning, psychosis, chronic pain, multi-problem clients, and working with troubled youth.
The importance of bringing an ACT perspective on mindfulness to general medical practice was evidenced by both formal workshops presented and the informal daily discussion on the topic facilitated by psychiatrist and ANZ member Rob Purssey. Conference presenters also thoughtfully linked ACT to other practices such as the Eight-Fold Path in Buddhism and Gestalt therapy.
Some exciting new work in the area of Relational Frame Theory (RFT) added to the depth of the conference experience. Darin Cairns, ANZ member from Perth, Australia, conducted a workshop Raising a Flexible, Adaptive & Empowered Child: Applications of RFT in Child Development, in which he showed attendees how to apply RFT to healthy child development in a way that Harris described as “simple, interesting and, yes, even entertaining!”
Even more impressive, Cairns shared astounding results in his work using RFT-enhanced interventions to the children he serves in his clinic with Autism. Ciarrochi excitedly reported that Cairns’ data shows that many of his students go from “not being able to relate at all, to being able to have empathy and connectedness with their parents.” And the clinic appears to be outperforming other (non-RFT) behaviorally-oriented clinics.
Ciarrochi continues, “[Cairns] is changing lives with RFT...and his workshop convinced me that we can absolutely not have ACT without RFT. RFT is (gasp) practical!”
Ciarrochi, not surprisingly, was very excited about both how well Cairns explained RFT to his audience, as well as how clear the application has been to the improvement of the human condition. Much more work is needed, but in the meantime, Ciarrochi and Harris eagerly await Cairns’ published results. They hope that Cairns and the many dedicated RFT researchers in the ACBS community at large will continue to find creative ways to bring RFT further into mainstream behavioral science approaches.
Even beyond the diversity of the conference program, both Ciarrochi and Harris were impressed by the sense of community engendered by the conference.
Harris spoke of the incredible outpouring of helpers to make the conference possible. “We had far more volunteers to help out with the conference than we could actually utilize; so many folks chipped in to make it all run smoothly, with folks like Julian McNally, Louise Shepherd, Linda Bilich, Shelly McQuade, Carla Walton, David Mellor, and Louise Hayes putting in many hours of tedious work for the greater good.”
Follies nights at ACBS conferences are always great times to build community, loosen up, and practice the art of not taking ourselves or the work too seriously. The first ever ANZ Follies night was no exception; reportedly it was an event of epic proportions. Conference attendee Emma Hanieh reports that Ciarrochi’s “emotional investment in the success of the follies reached new heights”, but it certainly paid off. Skits did not fail in their creativity and reach; setting up Lego role plays, examining the relational frames associated with RFT (ahem, boring? never!), applying ACT to Dog Whispering and reducing the stress in our Feathered Friends, and the ACT/RFT Terminator film cleverly crafted by Luoma's colleagues in Portland, OR, USA. These and the many other skits presented (and perhaps the tears of laughter associated with them) will be fondly remembered by all for quite some time.
However, to borrow a phrase from Gestalt therapy, the whole of the conference was more than the sum of its parts. The camaraderie felt by conference organizers and attendees alike helped some reach a level of connection with the work they didn’t think possible.
Ironically, Ciarrochi was one of them. He admits, “really, I am in shock. I mean, I always give these idealistic talks at the ACT conferences, but (I am embarrassed to admit) my mind is telling me that there is no way we can really improve the human condition.”
And yet, in a moment of defusion, Ciarrochi would be the first to let his thoughts do what they will around this issue. His experience (like that of anyone who attended the conference) tells him that the ANZ Chapter, thorough its members’ dedicated work in ACT and RFT, is well on its way to doing just that.
With the shock of a successful conference comes elation -- and a willingness to dive in to plan the next one. We can echo the cry of ANZ member Louise Shepherd: “Bring on Adelaide, 2010!”
Indeed Ciarrochi’s idealism may be more than simply a pipe dream. It appears to already be a reality.
But don’t take my word for it…
