In September 2010 the Belgium-Netherlands Chapter (BeNe Chapter) of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science was founded. Starting from scratch with only a webpage for Dutch speaking members on the ACBS website, the Chapter grew to what it is today – a vibrant chapter with almost 250 members. The chapter now has a website with information for both clients and professionals. (www.ACBSBeNe.com)

The BeNe Chatper has a Board and several active committees (from the science committee to the PR-committee). The chapter also offers a wide array of workshops. Throughout the years, a variety of workshop topics were presented, such as ACT and pain; compassion; values; and “working with complex clients” by both renowned English- and Dutch speaking authors, therapists and researchers. In early 2019 a series of workshops on RFT by Yvonne Barnes-Homes et al. was launched, with a focus on experiential, clinical-technical and technical; like the HDML-model.

In October 2015; the chapter celebrated its first lustrum with a conference in The Netherlands. In March 2020, the chapter will celebrate its 10th anniversary in Antwerp, Belgium. We welcome you to join the BeNe Chapter in a 2-day conference on March 19 – 20, 2020, themed “ACT toge/ather.” This second conference of ACBS BeNe is dedicated to connect and deepen our knowledge and experience about ACT. The conference will feature Dutch and English speakers: Robyn Walser, Rikke Kjelgaard, Yvonne Barnes-Holmes and Ross White. Click here to learn more about the conference.

January 7, 2020

Dear ANZ ACBS community,

We stand united with our entire community grieving the ongoing loss of lives, properties, flora and our precious wildlife, as the bushfire emergency continues across Australia. We share your fear, uncertainty, sadness and anger during this difficult time. We also stand side-by-side with the many members and their families who have been personally and directly affected by the bushfires. Finally, we recognise the wide ranging impact of this disaster more broadly, such as the known impact on the skies and glaciers as far as New Zealand. As a Board, we have been considering how our ANZ ACBS community best be part of the mental health response, as well as more broadly supporting facilitating action in response to the worldwide climate emergency. We know that there are immediate needs and many of our members are wanting to take proactive steps right now.

We have decided, at this time, that there are three ways ANZ ACBS as an organisation can facilitate responding:

• If any of our Australian rural members hear of further requests for trauma counsellors, in a paid or pro bono capacity, please contact us, and we will help spread the word to mobilise those in our membership who are trained for these responses.
• We would like to coordinate the provision of supervision and support to our Australian members who are providing services to those impacted by this ongoing, unprecedented natural disaster. We are calling for ANZ ACBS members who are not directly working with people impacted by the bushfire emergency, but who have a willingness, skills and capacity to offer supervision and support to those who are doing this work. We are asking for those people to be able to volunteer at least six hours, over a period of up to one year. If this is you, please email us with the subject line “I can help”. If you are directly involved in service provision to those affected by the bushfires, and you would like to access this supervision/ support service for yourself, please email us with the subject line “Please help me”.
• In the coming weeks and months, we hope to work with members with expertise and experience in working with trauma associated with natural disasters, working with those affected by the climate emergency and in taking action around the climate emergency to put together CBS informed resources to help provide guidance to members. If you are willing to help us with any of these, please email us.

Let’s stay in touch as a community so that always going forward we can be agents for change. We encourage members to share, via our Facebook group, any actions that you may be taking as an individual in response to the bushfires or the climate emergency more generally; that we may learn from you, and be inspired to step out right alongside you. We also welcome any further suggestions about how we can use our knowledge and skills in behavioural science to help others, and help influence positive change.

Sincerely
Daniel, Tiff, Lisa, Andrew, Farah, Kali, Sarah, Jennifer, Shelley, Karen, Nathan and Claire.
The ANZ ACBS Board of Directors

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Australia-New Zealand (ANZ ACBS) Chapter Links

• Webpage on ACBS website
• Official ACBS ANZ Chapter Website
• Join the ANZ Chapter's mailing list
• Facebook group
• Twitter @ANZACBS
• LinkedIn @ANZACBS