I Encontro da ACBS Brasil

The First Meeting of ACBS Brasil - Driven by Love

The ACBS Brazil Chapter volunteers started organizing the congress in November 2019. We had to rethink the entire organization of the event when the pandemic struck our country in April. What seemed to be a threat to all of us actually made it possible to expand the congress, both in accessibility to different regions of Brazil and in getting a number of invaluable speakers to participate. The “First Meeting of ACBS Brasil” was held in August 2020. There were 98 activities, 96 Brazilian speakers, 24 international references, and 684 participants!

How was it done? Organizing this congress was an adventure and we had clear values to guide us:
- Dissemination of knowledge - our focus was to expand access to knowledge by inviting renowned speakers who generously and freely accepted our invitation. All foreign language activities were translated so that they were widely accessible to our Brazilian community.
- Diversity - our commission sought diversity in the types of Contextual Behavioral Therapies presented; the topics covered; and the nationalities, ethnicities and regions in Brazil the participants represented. Diversity brought a lot of beauty to the program and piqued interest in socially relevant themes related to ethnic, gender and sexuality prejudices.
- Equality - the work was done mostly by volunteers, with the goals of making the event more accessible and serving as a model of collaboration.
- Solidarity - the event funded 60 scholarship slots for attendees with financial need. Eleven more were donated by other event participants through a campaign that we conducted. In addition to the dissemination of knowledge, we wanted to enact the change that Contextual Science promotes where it was needed the most.
- Integration - all papers submitted to the congress were accepted and all activities were encouraged to be done collaboratively, either in pairs or in larger groups of speakers. One of the objectives of the event was to develop a network of people who study the same subject and to encourage them to work together.
- Joy – despite being an online event, we had several social activities, parties, time to share experiences, contests, sweepstakes and interviews during breaks. We sought to bring lightness and a little socializing in times of isolation.

The process of creating and organizing the congress was made possible by having an incredible group of people who were simply interested in helping and were willing to spend their Friday afternoons sharing ideas and dreaming about the best ways to carry out this event. It was extremely pleasant work and done with a lot of love from everyone involved. All ideas were welcomed, and we were excited to imagine new possibilities. As incredible as it may seem, there was no arguing or disagreement, and meetings were filled with laughter and joy. Decisions were made collectively and were guided by our shared values. Even when things went wrong, we would get together to collaborate and approach the problem in a novel way. It was a new milestone for everyone involved, both due to the experiences that we shared and the realization that it generated. We had a lot of help, too. We would like to express our gratitude to all the speakers that we had the honor to have with us, who reflect the essence of the ACBS community. Many thanks to the translators, sponsors and partners, and to all the participants who were together in this adventure.

Thank you!

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Find out more about the ACBS Brazil Chapter

• Read the Brasil Chapter's webpage.
• Follow the Brasil Chapter on Facebook.
• To join the Brasil Chapter, please submit the chapter membership form.

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I Encontro da ACBS Brasil volunteers

Organization: Michaele Terena Saban-Bernauer

ACBS Brasil President: Mara Lins

Organizing committee:

Ana Paula Moraes

Desirée da Cruz Cassado

Caroline Leão

Pierre Andrans Cerveira Motta

Ana Carmen Oliveira

Paulo Gomes de Sousa-Filho

 

Scientific commission:

Michaele Terena Saban-Bernauer

Matheus Bebber

 

Posters:

Caroline Leão

Social vacancies:

Ana Paula Moraes

Ligia Mosolino

Marcia Kameyama

Heloisa Ribeiro Zapparoli

 

Disclosure and advertising:

Caroline Leão

Pierre Andrans Cerveira Motta

Heloisa Ribeiro Zapparoli

 

Gifts:

Regina Célia Ap. Sanches

Rafaela Dias

 

Social event:

Pierre Andrans Cerveira Motta

Paulo Gomes de Sousa-Filho

 

Table coordinators:

João Henrique de Almeida

André Porto Humberto

Stélios Sant'Anna Sdoukos

Roberta Kovac

Jessica Ribeiro

Rachel Sepe

Celina Yoshie Tanaka

Nayara Rodrigues de Oliveira

Landerson Carlos Martins de Souza

Ana Teresa Stival Coelho

Larissa Schafranski

Lucas Augusto

Carolina Mesquita de Oliveira

Ana Katarine dos Santos Silva

José Ignacio Cruz Gaitán

Alessandra Villas-Bôas

Bruna Resende Teixeira

Weslley Gomes Carneiro

Liane Dahás

Caroline Cristine da Silveira

 

And other organizers

Subtitles translation:

Mara Lins

Beatriz Queiroz Brilhante da Silva

Fernanda Lisbôa de Siqueira

Nathalia do Nascimento Vieira

Lucas Augusto

Giovani Gatto

Débora Callegari Hertzog

Spanish translation:

Mara Lins

José Ignacio Cruz Gaitán

Matheus Bebber

Contracted translation:

Angela Silveira

Wilney Giozza

Amanda Ramos Francisco

 

Staff:

Tatiana Plácido Funcia Simões

Leila Danielle Martins Soares

 

Site:

Jean Curti

 

Behavioral boteco (interviews):

Felipe Epaminondas

César Rocha

 

Videos:

Gustavo Camargo de Souza

João Vitor Souza Ferez