WHO Guidelines Recommend ACT for the Management of Chronic Pain in Children

In December 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its “Guidelines on the management of chronic pain in children.” The guidelines contain exciting news for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy practitioners and researchers: ACT is specifically recommended for use. The guidelines state there is “moderate certainty evidence" in support of ACT in improving functional disability. Read more.

Call for Nominations: Board of Directors

It's time again for elections to the ACBS Board of Directors! Being on the ACBS Board is a rewarding experience, and an opportunity to help shape a vibrant CBS community. This year, we will need to elect 5 new members to the board: President, Secretary-Treasurer, 2 Members-at-large, and a Student Representative. If you would like to nominate someone, please submit the nomination by January 31.

New CBS and Cancer Special Interest Group

We are pleased to announce the newest Special Interest Group: CBS and Cancer SIG! The mission of the CBS and Cancer SIG is to facilitate collaboration and exploration between professionals, researchers, and trainees interested in the area of psycho-oncology. ACBS members can join the CBS and Cancer SIG, hop onto the SIG listserv, and learn more on the CBS and Cancer SIG's webpage.

Student Spotlight Award

It is our pleasure to introduce the most recent Student Spotlight Award recipient! This month's featured student is Huanzhen Xu, a graduate student at Bowling Green State University (USA). She designed a treatment-outcome study with Chinese international students using ACT and published part of the findings in the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science. Read more about Huanzhen Xu.

Psychological flexibility and inflexibility as sources of resiliency and risk during a pandemic: Modeling the cascade of COVID-19 stress on family systems with a contextual behavioral science lens

In JCBS Vol. 18, Jennifer Daks, Jack Peltz, and Ronald Rogge conclude parental flexibility and inflexibility are key points of intervention for helping families navigate the current global health crisis. The paper states that parent flexibility was linked to greater family cohesion and constructive parenting. ACBS members can read the full text of all JCBS articles for free in the JCBS member portal. 

Share your stories of how ACBS, CBS, or ACT has impacted and inspired you!

The ACBS Foundation is looking to highlight inspirational stories about ACBS or Contextual Behavioral Science. This is your chance to lift up the work of someone that has inspired you. We also encourage you to toot your own horn and let us know about the great work that you’ve done!  Whatever your story about ACBS, CBS, or ACT, we’d love to hear from you. Share your story.

Michael J. Asher Student Dissertation Award: Application Deadline is February 1, 2021

The Awards Committee is accepting applications for the Michael J. Asher Student Dissertation Awards, which will be given to two students based on their doctoral dissertation proposal related to the use of CBS with children/adolescents. Accompanying this honor will be two monetary awards of $750 USD to be used in support of research or to attend the ACBS World Conference. Apply here.

ACBS Virtual World Conference: Oral Submission Deadline is February 15, 2021

We invite you to join us for the Annual World Conference of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science  June 24-27, 2021. The general call for oral presentations-symposia, papers, panels, ignites, and workshops-closes on February 15, 2021. Poster submissions will be accepted until March 20, 2021.
We are excited to announce that registration is now open!

ACBS Virtual World Conference: Scholarship Application Deadlines

- Developing Nations Conference Scholars - application deadline is Feb 1
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference Scholars - application deadline is Feb 1
- Student World Conference Scholars - application deadline is Feb 15
- ACBS Foundation Student Scholarship - application deadline is Feb 15

ACBS Foundation Grant: Application Deadline is March 1, 2021

The ACBS Foundation is proud to announce a new funding mechanism for CBS projects related to the environment, social justice, and behavior in real life contexts. The ACBS Foundation Grant application period is currently open and will close on March 1, 2021. Apply for the grant here.
Please consider volunteering to be a grant reviewer.

Recent News

New Arizona Chapter
COVID-19 Therapy Resources
ACBS Membership Scholarship

ACT is a Part of More than 150 Meta-Analyses and Systematic Reviews 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy has reached a new milestone: ACT is a now part of more than 150 Meta-Analyses and Systematic Reviews! The meta-analyses contain peer reviewed assessments of the ACT evidence base, including evidence on measures and processes of change. In many meta-analyses ACT alone is the target, while others include related methods. See the full list.

ACBS Foundation Grant: Application Deadline is March 1, 2021

The ACBS Foundation is proud to announce a new funding mechanism for CBS projects related to the environment, social justice, and behavior in real life contexts. The ACBS Foundation Grant application period is currently open and will close on March 1, 2021. Apply for the grant here. Take a look at what the Foundation has accomplished over the last year, the Foundation's 2020 annual report is now available.

2020 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Scholarship Recipients: What They Learned at the World Conference

In 2020, ACBS awarded Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Scholarships to three members to attend the ACBS World Conference Online. DEI scholarship recipients Sandi James, Nguyen Tran, and Desmond Bull discuss what they learned at the conference and how they utilize CBS in the USA and Malaysia. You can read more about the DEI Scholarship here. We need your help to continue to fund these scholarships!

Student Spotlight Award

It is our pleasure to introduce the most recent Student Spotlight Award recipient! This month's featured student is  Sebastian Garcia-Zambrano, a doctoral candidate at the School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences,  Southern Illinois University Carbondale (USA). Read more about Sebastian Garcia-Zambrano. Applications open    March 1 to recognize a student doing important work in the CBS community. Apply here.

Curriculum-based yoga and ACT intervention for undergraduate students: A mixed-methods investigation

In JCBS Vol. 19, R. Ashlyne Mullen, Tracy Protti, Jennifer Block-Lerner, Donald R. Marks, Emily K. Sandoz, and Paola Ricardo investigate the effects of a curriculum-based intervention using ACT and yoga on psychological flexibility and distress over time in college students. ACBS members can read the full text of all JCBS articles for free in the JCBS member portal.

ACBS Membership Scholarship Deadline is March 31

ACBS is committed to outreach to scholars, practitioners, researchers, and other professionals who have a strong interest in ACT, RFT, and CBS and who have difficulty affording full membership in the organization.  For those who are interested in a membership scholarship, we ask that you read the policy and complete the scholarship application. The deadline for this round of applications is March 31. Apply here.

ACBS Virtual World Conference: Registration is Open

We invite you to join us virtually for the Annual World Conference 24-27 June 2021.
We are excited to announce that registration is now open!
Reminder, the general call for poster presentations closes on 20 March 2021.

Recent News

WHO recommends ACT for the management of chronic pain in children
New CBS and Cancer SIG
New Arizona Chapter

Congratulations to the New ACBS Board Members!

It is our pleasure to announce the 2021 - 2022 ACBS Board of Directors: President, Miranda Morris; President Elect, Maria Karekla; Past President, Lisa Coyne; Secretary-Treasurer, Jill Stoddard; Members-at-Large, Jenna LeJeune, Diana Ferroni Bast, Rhonda Merwin, and Sindhu BS; Student Representative, Marianna Zacharia.

New Process-Based Therapy SIG

A new SIG has been formed that is dedicated to the advancement of Process-Based Therapy (PBT) research, education, and clinical practice. This group aims to develop a diverse, inclusive, and value-guided social network  that advances education, disseminates tools and resources to facilitate successful implementation of PBT in clinical practice. Visit here for more information, you can also join this SIG here.  

The Sounding Board: Updates from the ACBS President

In her new blog, ACBS President Lisa Coyne discusses news from the ACBS Board of Directors, the DEI Committee, and the Conference Strategy Committee. She also highlights two inspiring members in our community, Fredrik Livheim and Duncan Gillard. Check out Lisa's blog post here.

ACBS Virtual World Conference - Join us!

We invite you to join us virtually for the Annual World Conference 24-27 June 2021. Register today!  It is sure to be a memorable virtual learning and networking experience. New in 2021, ten simultaneous session tracks, Spanish language presentations (also translated into English), and a Portuguese language translation track.  You can find more detailed information here.

Student Spotlight Award: Anne I. Roche

It is our pleasure to introduce the most recent Student Spotlight Award recipient! This month's featured student is  Anne I. Roche, a graduate student at the University of Iowa, and is currently completing her clinical internship at the University of Kansas Medical Center (USA). Anne hopes to pursue a career that allows her to disseminate ACT and other CBS-based interventions.  Read more about Anne here. The application is open until March 31. 

An experimental investigation on the effects of perspective-taking on emotional discomfort, cognitive fusion and self compassion

In JCBS Vol. 20, Louise Boland, Dorian Campbell, Monika Fazekas, Wataru Kitagawa, Lorna MacIver, Klaudia Rzeczkowska, and David Gillanders generate a SRNT in a non-clinical sample, and capture ratings of emotion discomfort, state cognitive fusion, and state self-compassion. Click here to learn more about the results of the study!  ACBS members can read the full text of all JCBS articles for free in the JCBS member portal.

ACBS Foundation: Successful First Open Call for Grants 

The ACBS Foundation was excited to receive such a great group of applications during the recent open call. A team of volunteer reviewers will examine the applications and selections will be made based on funding criteria.  Grant Awards will be announced by June 1, 2021 and shared on the Foundation page here – stay tuned to see which innovative projects are selected!

ACBS Member Resources

India Chapter, Emerging Voices Conference Recordings: Now Online for ACBS Members
Recent SIG Webinar Recordings: ACT in Sex Therapy, Cultural Humility in Counseling and Clinical Supervision, Creative Metaphors in ACT

Renew Your Membership in ACBS Today!

BIG News for ACT - NICE Recommendation

In April 2021, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the United Kingdom published the guidelines “Chronic pain (primary and secondary) in over 16s: assessment of all chronic pain and management of chronic primary pain.” The guidelines contain exciting news for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy researchers and practitioners: ACT is specifically recommended for managing chronic primary pain in people aged 16 years and over. Click here to learn more.

Early Career Mentee Award

This is a new initiative from the Centering Science Strategic Plan Pillar aimed at supporting early career CBS researchers in securing research-focused faculty positions in research universities/academic medical centers. We are now accepting applications for our first cohort of three mentees. Learn more about this new program here.

VIRTUAL World Conference - REGISTER TODAY! 

Join us for this memorable virtual learning and networking experience! 

Pre-Conference Intensive Workshops, 12 & 13 June. You will not want to miss these LIVE, clinical, and research focused workshops.

World Conference 2021, 24-27 June. The program and detailed schedule are now online. 

2021 Foundation Student Scholars

Congratulations to the 2021 ACBS Foundation Student Scholars: Pinelopi Konstantinou, University of Cyprus, Cyprus and Jin Xiaohuan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The ACBS Foundation, founded in 2019, provides two full scholarships that cover the student conference registration fee for attending the annual ACBS World Conference.

NEW OCD and Related Disorders SIG

This SIG will broadly focus on obsessive compulsive disorder and related conditions, including, but not limited to, body dysmorphic disorder, hoarding disorder, perfectionism, illness anxiety disorder, body-focused repetitive disorders (e.g. trichotillomania and excoriation disorder), and common comorbid presentations. Clinical applications and research based in CBS as related to the OCD and related disorders will be central to this SIG. Click here to learn more about joining the SIG and the listserv.

Open Call for Committee Chairs through April 30th

The ACBS Board has created a new, more formal process for identifying and selecting new committee chairs to replace current chairs who are due to rotate off. The new process includes  an open call to members who may be interested in becoming committee chairs. The person selected will shadow the current chair until their term ends summer 2022. The term for the position will be three years. The application deadline is April 30, 2020, submit the application here.

I won't comply because it is a hoax: Conspiracy beliefs, lockdown compliance, and the importance of psychological flexibility

In JCBS volume 20, M. Constantinou, A. Gloster, and M. Karekla explore how the stress and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic led to conspiracy theories which can affect the way individuals behave. Is psychological flexibility a protective factor in relation to this distress? Click on the link to learn more about their findings! ACBS members can read the full text of all JCBS articles for free in the JCBS member portal.

Webinar Resources for ACBS Members

Asian Culture and CBS SIG Webinar - May 1, "Cultural Difference in the Understanding of Experiential Avoidance between Chinese and Western People" -  JOIN with this link.

Student SIG Spotlight Webinar Series - May 5, highlighting CBS student work and featuring recent ACBS Student Spotlight Award winners - REGISTER here.

Recent Social Work SIG Webinar Recordings Available: Music and Defusion, ACT and Exposure Therapy for OCD and Anxiety, and ACT for Psychosis.