Facing change and becoming stronger: Helping adults face change using the growth framework of ACT

We are now, more than ever, living in a world full of uncertainty and change. How we adapt in this time is a question we all face. In this context, DNA-v as a growth model of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a liberating way to approach helping adults.

This workshop will deliver a clear, inspiring, and readily applied change model to help adults grow. It is the culmination of years of writing for the new book What Makes You Stronger (L. Hayes, J. Ciarrochi, and A. Bailey), due for release in July 2022. The workshop will suit professionals working with adults in all settings, including coaching, education, and counselling. Practitioners all across the world have been quick to adapt DNA-v into their work with adults, and here we’ll give you new tools, skills, and practices to really make this come alive.

DNA-v stands as a robust model of human change. It has spurred enormous growth in the adolescent market, inspiring clinical protocols, school curriculums, and research. The initial application to youth made sense because it is accepted that youth are in a time of dramatic change. And yet, adults face dramatic change too: relationships come together and break up, people age, get sick, recover health, lose and find jobs, they must constantly adapt to new technology, and face world changes like COVID-19 or climate change. Change is our only constant.

Adults can strive for development and growth each day. They don’t always need ‘therapy’, but they will benefit from psychological flexibility inside this growth paradigm. This workshop will show how to help people build greater strength.

Science and accessibility will be our key focus. The strength in DNA- v is its solid and clear scientific foundation and the readily accessible framework. In this workshop, we plan to use these two themes of science and accessibility to support adults who want more from life and to feel empowered.

The workshop will be divided into two sections to help professionals working with adults in multiple settings:

• Becoming stronger within -- We will explore our vulnerable selves, conceptual, compassionate, achieving, and profound selves.
• Becoming more connected in social relationships -- We will explore how to help adults understand their social histories and build relationships founded on flexibility and compassion.

About Louise Hayes, Ph.D.: 

Dr. Louise Hayes is a clinical psychologist, author, and international speaker. She is the Past President of ACBS, and a peer reviewed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Training (ACT) trainer. Together with Joseph Ciarrochi she developed DNA-v, which is a developmental model of acceptance and commitment therapy. She is the co-author of the best-selling book, Get Out of Your Mind and into your Life for Teenagers: A Guide to Living an Extraordinary Life; and the practitioner book, The Thriving Adolescent: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Positive Psychology to Help Teens Manage Emotions, Achieve Goals, and Build Connection, and Your Life Your Way released in 2020. In 2022 she will release a new book using DNA-V with adults, What Makes You Stronger. Louise is also an active clinician, working with adult and adolescents in private practice. She was a Senior Fellow with The University of Melbourne and Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health.