Deep Process, Brave Work: ACT and Exposure for Trauma Recovery

country flags Presented in English, also available for session attendees (in Lyon) via simultaneous AI (artificial intelligence) translation software in 50+ languages. More details available here.

Dates and Location of this IN-PERSON 2-Day Workshop:

IN-PERSON at Catholic University of Lyon (UCLY)

Tuesday, 14 July 2026 from 9:00 - 17:00 Central European Summer Time
Wednesday, 15 July 2026 from 9:00 - 17:00 Central European Summer Time
Contact Hours: 13

Workshop Leader:

Robyn Walser, Ph.D.

Workshop Description:

Trauma and its fallout do more than generate symptoms, they reorganize behavior, learning histories, and relational patterns in ways that can entrench rigidity and restrict meaningful living. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offers a powerful, process-based, and client-centered approach that addresses these complexities by targeting psychological flexibility at its functional roots. Rather than relying on protocolized steps, ACT helps trauma survivors establish safety, compassion, perspective, and willingness in support of engaging meaningfully with painful histories. Within this framework, exposure becomes not simply a recounting of traumatic events but a carefully timed, functionally informed experiential process that reduces avoidance, fosters reconnection, and enables clients to move toward values-based living. This workshop is designed for clinicians who want to deepen their skills in ACT’s nuanced application to trauma while incorporating exposure principles that are both effective and consistent with ACT’s ethos of openness, courage, and compassionate engagement.

Across two days, we will examine clinical strategies for integrating ACT with trauma-focused work, including ACT-informed exposure, functional assessment of avoidance repertoires, precision timing of interventions, and process discrimination skills. We will explore how to work effectively with clients experiencing complex trauma, chronic dissociation, entrenched avoidance, and moral injury—contexts in which psychological inflexibility is often maintained within the relational space itself. Participants will learn how to shape exposure that is not merely retelling, but an experiential reintegration process rooted in present-moment awareness, self-as-context, compassion, and values-based meaning-making. We will also address how to navigate clinical dilemmas such as therapeutic ruptures, activation that outpaces regulation, and therapist-side behavioral responses shaped by the client’s interpersonal cues—signals that can emerge in boundary-challenging or morally evocative trauma presentations and that require skilled functional analysis to work with effectively.

This workshop will be highly experiential and practice-oriented, offering opportunities for live demonstrations, small-group process work, and deliberate practice focused on the subtler competencies of trauma-focused ACT. We will address pacing and titration, recognizing “early warning signs” of functional drift, the subtle shift in therapist or client behavior from promoting psychological flexibility to inadvertently reinforcing avoidance or control, and using moment-to-moment behavioral data, including relational cues, to guide intervention choices with greater nuance and integrity. Clinicians will leave with a refined conceptual framework, increased precision in applying ACT processes under emotionally and ethically complex conditions, and enhanced confidence in guiding clients through transformative exposure work that supports reconnection, resilience, and post-traumatic growth. Ultimately, participants will emerge better equipped to help clients move from trauma-shaped living toward a more open, values-guided way of being and living in the world.

About the Workshop Leaders:

Robyn D. Walser, Ph.D.: Robyn D. Walser, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized clinical psychologist, educator, and author. She is the Director of Trauma and Life Consultation and Psychology Services, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of Research at Bay Area Trauma Recovery Clinical Services. Dr. Walser has made significant contributions to the dissemination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and held a pivotal role in implementing ACT within one of the US's largest national healthcare systems. She worked at the National Center for PTSD, where her work focused on trauma recovery, depression, and moral injury. A writer and scholar, Dr. Walser has co-authored nine influential books on ACT, including "You Are Not Your Trauma" and "The Heart of ACT: Developing a Flexible, Process-Based, and Client-Centered Practice Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy." Her research and clinical expertise have made her a sought-after voice in advancing the application of ACT to address various complex psychological challenges. Since 1997, Dr. Walser has led ACT workshops worldwide, bringing her deep understanding and passion for process-based, experiential learning to therapists and clinicians. Known for her client-centered approach, Dr. Walser's teaching emphasizes the integration of evidence-based practices with human connection and flexibility. To learn more about her work and join her newsletter list, visit robynwalser.com.

Following this workshop participants will be able to:

Design ACT-informed exposure procedures that emphasize experiential reintegration, psychological flexibility processes, and values-based engagement rather than rote retelling of traumatic events.
Use the therapeutic relationship as a live context for shaping psychological flexibility, recognizing moments when relational contact, vulnerability, and interpersonal tension can function as opportunities for experiential learning.
Conceptualize trauma presentations using a process-based ACT model, identifying how psychological inflexibility is maintained through experiential avoidance, disrupted learning histories, shame, and other fallout of trauma.
Identify and address common barriers that arise during exposure, including emotional numbing, cognitive detours, dissociation, and avoidance masked as engagement.
Apply self-as-context, present-moment awareness, and compassion processes to support stabilization, perspective-taking, and emotional openness during trauma-focused work.
Use moment-to-moment behavioral data, including verbal and nonverbal relational cues, to shape intervention timing, pacing, and titration during exposure and trauma processing.
Navigate relational challenges and therapeutic ruptures by analyzing the function of ruptures and implementing ACT-consistent repair processes that restore safety and therapeutic momentum.
Differentiate therapist-side behavioral responses shaped by client cues (e.g., avoidance, accommodation, overprotection) and implement strategies to maintain therapeutic flexibility and presence.
Adapt ACT and exposure interventions for clients with complex trauma presentations, including dissociation, moral injury, and high shame/avoidance patterns.
Enhance their own psychological flexibility in moments of relational activation, using self-as-context, compassion, and willingness to remain present and effective during emotionally charged therapeutic encounters.

Target audience: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Clinical

Components: Conceptual analysis, Literature review, Experiential exercises, Didactic presentation, Case presentation, Role play

Package Includes: A general certificate of attendance

CE Credit Hours Available (13 hours): CEs for psychologists

ACBS staff December 24, 2025 - 9:37am