When Hope Feels Lost: Cultivating Presence, Courage, and Connection in the Treatment of Depression with Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP)
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 Leaders:
 |  |  |  |  |
| Mavis Tsai, Ph.D. | Sarah Sullivan-Singh, Ph.D. | Barbara Kohlenberg, Ph.D. | Katia Manduchi, Ph.D. | Stavroula Sanida, M.Sc. |
Workshop Description:
Depression often takes root in places where losses were ungrieved, longings remained hidden, truths were unspoken, and relational needs were unmet. In this workshop, we will explore how Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) offers a pathway of renewed hope by transforming the therapeutic relationship into an experiential, moment-to-moment space for healing and growing. Participants will learn to apply FAP’s five fundamental rules with more precision and heart, using awareness, courage, and love (behaviorally defined) to evoke and reinforce the vital behaviors most needed for clients with depression to feel more vibrantly alive.
We will examine depression as a pattern of behavioral restriction—away from emotional expression, from needs, from vulnerability, and from the fullness of one’s internal world. Through FAP, therapists can compassionately invite clients to contact avoided emotions while helping them recognize the parts of themselves that have been silenced or minimized. Therapists will practice how to evoke in-session behaviors that embody clients’ values and longings, and how to shape relational repertoires that generalize to life beyond the therapy room.
This workshop integrates didactics, demonstrations, clinical videos, real-play practice, and guided experiential exercises that address both clinical and personal development to strengthen your ability to meet clients with presence, attunement, and authenticity. We will encourage you to be vulnerable in revealing yourself to the extent that it supports your learning and development, both personally and professionally.
Our goal is that you will leave the workshop with elevated clinical precision in treating depression from a FAP lens, increased confidence using your own emotional vulnerability judiciously, and renewed inspiration to help clients living with depression rediscover connection—to themselves, to others, and to a life they long to inhabit.
About the Workshop Leaders:
- Mavis Tsai, Ph.D.
Mavis Tsai, PhD, co-originator of FAP with the late Robert Kohlenberg, PhD, ABPP, is a clinical psychologist and senior research scientist at University of Washington. She is the co-author of six books on FAP (some of which have been translated into Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Korean and Persian), and over 85 articles and book chapters. She is an ACBS Fellow, a recipient of Washington State Psychological Association’s Distinguished Psychologist Award, and is proud to be named by New Harbinger Publications as one of “13 Badass Psychologists… Who Happen to be Women." She gave a TEDx talk “Create Extraordinary Interactions”, has led numerous workshops internationally, and has supervised clinicians all over the world in FAP. As Founder of the Nonprofit Organization ‘Awareness, Courage & Love Global Project” which brings FAP to the general public, she trains volunteers to lead chapters in six continents to create a worldwide- network of open-hearted change-seekers who strive to meet life’s challenges through deepening interpersonal connection and rising to live more true to themselves.
- Sarah Sullivan-Singh, Ph.D.
Sarah Sullivan-Singh, PhD, earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from UCLA and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington (UW) Rehabilitation Medicine Department before beginning her independent practice. She is a Clinical Instructor within the UW Psychology Department where she supervises graduate students treating clients using ACT and FAP. Dr. Sullivan-Singh also regularly offers guest lectures at the UW Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. She is a certified FAP trainer and routinely teaches both students and professionals through individual supervision/consultation as well as workshops and online courses. Dr. Sullivan-Singh has also worked on treatment development for and provided clinical supervision within a randomized-controlled trial of FAP at the UW Center for the Science of Social Connection. As partner of The Seattle Clinic, a collective of independent practitioners commi tted to evidence-based care and lifelong learning, Dr. Sullivan-Singh is fortunate to be surrounded by students and colleagues who support her in following the infinite path of encountering and addressing gaps in her awareness and knowledge – and through that process constructing increasingly authentic relationships with greater healing potential.
- Barbara Kohlenberg, Ph.D.
Barbara Kohlenberg, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and also in Family and Community Medicine. She also serves as i Dean in the Office for Faculty Affairs. She is a clinical psychologist, who received her Ph.D. at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her NIH funded research has focused on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) and their integration and application with substance use disorders and stigma. Dr. Kohlenberg is extensively trained in both ACT and FAP, and has contributed to the literature in these areas and has conducted trainings internationally. Dr. Kohlenberg is interested in psychotherapy training in psychiatric residency programs, and in growing bedside manner among family medicine residents. Dr. Kohlenberg has deep interests in the role of compassion, hope, acceptance, and relationship in promoting behavior change. She cherishes direct patient care, as well as training. Helping both patients and practioners learn that one can change one’s relationship with suffering rather than having to “get rid” of suffering is meaningful for her. The relationship between scientific knowledge and wisdom traditions is also very meaningful for her. Out of work Dr. Kohlenberg loves cooking, eating, walking, reading/listening to podcasts, and creating and participating in nurturing communities. She loves the beauty of our desert climate while always also missing the green and grandeur of the Pacific Northwest, where she grew up.
- Katia Manduchi, Ph.D.
Katia Manduchi, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist with over 25 years of clinical experience. She became a certified Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) trainer in 2012 under the supervision of Robert Kohlenberg, PhD, and Mavis Tsai, PhD, at the University of Washington. She is a founding partner of ACT-ITA and a referent for the ACT and FAP Interest Group (GIS) in Italy. Dr. Manduchi completed advanced clinical training through an internship in Toronto and participated for several years in masterclasses and workshops at the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre (UK). In addition to her private clinical practice, she has spent the past 15 years as a trainer and supervisor for psychotherapy training programs throughout Italy. Her professional background includes 10 years of clinical work in an intensive eating disorders unit and 8 years as a supervisor in a community mental health center specializing in psychiatric and addiction disorders. She collaborates nationally and internationally across private, public, and organizational settings, and is the author of numerous publications and national and international presentations. Dr. Manduchi is deeply committed to advancing psychotherapy process, strengthening the therapeutic relationship, and cultivating curiosity, research-mindedness, and creativity in her students, colleagues, and herself.
- Stavroula Sanida, M.Sc.
Stavroula Sanida, M.Sc., is a licensed psychotherapist based in Athens, Greece, with a clinical career spanning over 15 years. She is a certified FAP trainer by the University of Washington and has led workshops and lectures internationally. She uses personalized metaphors and storytelling as evocative, awakening tools in her practice for both therapeutic and educational purposes. As a President of the Greece & Cyprus Chapter of ACBS, she is committed to disseminating third wave CBT approaches in her region. Her dedication also extends to community service. She has provided psychological support through local health initiatives and has participated in projects, such as the European Network of Mentors for Women Entrepreneurs and the Nonprofit Organization “Awareness, Courage & Love Global Project”. Her mission is to help clients and trainees cultivate their creativity and create meaningful, inspiring connections. Writing short stories, playing the cello, and exploring the world through poetry are among the activities that fuel her inspiration.
Following this workshop participants will be able to:
- Explain how FAP’s five rules can address mechanisms underlying depression.
- Identify in-session client behaviors that reflect depressive processes—such as emotional constriction, difficulty expressing needs, disconnection from self, and struggles with authentic relating.
- Describe FAP-consistent mechanisms for how ungrieved losses, unresolved emotional pain, and diminished contact with one’s internal world can contribute to depressive behavioral patterns.
- Practice inviting and reinforcing client behaviors that reconnect them with their longings, values, and authentic emotional experiences, including their disowned or previously silenced parts of self.
- Learn to shape improved interpersonal behaviors in-session, helping clients increase vulnerability, assertiveness, emotional expression, and capacity for mutual connection.
- Construct a FAP case conceptualization specific to depression, including functional analyses of avoidance patterns, relationship repertoires, therapist-client interactional dynamics, and therapist behaviors that may inadvertently maintain or worsen clients’ depressive behaviors.
- Learn to strengthen reinforcement contingencies using therapist emotional presence, self-awareness, and authentic self-expression to support client movement out of depressive patterns.
- Recognize and manage therapist vulnerabilities and associated relationship-interfering behaviors that may be activated when working with depressed clients, including tendencies to over function, offer advice prematurely, or withdraw emotionally in response to client hopelessness.
- Explore, receive, and express the deeper recesses of your true self -- what feels unseen, unmet, and unheld -- so that you can increase intensity, depth, and connection in your therapeutic relationships.
- Learn how to incorporate Awareness, Courage & Love resources and interventions into the treatment of depression as supplemental strategies to enhance clients’ capacity for emotional and interpersonal connection in their daily lives.
Target audience: Intermediate, Advanced, Clinical
Components: Conceptual analysis, Original data, Experiential exercises, Didactic presentation, Case presentation, Role play
Topic Areas: Clinical intervention development or outcomes, Processes of change
Package Includes: A general certificate of attendance
CE Credit Hours Available (13 hours): CEs for psychologists, BCBA