Practicing the Heart of ACT – San Diego
Go Beyond Techniques and Embody the Whole Model
May 3–4, 2024 | San Diego, CA
13 CE Hours Available
Join the ACT community and master trainer Dr. Robyn D. Walser for two days of revitalizing training in San Diego! Build competency in the model, reduce your reliance on rote techniques, and learn to practice with depth and fluidity alongside your peers.
What does it mean to embody the “heart” of acceptance and commitment therapy?
Clinicians who learn ACT are often full of enthusiasm, eager to harness the power of psychological flexibility in their own work.
The model’s approach to human suffering resonates deeply with what they’ve seen in their practices. Likely, they’ve also felt something shift within them personally when applying the principles inward.
Yet, for many clinicians, that revelatory personal experience is challenging to turn into a clinical practice.
Rather than facilitating the kind of deeply moving experiences they know are possible, application can seem disjointed or flat.
They learn every technique they can, only to feel like they’re “performing” or following a script in sessions.
They recognize certain cues and faithfully execute exercises and metaphors, but client behavior doesn’t change.
Something very important is missing.
This missing piece has to do with the very essence of ACT.
At its core, ACT is not about perfectly memorized and executed techniques. It’s about infusing the principles of psychological flexibility into every aspect of your practice. Most notably, this includes four facets:
- Speaking to function first and foremost. Identifying how behavior works rather than just what it looks like will allow you to target meaningful patterns and always know why you’re using an intervention, rather than letting techniques drive the session.
- Understanding that ACT processes unfold through many aspects of therapeutic exchange, not just exercises and metaphors. Increasing your awareness of the various ways you and the client shape one another’s behavior will decrease your reliance on techniques and help you practice in a more creative, fluid way.
- Tying your actions here and now to larger aims. Where are you and the client trying to go, and how will a specific intervention help you get there? Holding this in mind will help guide you forward and organize your work, rather than performing one-off techniques with no plan for where to go next.
- Practicing flexibility yourself in the therapy room. Doing this work yourself at all times will help ensure that your own behavior is guided by what will best serve the client rather than by your own discomfort — including discomfort related to rules about how to be a “good” therapist.
Incorporating these layers into your practice might sound intimidating, but learning to do so creates a richer, more authentic experience for both client and clinician.
When you can pinpoint the most important behaviors and how they connect to the model and your overall work, you’re also less likely to hit dead ends and more likely to do something truly ACT-consistent and helpful.
In Practicing the Heart of ACT, you’ll learn directly from preeminent ACT expert Dr. Robyn D. Walser, who will show you how to go beyond memorizing techniques and develop true competency in the model.
Over the course of 2 days in a welcoming workshop setting, you and your peers will benefit from expert guidance, experiential exercises, and demonstrations designed to deepen your understanding of the psychological flexibility processes and a functional contextual approach. Together, you’ll learn to:
- Apply ACT in a way that’s more fluid, authentic, and deeply tied to the core principles
- Visualize a path forward that’s guided by the model and what will make the biggest positive impact in the client’s life
- Identify opportunities for meaningful intervention by reading “thin slices” of client behavior such as verbal cues, body language, and tone of voice
- Leverage a wider range of tools to shape flexibility, including your pacing, timing, and even your presence in the room
- Understand the why behind your interventions, so you can more confidently intervene and navigate repetitive or challenging behaviors
With the inside-out understanding of ACT you’ll gain in this training, you’ll more readily translate the principles into fluid therapeutic exchanges with real impact.