2024 ACBS Foundation Board
According to our Foundation By-laws the Association of Contextual and Behavioral Sciences (ACBS) board is entitled to fill a majority of board positions and the Board of Directors of the Corporation shall fill the other positions. The Directors shall hold office until their successors have been duly appointed and qualified. Each director shall hold office until the expiration of the term for which he was appointed, and until his successor has been duly elected and qualified, or until his prior resignation or removal as hereinafter provided (see the bylaws here for more detail).
The ACBS Foundation board works without pay and consists of:
Nigel Vahey, Ph.D. (President)
He is a tenured lecturer in psychology at Technological University Dublin, Ireland. After completing his PhD with Prof. Dermot Barnes-Holmes in 2015, he worked for three years as a senior post-doctoral researcher with Prof. Robert Whelan at Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience in collaboration with Prof.’s Louise McHugh and Jonathan Bricker. He is keenly interested in translational research relating the IRAP, RFT and ACT to addiction, impulsivity, neuroscience, open science, web/smartphone-based interventions, and inclusive education. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science and recently served as member-at-large (basic science) on the ACBS board of directors. His research has attracted 550+ academic citations and €500,000+ of grants/awards/scholarships. Latterly, while teaching and working with social workers, community workers and counsellors, he has been particularly interested in the socially-constructed nature of self; and how it relates to prosociality, multi-level group selection, trauma, stigma, inclusion/exclusion, and public health messaging.
M. Joann Wright, Ph.D. (Vice President)
M. Joann Wright is the Founder of ACT One, an online presence dedicated to offering supervision, consultation, presentations, training and therapy utilizing the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (AC1) model. Additionally, she is a licensed clinical psychologist for the Linden Oaks Medical Group in Naperville, Illinois. She is an Association of Contextual and Behavioral Sciences (ACBS) Fellow and Peer-Reviewed ACT Trainer. Joann is dedicated to teaching and delivering ACT in order to help people reduce the suffering in their lives. To that end, she has co-authored two ACT books aimed at assisting other therapists with their ACT work; Learning ACT for Group Treatment An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Skills Training Manual for Therapists (Westrup & Wright, 2017) and Experiencing ACT from the Inside Out: A Self-Practice/Self-Reflection Workbook for Therapists (Titch, Silberstein-Titch, Codd, Brock & Wright, 2019). Throughout her career, Joann was responsible for creating both an ACT-based anxiety intensive outpatient program and a doctoral training program which focused on contextual behavioral sciences. Joann has also served as the director of a university counseling center and has taught at the graduate level at several universities.
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Jessica Borushok, Ph.D. (Treasurer)
Jessica Borushok is a psychologist in private practice in Los Angeles, California specializing in helping "busy minds" get unstuck, out of their own way, and back to their best selves. In addition to clinical work, Dr. Borushok is an award-winning author, Peer Reviewed ACT Trainer, and consultant. Dr. Borushok has co-authored numerous books and self-growth tools, including The ACT Approach. She has served on the Board of ACBS previously and is currently serving the ACBS community as a member of the Membership Committee as well as Strategic Lead for the Creating a Culture of Empowerment and Productivity Pillar.
Pam Katz is a Licenced Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Chicago, IL for over 20 years. Pam specializes in treating Anxiety, Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors, and ADHD. She is the current president of the ACBS Chicago Chapter, and she also sits on the ACBS Social Work Sig Board.
Sarah Cassidy, Ph.D. (Member at Large)
Dr Sarah Cassidy is an Educational, Child & Adolescent Psychologist, a Peer Reviewed ACT Trainer, the Founder and Director of Smithsfield Clinic, and Co-Founder and Co-Director of New England Centre for OCD & Anxiety, Ireland Branch. Sarah also co-founded and is Chief Education Officer at RaiseYourIQ.com, a Maynooth University based campus company conducting cutting edge educational technological research using SMART training. Her many other roles include lecturing, training and researching in Child, Educational and Counselling Psychology from the CBS perspective in universities, health service executive, public and private organizations and clinics. She has authored numerous peer reviewed scientific articles in RFT and more recently, two best-selling ACT children’s books in the Tired of Anxiety series with co-author, Dr. Lisa Coyne.
John Hoch, Ph.D. (Member at Large)
Dr. Hoch is a Licensed Psychologist (LP). John graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Doctorate in Educational Psychology in 2007. He then completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Center for Neurobehavioral Development at the University of Minnesota. He worked as research director at Behavioral Dimensions from 2006 until 2015, when he returned to the University of Minnesota to work towards psychology licensure. He completed his internship and post-doctoral training at Fraser Child and Family Center where he continued to provide clinical care and conduct data analyses and research and until 2023. At Fraser, he provided functional behavior assessments, individual, family, and group therapy, and psychological assessment services. Dr. Hoch re-joined Behavioral Dimensions in January of 2023 to develop the Assessment and Research programs. He completes evaluations and assessments for children and adolescents with concerns about Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disorders. He specializes in understanding the overlaps between ASD and other clinical disorders such as potentially traumatic event exposures, anxiety, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD or developmental delays. He brings his experience with evidence-based therapy, behavior analysis, and research knowledge to psychological assessments. Going beyond diagnostic labels, he hopes to capture each family’s strengths, values, and stories in the assessment process to recommend the most effective treatments. Dr. Hoch also continues to provide data analytics and research consulting services through Behavioral Dimensions.
Dr. Lynn Farrell completed her PhD as an Irish Research Council postgraduate scholar at University College Dublin where she explored the nature and malleability of implicit bias towards women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) through the lens of Relational Frame Theory (RFT) as part of the UCD Contextual Behavioural Science lab. Lynn received the ACBS Student Spotlight award for her work on gender bias and previously served as a student representative on the Women in ACBS SIG during its establishment. After completing her doctoral research, she took up a Research Fellow position at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) where she continued to empirically explore how to improve gender equality efforts in STEM as part of the EPSRC funded Inclusion Matters project and was awarded the QUB Engineering and Physical Sciences Faculty Postdoctoral Outstanding Engagement award. Lynn is currently an Assistant Professor in Psychology and Programme Director of the part-time Psychology programme at National College of Ireland. She is also Director of EDI for the UK & Republic of Ireland ACBS Chapter. Her research interests and publications to date have focused mainly on understanding and influencing stereo types and bias particularly related to gender, improving gender equality initiatives and applying RFT to address social issues.
Vasilis S. Vasiliou, Ph.D. (Member at Large)
Vasilis S. Vasiliou is a Clinical Psychologist and Post-doctoral Research Associate at the University of Oxford, Medical Science Division, UK. He works at the Nuffield Department of Orthopedics, Rheumatology, and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) where he leads several studies, involving individuals with various localized chronic pain conditions. His research emphasizes the application of the newest Contextual Cognitive-Behavioral interventions (e.g., Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness, etc) in pediatric and adults with chronic illness and chronic pain conditions. He is a current President of the Greece & Cyprus ACBS local chapter and a member of the editorial board of the JCBS.
Clarissa Ong, Ph.D. (Member at Large)
Clarissa Ong (she/her) is an Assistant Professor and the Psychology Clinic Director at the University of Toledo. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical/Counseling Psychology at Utah State University. Her research focuses on developing, evaluating, and disseminating effective and culturally responsive interventions guided by behavioral and process-based principles. She has co-written two books: a transdiagnostic ACT manual, ACT in Steps, and a self-help book for perfectionism, The Anxious Perfectionist. She is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science.