About ACBS Pre-Conference Workshops

Unforgettable. Inspiring. Cutting-edge. Inviting. ACBS Pre-Conference Workshops are well-known as a source for world-class ACT and RFT trainings. Here is the heart of ACBS. Where therapists and researchers of all ages sharpen their skills, and push their limits. Where expert trainers from across the globe converge as a creative force aiming to shape and support all those in attendance. Where life-long friends reconnect, or meet for the first time. 

What to Expect

The 2012 Pre-Conference Workshops offer exciting new opportunities that will engage therapists and researchers of any skill level. Highlights include:

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Participate in experiential and didactic workshops to learn this empirically supported therapy
• Relational Frame Theory (RFT): Apply this modern perspective on cognition and language to your own research or practice
• Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS): Explore the foundations of ACT and RFT, and start your own line of CBS research
• Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP): Supercharge your therapy practice with FAP's relationship-enhancing approach
• Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT): Engage compassionate emotions within your clients in order to target shame and self-criticism

Combining therapy role-plays, experiential exercises, case presentations, data graphics, focused lectures, and small group discussions, you can expect high-quality training from ACBS Pre-Conference Workshops. Continuing Education Credits are available. New this year are several research-focused workshops on CBS and RFT. Be sure to review the menu below to see your full list of options.

When, Where, and How Much?

These workshops will be held the two days immediately preceding the ACBS World Conference X.

Saturday, July 21, 2012 - 9:00am-5:15pm
Sunday, July 22, 2012 - 9:00-5:00pm
(Except for the one-day RFT research workshop and the one-day Strosahl workshop, which will meet Sunday only).

*These workshops run concurrently. Also note that they require their own registration and fee (they are not included as part of the ACBS World Conference).

They will be held at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center.

Select a workshop from the list below.

Acceptance, Compassion and Vitality: Building Skills in ACT Beyond the Basics - Walser - (Clinical, Intermediate, Advanced)

ACT from The Bottom Up - How learning principles of human behavior can enhance your ACT skills - Dahl, Törneke

Becoming an RFT Researcher - Stewart, M. Villatte, McHugh

Brief Interventions for Radical Change: The Practice of Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - Strosahl, Robinson, Gould, Gustavvson - (Clinical, Intermediate, Advanced)

Introduction to Acceptance and Committment Therapy - McKay, Ona

Introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy for Shame and Self-Critical Difficulties - Gilbert, Tirch - (Clinical, Beginner, Intermediate)

Listening with ACT Ears, Seeing with ACT Eyes: Experiential Case Conceptualization - Wilson - (Clinical, Research, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)

Strategies and Tactics of Contextual Behavioral Science Research: What is It, How to Do It, and How to Fund It - S. Hayes, D. Barnes-Holmes, Kashdan, Ciarrochi - (Research, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)

The Compassionate Use of Exposure Strategies in ACT - Forsyth - (Clinical, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)

Using Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) to Maximize the Power of Your Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Interventions - Kanter - (Clinical, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)

Using RFT to Supercharge ACT Interventions with Youth and Parents - Cairns, Coyne - (Clinical, Research, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)