Harnessing the Power of Language in Psychotherapy: Clinically-Applied RFT

The theory of language and cognition known as RFT (relational frame theory) was operationalized as a therapeutic approach in the landmark book, Mastering the Clinical Conversation (Villatte, Villatte, & Hayes 2015). This approach, grounded in contextual behavioral science, can function to enhance other psychotherapeutic models or stand on its own by providing clinicians with strategic ways to harness the power of language in psychotherapy. Within this framework, clinically-applied RFT includes two overarching therapeutic goals, four interdependent processes that comprise the therapeutic approach, a primary behavioral change strategy, and relationally framed interventions to effectively assess and shape behavior.

In this experiential and practical workshop for beginner-to-intermediate level contextual behavioral clinicians, participants will be introduced to this model through a combination of didactics, interactive exercises, case presentations, demonstrations, and small group practice sessions that focus on targeted clinical skill-building. After getting acquainted with the basic properties of RFT in an easily accessible and digestible manner, the different types of relational frames will be reviewed with respect to clinical relevance. Practitioners will experiment with implementing them as psychotherapeutic interventions designed to evoke four functional classes of behavior that are critical to functional coherence and flexible context sensitivity, the two overarching goals of clinically-applied RFT. Accordingly, there will be opportunities to assess coherence and context sensitivity across clinical presentations, including with respect to relational inflexibility, language-influenced experiential avoidance, and rule-governed behavior. Participants will learn how an experiential, pragmatic, and integrative approach to therapy can naturally evoke awareness, agency, efficacy, and acceptance/inclusion of self. Participants will practice employing the key behavioral change strategy of altering the (symbolic) context to transform the function of private events (i.e. relations), including in the application and/or creation of metaphors. Given that languaging is inherently interpersonal, practitioners will also experiment with ways of enhancing the quality of the therapeutic relationship with relational framing. Socio-cultural considerations and implications will be interwoven throughout. 

About Lou Lasprugato, MFT: 

Lou Lasprugato, MFT, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, with private practices in both California and Virginia (United States), and Peer-Reviewed Trainer in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. Lou has worked as a psychotherapist in a variety of settings over the years, including an intensive outpatient program at Kaiser Permanente that he subsequently managed, and an integrative medicine program at Sutter Health. He has facilitated dozens of workshops internationally on ACT and mindfulness, as well as co-created courses and lectures on nutritional psychology, stress system restorative therapy, and integrative mental health. Lou has also provided supervision to other mental health professionals and continues to provide individual consultation on ACT and other contextual behavioral approaches. He earned his Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, with a specialization in Holistic Studies from Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, following a career as a professional musician.

About Phillip Cha, MFT:

Phillip Cha, MFT, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over 20 years of experience in community mental health under UCSF Citywide Case Management. Phillip also has a private practice in San Francisco and regularly provides culturally informed ACT and clinical RFT trainings throughout the Bay Area and beyond. More recently, Phillip has provided extensive ACT and clinical RFT trainings to counselors in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) as adjunct faculty member at Myanmar Clinical Psychology Consortium from 2018-2022. Phillip is passionate about exploring ways in which contextual behavioral therapies can be applied across different communities and in ways that promote wellness and justice particularly for those who are marginalized.