ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
4/6/2024 - 4/7/2024
Life contains suffering. But acknowledging this truth is only the first step to transcending it. It is in this transcendence that vital and meaningful lives are born. As ACT therapists, we hope to assist our clients in this process. Helping them acknowledge and hold pain while continuing to take steps, each day and moment, that are connected to personal meaning. As is often said in ACT, this is done with head, hands, and heart. The work of the head concerns verbal knowledge, an intellectual understanding of the intervention. The work of the “hands” is about behavior; physical movement and taking action are fundamental.
ACT’s heart, however, appears to be more elusive. Done with intention and presence, ACT links us to the very qualities of being alive and whole, to be a conscious and experiencing being. ACT may be learned and understood at many levels but may remain challenging to implement in a flexible, consistent, process-based, and effective fashion. Multiple levels of process are present in any therapy, including those processes beyond ACT’s 6 core. Moving beyond simple technique and into a fluid ACT intervention requires attending to intrapersonal, interpersonal, and overarching and ongoing processes in the context of the psychotherapeutic relationship. Engaging in an ongoing functional analysis feeds these processes and informs the case conceptualization. This workshop will focus on connecting workshop participants to ongoing functional analysis and the multiple levels of process found in ACT from a more in-depth, experiential, or heartfelt place. Didactic presentation, role-play and experiential exercises will be used to convey the material.
AUDIENCE
Mental health providers: psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners. Those planning to attend should be familiar with ACT by having read ACT books, such as Learning ACT, 2nd Edition (Luoma, Hayes, & Walser, 2018) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Process and Practice of Mindful Change (Hayes, Strosahl & Wilson, 2012) and/or have attended an introductory workshop.
*** Please note that this workshop is only open to health professionals and students enrolled in a graduate-level health or mental health program.
INSTRUCTIONAL LEVEL
Intermediate-Advanced
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Explain what is meant by exploring ACT processes from the perspective of personal internal experience and how it is relevant to therapy.
- Describe the role and function of interpersonal process in the implementation of ACT.
- Describe functional analysis and its role in the overarching and ongoing process of ACT intervention and case conceptualization.
- Explain how intrapersonal and interpersonal behavioral patterns inform a functional approach.
- Explain how different levels of process participate in and inform the therapeutic relationship.
- Explain what is meant by ACT processes and their flexible use with respect to the six core components of ACT tucked inside of therapeutic relationship.
- Explain how ACT metaphors and experiential exercises can be tailored to fit the client’s experience and language practices including the social and cultural contexts.
- Describe barriers to fluid implementation of ACT and how to work through these barriers in an ACT consistent fashion.
- Describe the role of personal values in guiding the work done in ACT therapy and how to apply it across sessions.
- List the benefits of mindfulness as a practice as well as an ongoing process during session, including how it can be used to cultivate compassion.
WORKSHOP LOCATION
Hilton Garden Inn Portland Airport (Garden Ballroom)
12048 NE Airport Way, Portland, OR 97220
SCHEDULE (for both days)
8:00am - Registration begins
8:30am- Workshop begins
90 minute break for lunch (with 2 other 15 minute breaks throughout the day)
4:30pm - Workshop ends
CE CREDITS
Portland Psychology Clinic, Research & Training Center is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Portland Psychotherapy, Clinic, Research & Training Center maintains responsibility for all programs and content.
12 CE credits (with the purchase of Professionals with CE Certificate ticket, completion of the Learning Activity Evaluation, and attendance of the entire workshop)
Refund/cancellation policy:
We charge a $15 administration fee for cancellations made more than one week before the training event. For cancellations within one week of the training event, we will refund 50% of the tuition. Alternately, participants may elect to apply 100% of their tuition to a future training event. No refunds will be given after training events.
Special Accommodations :
Please contact us if you need accommodations to enable you to fully participate in the workshop. We will work with you and do our best to find a way to ensure your participation.
INSTRUCTOR:
Robyn D. Walser, Ph.D. is Director of TL Psychological and Consultation Services, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and works at the National Center for PTSD. She maintains an international training, consulting and therapy practice as a licensed psychologist. Dr. Walser is an expert in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and has co-authored 7 books on ACT, including a book on learning ACT. She has most recently written a book entitled: The Heart of ACT. Dr. Walser has expertise in traumatic stress, depression and substance abuse and has authored a number of articles, chapters, and books on these topics. She has been doing ACT workshops since 1998, training in multiple formats and for various client problems.
http://www.tlconsultationservices.com/