Student Spotlight Award Recipient - Farah Gulamoydeen

Congratulations to Farah Gulamoydeen on being selected as the Student Spotlight Award winner for February 2026!

The purpose of this award is to highlight students who are doing important work in the CBS community whether for research, clinical, and/or volunteer-humanitarian efforts.

This is a way to highlight their achievements, let the ACBS community know important work students are doing, and possibly provide a platform for mentoring/collaboration/professional development/conversations around highlighted areas.

Learn more about Farah:

Background of CBS Research/Clinical/Volunteering efforts/achievements:
My work in CBS spans research, clinical training, leadership, and community development across Malaysia and Australia. I began offering ACT training in Malaysia in 2017, a time when CBS approaches were still emerging in the region. I designed and delivered a progression of workshops—from two-hour introductory seminars to multi-day intensive and advanced trainings—that have reached over 400 Malaysian clinicians across hospitals, universities, NGOs, and private practice settings. Many practitioners received their first ACT exposure through these initiatives, strengthening national capacity for CBS-informed care. I have also presented ACT-focused talks to underserved and diverse groups including refugee health workers, aged-care organisations, and university communities, increasing cultural and linguistic accessibility to CBS principles.

As a clinician, I apply CBS processes in ongoing therapeutic work with individuals through private practice, and I have received supervision from senior CBS clinicians, shaping my fidelity to ACT’s behavioural roots. I have supported the CBS community through leadership roles—first as Treasurer and then President-Elect of the ANZ ACBS Chapter—and more recently through the founding of the Ethics in Action Collective (EAC), a values-driven volunteer-run initiative that promotes ethical maturity, professional responsibility, and CBS-aligned leadership development in Malaysia.

My PhD research advances process-based and personalised care using the measurement-based care principles. I have completed a systematic review of personalisation methods and measures (under review at JCBS) and am progressing a clinician-led EMA feasibility study that examines how real-time assessment can guide ACT-consistent case formulation and intervention. These projects contribute to emerging CBS scholarship in idionomics and process-based treatment.

Autobiography:
I began my ACT journey in 2015 while searching for my life purpose. Practicing ACT inside and outside the therapy room transformed me as a human being. Guided by my values of contribution and courage, I committed myself to bringing ACT to Malaysia. I invested extensively in learning—attending workshops, conferences, and receiving supervision from senior clinicians—so that I could share CBS with a community that had very limited exposure to it. Using my own resources, I offered ACT talks and workshops, beginning with small two-hour sessions in modest spaces. These grew into full-day and multi-day trainings that reached clinicians across hospitals, universities, NGOs, and private practice. Over time, I trained more than 400 Malaysian mental health professionals, many of whom went on to integrate ACT into their services. I later founded ACT Kuala Lumpur, which allowed me to broaden CBS education in the region.

My academic work deepened this trajectory. In my PhD, I study personalised interventions using process-based approaches and real-time assessment, integrating measurement, theory, and clinical utility. My goal is to bridge research and practice.

In 2025, drawing again from my values of courage and contribution, and following a lived experience of ethical harm involving individuals within ACT Kuala Lumpur, I founded the Ethics in Action Collective. The initiative is how I transform adversity into values-based action by strengthening ethical maturity, leadership integrity, and governance within Malaysian psychology.

Across all my roles, I remain committed to reducing suffering, expanding access to CBS, and elevating ethical standards.

Future goals:

To advance values-based leadership and personalised, process-based approaches through research, training, and systemic ethical development.

Links to relevant publications:

Manuscript under review: Gulamoydeen, F., Ciarrochi, J., Li, W., Sahdra, B. K., Hernandez Contreras, C. E., Hayes, S. C., & Ong, C. W. (Under review). Personalised, But How? A systematic review of methods and measures in personalised interventions. Manuscript submitted to the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science.