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Here, Now, and Between Us: Functional Analytic Psychotherapy and the Power of the Therapeutic Relationship

Here, Now, and Between Us: Functional Analytic Psychotherapy and the Power of the Therapeutic Relationship
 

Workshop Leaders: 
Mavis Tsai, Ph.D.
Sarah Sullivan-Singh, Ph.D.
Barbara Kohlenberg, Ph.D.
 
Monday, 24 July 2023 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.
Tuesday, 25 July 2023 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.
(12 total contact hours) 
 
Workshop Description:
 
We are offering this workshop in memory of beloved FAP co-founder, Bob Kohlenberg. Whether you are new to FAP or are an advanced practitioner, this workshop aims to cultivate your ability to harness the wellspring of therapeutic opportunity available within each unique relationship we create with our clients, and to take you to the next level of understanding in the application of FAP’s five transformative rules.
 
This workshop will focus on how you can intensify the therapeutic relationship by transforming it into an in-vivo, in-session laboratory in which you invite your clients to attempt new, more effective behaviors in service of their values and goals. In short, we encourage clients to practice, “right here, right now,” behaviors that are functionally equivalent to those they wish to implement in their lives outside of session. Because clients emit new behaviors in your presence, they benefit from the enhanced reinforcement of your immediate and genuine responding. Hence, increasing your own self-awareness, courage, and judiciousness in how you share your authentic self and emotional vulnerability allows you to augment the potency of your in-the-moment responses to clients.
 
We will weave together essential didactic elements of theory, recorded segments of therapy sessions, demonstrations, experiential exercises (balanced to address both clinical and personal development), real-plays with peers in small groups, ethical considerations, and a collection of FAP-consistent therapeutic tools and resources for you to take home. Of note, we will encourage you to be vulnerable in revealing yourself to the extent that it supports your learning and development, both personally and professionally, and with consideration of your needs and limits within the workshop setting.
 
Our goal is that you will leave the workshop with a deepened awareness of yourself, an awakened excitement about the possibilities of the therapy relationship, and an enlivened commitment to igniting it with each of your clients.
 
About Mavis Tsai, Ph.D.: 

Mavis Tsai, Ph.D., co-originator of FAP, is a clinical psychologist and senior research scientist at University of Washington’s Center for Science of Social Connection. She is the co-author of five books on FAP (some of which have been translated into Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Korean and Persian), and over 75 articles and book chapters. She is an ACBS Fellow, and received the Washington State Psychological Association’s Distinguished Psychologist Award in recognition of significant contributions to the field of psychology. She gave a TEDx talk “Create Extraordinary Interactions”, has presented “Master Clinician” sessions at the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapy, has led numerous workshops nationally and internationally, and has supervised clinicians all over the world in FAP. She is proud to be named by New Harbinger Publications as one of “13 Badass Psychologists… Who Happen to be Women”, and literally kicks ass as an advanced practitioner of the martial art of Kajukenbo. She loves to climb; the highest peak she has summited is Mt. Kalapathar (over 18,500 feet or 5600 meters) in Nepal. As Founder of the Nonprofit Organization ‘Awareness, Courage & Love Global Project” which brings FAP to the general public, she trains volunteers to lead chapters in six continents to create a worldwide- network of open-hearted change-seekers who strive to meet life’s challenges through deepening interpersonal connection and rising to live more true to themselves.

About Sarah Sullivan-Singh, Ph.D.: 

Sarah Sullivan-Singh, PhD, earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from UCLA and completed a postdoctoral fellowship within the University of Washington Rehabilitation Medicine Department before beginning her independent practice. She is a Clinical Instructor within the University of Washington (UW) Psychology Department where she supervises graduate students treating clients using ACT and FAP. Dr. Sullivan-Singh also regularly guest lectures to psychology interns in the UW Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. She is a certified FAP trainer and routinely teaches both students and professionals through individual supervision/consultation as well as workshops and online courses. Dr. Sullivan-Singh has also worked on treatment development for and provided clinical supervision within a randomized-controlled trial of FAP at the UW Center for the Science of Social Connection. As partner of The Seattle Clinic, a collective of independent practitioners focused on evidence-based practice, Dr. Sullivan-Singh is fortunate to be surrounded by students and colleagues who support her in following the lifelong path of encountering her gaps in awareness and knowledge and, in response, learning to acknowledge and address them – and through that process constructing increasingly authentic relationships with greater healing potential.

About Barbara Kohlenberg, Ph.D.:

Barbara Kohlenberg, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and also in Family and Community Medicine. She is a clinical psychologist, who received her Ph.D. at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her NIH funded research has focused on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) and their integration and application with substance use disorders and stigma. Dr. Kohlenberg is an ACT trainer and a FAP trainer, and has contributed to the literature in these areas and has conducted trainings internationally. She is interested in psychotherapy training in psychiatric residency programs, and in growing bedside manner among family medicine residents. She has deep interests in the role of compassion, acceptance, and relationship in promoting behavior change. She cherishes direct patient care, as well as training psychiatry residents. Helping both patients and residents learn that one can change one’s relationship with suffering rather than having to “get rid” of suffering is meaningful for her.

Outside of work Dr. Kohlenberg loves cooking, eating, walking, reading/listening to podcasts, and creating and participating in nurturing communities. She loves the beauty of our desert climate while always also missing the green and grandeur of the Pacific Northwest, where she grew up.

On completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the 5 Rules of FAP and the behavioral theory underlying them.
2. Identify both functional classes and specific examples of problematic and improved in-session client behavior.
3. Understand when commonly used interventions can be inadvertently counter-therapeutic.
4. Demonstrate ability to recognize and respond therapeutically to both client in-session problematic behaviors and target behaviors using strategies adapted to your clients’ needs.
5. Prepare a FAP case conceptualization for one client that demonstrates the application of functional analysis to client behavior and awareness of the impact of your own therapist behavior on the client.
6. Demonstrate using all five FAP rules to facilitate generalization of client in-session progress.
7. Identify, understand and address how your clients can activate your own problematic behaviors such that you can enhance your target behaviors as a therapist.
8. Discuss ethical considerations related to cultivating intense therapeutic relationships with clients when using FAP.
9. Explore, receive, and express the deeper recesses of your true self -- what feels unseen, unmet, and unheld -- so that you can increase intensity, depth, and connection in your therapeutic relationships.
10. Describe Live with Awareness, Courage & Love protocols and ways to adapt them to your clients, family and friends, and community.

Target Audience: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Clinical

Components: Conceptual analysis, Experiential exercises, Didactic presentation, Case Presentation, Role play

Package Includes: A general certificate of attendance

CEs Available (12 hours): CEs for Psychologists, BCBA

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