Here, Now, and Between Us: Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) and the Power of the Therapeutic Relationship
Dates and Location of this IN-PERSON 2-Day Workshop:
IN-PERSON at the Sheraton, New Orleans
Tuesday, July 15, 2025 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Wednesday, July 16, 2025 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
CE credits available: 13 
Workshop Leaders:
Mavis Tsai, Ph.D.
Sarah Sullivan-Singh, Ph.D.
Barbara Kohlenberg, Ph.D.
Amanda Muñoz Martínez. Ph.D.
Matthew D. Skinta, Ph.D., ABPP
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 the Workshop Leaders:
- 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. 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.
- Sarah Sullivan-Singh, Ph.D.
The Seattle Clinic & University of Washington, 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.
- Barbara Kohlenberg, Ph.D.
University of Nevada School of Medicine, 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. Dr. Kohlenberg is interested in psychotherapy training in psychiatric residency programs, and in growing bedside manner among family medicine residents. Dr. Kohlenberg 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.
- Amanda Muñoz-Martínez, Ph.D.
Amanda Muñoz-Martínez received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno. She is a Certified Functional Analytic Psychotherapy Trainer (FAP trainer) and a member of the FAP Certification, Policy, and Ethics Board (FAP CEP). Amanda is currently an Assistant Professor at the Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia). Amanda’s main research interest is optimizing and evaluating principle-based therapies for improving clients’ and stakeholders’ well-being, particularly, in Latin America. She is the director of ContigoLab that focused on the following research areas in the contextual behavioral therapies field: (a) assessment of contextual mechanisms of change, and (b) optimization and evaluation across diverse contexts and populations of contextually-based intervention such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), FAP, and so forth. From her research efforts, she has published several articles in peer-review journals (Q1 to Q4, SJR index). She has also written book chapters with recognized book editorials such as Springer. As a FAP trainer, she has facilitated several trainings for English- and Spanish-Speakers to enhance interpersonal skills and create meaningful relationships.
- Matthew D. Skinta, Ph.D., ABPP
Matthew D. Skinta, Ph.D., ABPP, is a board-certified clinical health psychologist and associate professor at Roosevelt University. Dr. Skinta co-edited Mindfulness and Acceptance for Gender and Sexual Minorities: Contextual Strategies to Foster Self-Compassion, Connection, and Equality (2016), and wrote Using Contextual Behavior Therapy with Sexual and Gender Minority Clients: A Practical Guide to Treatment (2020). He is a peer-reviewed ACT trainer and a certified FAP trainer, and has provided trainings and consultation internationally in Acceptance & Commitment Therapy and Functional Analytic Psychotherapy – including as a trainer in the first European and Latin American FAP Intensives. He is a fellow of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), and Divisions 44 and 52 of the American Psychological Association, largely in recognition of the global impact of his work. Dr. Skinta conducts workshops internationally on the use of behavioral techniques to broaden repertoires of interpersonal intimacy and vulnerability, as well as on bringing LGBTQ cultural competency to the practice of CBT.
Following this workshop participants will be able to:
- Describe the 5 Rules of FAP and the behavioral theory underlying them.
- Identify both functional classes and specific examples of problematic and improved in-session client behavior.
- Understand when commonly used interventions can be inadvertently counter-therapeutic.
- Demonstrate ability to recognize and respond therapeutically to both client in-session problematic behaviors and target behaviors using strategies adapted to your clients’ needs.
- 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.
- Practice using all five FAP rules to facilitate generalization of client in-session progress.
- Identify, understand and address how your clients can activate your own problematic behaviors such that you can enhance your target behaviors as a therapist.
- Understand ethical considerations related to cultivating intense therapeutic relationships with clients when using FAP.
- 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.
- Learn about 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, Original data, Experiential exercises, Didactic presentation, Case presentation, Role play
Topic Areas: Clinical intervention development or outcomes, Processes of change
Package Includes: A general certificate of attendance
CEs Available (13 hours): CEs for Psychologists